Day 108 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Create a situation that is dangerous, but beautiful.
Shannon: “It’s kind of beautiful though, isn’t it,” Leo observed, tugging back the sheer curtains to peak out the window.
“You find the world ending in a domino effect of man-made explosions beautiful?” I was starting to believe his inevitable death was getting to him.
“No, not the weapons,” he clarified. “People’s reactions,” he tied back the curtain, letting the light fill the room. “I thought everyone would freak out, find shelter, and act like complete savages in their final moments,” he smirked, continuing to watch. “They’re all just doing exactly want they want to do, and they’re with the people they want to spend their last hours with. Everyone is living in the moment. Everyone,” he was in awe.
I walked up next to him to see it too, and I wanted to stay cold and angry because I was being deprived of life here, but my heart felt a childlike joy that begged me to join the rest of them. Some were dancing, some were hugging, and other people were even throwing water and other fun things at each other. It looked like a celebration. “Let’s go,” I decided impulsively.
“Really,” he smiled.
“Yeah,” I nodded. “Let’s go down in style. Race you outside,” I quickly challenged before running to the door.
Erin: “I don’t even recognize you anymore,” I could hear the disappointment in my brother’s voice.
“Well, I’m a changed man,” I offered adjusting my tie.
“You’re boring and worried about stupid shit,” he countered.
“You’re mad at me for being responsible,” I asked for clarification.
“I am mad at you for loosing yourself is some girl. You are wasting your time and money on getting her everything she points her finger at. You are planning a wedding that is going to financially cripple you for years. You only ever do what she wants to on weekends. Then when you do hang out with us, she’s around, and you act like you are too high and mighty for our sense of humor.”
“She’s not some girl. She is the girl. Ray is the most beautiful amazing girl I have ever met. She’s made me a better man. If you don’t like her you don’t have to be a part of our wedding.”
“Maybe I won’t,” I started walking away. Then I stopped to say one more thing. He was my best friend. I owed him that much. “If she was the one, she would fit with you as the friend I used to know. You’re not a better man, you’re just a different man. Plus, loved ones are supposed to make you smile more, I’ve seen your cute little smirk less man. Just stop and make sure this is what you want to do.”
What’s underneath the surface of your story’s pretty exterior?
Pelky Sisters 
Across the darkened room, two eyes glittered like garnets set in the moon and sharp teeth dripped with crimson blood. I breathed in an icy breath and let out a tiny puff of semi-transparent air in the space between us. There was a predatory gait to the beast’s movements as she padded gently into the moonlight, casting furry shadows on the uneven floorboards. When she exhaled, the cloud before her was scented with fresh meat and sweet grasses. But I didn’t take much notice of that, as her massive, soft-padded paws came to rest a couple inches from my injured leg.
I attempted to speak as her eyes glistened before my face, but merely managed to choke back a terrified cry. Instead, I looked away, out the smashed window at the crisp wintery night outside, and prayed she make it a swift and relatively painless death. Her breath was hot on my neck and I could feel the muscles involuntarily tense in my upper body as she raised a silvery paw, claws too close to my exposed skin for comfort. Instead of slicing through the meaty flesh of my chest, though, she carefully placed it on my leg soothingly.
When I turned back to her, the startlingly feral glint in her eyes was gone, replaced with an almost human intelligence. I shifted my weight, the rickety cabin’s rotting wall creaking intensely, to be sitting upright against a small pile of lumber. As I did this, the wolf’s ears piqued and swiveled about to detect every shift of the snow above our heads. She made a protective whimper and slid down to the floor with me, resting her massive head in my lap. Beginning to warm up with her body heat against my frozen appendages, I almost forgot that I was defenseless against this wild beast that had already attacked me once. But I could feel the guilt rolling off her like the heat she shared.
It was a long time that we rested there, together, watching the moon travel across the northern sky. Before that night I’d never seen the northern lights; they danced across the deep blue sky like ribbons of moss and flower petals caught in the breeze. With the moon dancing between them, I sunk into a fitful dream with images of a horrific animal attack mixed with the comforting feeling of warm, pale fur against frozen skin under the northern lights. Tundra stretched out as far as the eye could see as a dreadful beast roamed the winter under a luminescent wind. Everything was made of extreme beauty and wild danger.
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Created to Write:
Jade stops running and turns around, “Nessa?” he asks. But his team member isn’t behind him.
“Don’t worry, she’s fine.”
Jade turns and finds a shadow leaning against one of the supports of a radio antenna. Jade tenses as he recognizes the voice. “Bronze.”
She steps out, smiling, “Hey Jade. Long time.”
“We’ve been looking for you,” Jade says, keeping his guard up.
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal, you can call your team off.” Jade doesn’t move. “I promise I didn’t hurt anyone,” Bronze assures, “I just wanted your attention.”
“Well, you have it. So what?”
Bronze walks over to him, “I thought we could talk, person to person.”
“You must not have many friends if you go to your enemy to talk,” Jade says cooly.
“Who said we are enemies?” Bronze asks. She’s now a few feet away. Bronze shrugs, “Maybe I’m an ally.”
“You hurt innocent people, who happen to be gifted with powers you don’t understand,” Jade retorts, “I don’t do that.”
“Yet you punish gifted people.”
“Those that are hurting others, yes.”
“But what if you could stop those threats before they happen?” Bronze asks, “that is what I am doing.”
“So a little girl that can breathe underwater is a potential threat?” Jade asks, referencing one of Bronze’s past victims.
Bronze sighs, turning away, “You don’t get it. It’s a shame, your cute.”
Jade reaches for his utility belt, “I also have morals. Too bad you lack those.”
“Oh? And why’s that, mister?” Bronze asks.
“Because, doll, you have the potential to do good, but you choose not to,” Jade answers.
Bronze waits a beat before scoffing and taking her sword out, “Maybe I am doing what’s good, and you’re too blind to see it.”
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