Day 63 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a character with bad intentions.

Shannon: I make a living off of sabotaging others, and that’s not an exaggeration. I get paid a lot of money to mess with strangers by causing a few “random” acts of chaos. My employer gives me an assignment much the same as an undercover agent, or so I can assume. They give me a name and where to find the victim, and then a job description of what they’re trying to accomplish. I’ve gotten anything from a simple time-stalling distraction to creating a “fake” bad day for another person. Only it’s all too real for them, and there is no blame pointed back at the people who use my services.

So how did I get into this industry? Well, I found a recruiting card with a website and a password in my jacket pocket once. These people are everywhere, and they’re good at keeping their existence a secret. We go through a little training, but we’re naturally good at this. They scouted us for the job because we demonstrated strong observation tendencies. The policy is based off the fact that strong observers can never be customers, so why not keep them on the company’s good side.

My task for the day was to ruin a woman’s morning at her favorite coffee shop by making everything go wrong. I started with my usual tactics to secretly mess up her order by adding a sour, overpowering ingredient. She took a sip as soon as she got it, and puckered. “This is terrible,” she set it back down. “Make another,” she demanded. “This time don’t use expired ingredients,” she accused the barista in front of the line of customer. I could already tell she deserved everything she had coming for her.

Erin: “What do you think of this one,” Jessica stepped out in the most gorgeous ball gown I had ever seen.

“It’s a little over the top,” Lexus gestured her finger down the back of her throat as she made a gaging noise.

“What are you talking about. It’s her wedding day. It is the perfect amount of over the top,” I defended my sister.

“No offence Jane but you’ve never had the best taste,” Lexus transitioned her idiocy to me.

“It is a ball gown Lex. Ballgowns for weddings are timeless and this is a Vera Wang from this year’s collection. Are you trying to tell me that it is even possible to have bad taste when you are buying a Vera Wang wedding gown?”

“Come on Jessica, are you really the type of bride who wants to be this stereotypical,” Lexus gave up on me and moved on to my normally more impressionable sister.

“What do you mean,” she pulled at the top layer of skirt fabric.

“You are not the type to be a princess bride,” she rolled her eyes. “Don’t you think Gavin would love you in a nice sheath dress?”

“Gavin would love her in any dress,” I corrected. “She is the most beautiful woman in the world to him and even if she wore a garbage bag she would be the only girl he’d bat an eyelash at. Now shut up and at least let her give her opinion before you shut it down.”

“Jessica,” Lex’s mouth hardened into a horizontal line.

“I don’t know,” her hands stroked over the bodice as she looked in the mirror. I knew the sparkle in my sister’s eyes when she pulled back the curtain to show us. The reason there was a somber hesitation was due to her so-called best friend.

“How about you go put on Lex’s choice. We will come back to this one,” I offered. My sister was always the one who needed to see all the options before settling on one. That’s why it was so vital for Gavin to have cared about her and understood her enough to stick through their break. He was smart. Even with her quirks he was a very lucky man.

“That sounds like a great idea,” Lexus continued to stroke her own ego.

When Jessica slipped back into the curtain dressing room I grabbed onto the collar of Lex’s sundress. She looked terrified as I yanked her up and dragged her to the first nook in the wall, out of earshot. “You know as well as I do that Jessica does not have the body shape for a sheath dress. You also know as well as I do that a sheath dress is so far to the left of her style. You want to explain that to me?”

“She’s drowning in that ball gown,” she looked to the ground as she smoothed out the collar I had crumpled up in my sister rage.

“My sister is 5’ 11” she is carrying that dress just fine thank you,” I raised an eyebrow as I planted my hands on my hips.

“You think just because you’re her family you are so much smarter than me. Don’t forget who has been by her side for the past four years of her life,” Lex sassed.

“Don’t you get the distance between us confused with the distance of our bond. I was there for her for the past four years just as you were. I know about the time she was fired, I know about that time she nearly failed physics, oh and I know about how she was dating your fiancé before you ever met him.” Lexus went white. “I’m not only a good listener, I’m perceptive. Jessica told me about your wedding dress shopping experience. You are two beautiful, but different brides. Neither of you is going to take away from the other by both wearing ball gowns.”

“I just,” I could tell she didn’t know what she would say either.

“You’re just going to go back there and keep your mouth shut until you see a smile or a frown come to the face of my precious sister. She loves it, you love it. She hates it, you hate it. This is her day. You are here for support and assurance, not to be the fashion police.” She just nodded.

“Jane look,” Jessica was in tears laughing as we strolled back to the platform.

As she spun in circles I started giggling as well. Not long after Lexus joined in. “Okay maybe that’s not your dress,” Lex chuckled as Jessica shook in a manner that had her body giggling all over. She still looked beautiful, because someone as silly and happy as Jessica could not help but be beautiful. I agreed though, because I knew that was Jessica’s opinion as well.

The goals of character’s should be different. Write about one who may have goals most would consider off base.