Day 248 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write a scene that addresses skin color.

Shannon: “You have spots on your skin,” the student next to me observed in a whisper. He seemed so aloof normally. I couldn’t believe I let him of all people catch me.

“I spilled some dye on it this morning. By the time I found it, I couldn’t get it off,” I recited the lie my family helped me come up, but that I never had to use until now.

‘Then why did you skin look the same way a week ago? You’re not supposed to be here, are you?”

Lying at this point didn’t seem smart, “Who did you tell,” I questioned, pleading for mercy with my eyes.

“I didn’t tell anyone, and I’m not going to, but you need to be careful. Don’t let them take you,” he warned, seeming to know more then he was willing to reveal.

Erin: “How come I can’t wear the dresses like the other girls in my class?” The youngest of my sisters was cute enough to be in commercials. She was made to wear dresses, we knew this because she owned some. My mother bought them for our family celebrations. I insisted that the cost was not worth the slim chance we got to wear them, but our mother found joy in those few days we could.

“You know we must cover our arms,” I tried to pull her right off the topic.

“Why? What’s wrong with purple,” she still didn’t know. She didn’t know that our arms were a sign of our past. Our mother’s contamination was a color that would be painted on our ancestors for years to come.

“There is nothing wrong with us sweetie. It just tells a story that not everyone is accepting of,” I tried to be vague.

“What story,” she continued to push.

“A story of choices, and places. You’ll learn more in time,” I promised. I could only hope the rest of society would as well.

How is skin color viewed in this society?

Day 247 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a character who flips from harmless to dangerous.

Erin: My least favorite part of having Chris as a brother was the fact that no one ever trusted me. When I told them that he was a terror, all they could think was the time he volunteered at the school fundraiser. When I told them he scratched me, they remembered when he carried his hurt teammate off the field. They didn’t know about the force field of our front door. Chris at home was a beast completely disconnected from the angel he was to the public.

Shannon: “Calm down, you don’t have to do this. You’re not this person,” I reminded Eric as I watched him pace around the room, clutching his head. He was trying to stop himself, but I could see his claws growing and his teeth sharpening. He was already transforming, and I couldn’t stop him now.

I’d usually leave, lock the door, and pretend that would keep him from hurting anyone. Not this time. I had to face him, even if I was scared of getting hurt. I had to learn how to wake him up when he turned into this monster who couldn’t see what he was doing. Not just because he was terrorizing other people, but because it was haunting the good side of him too. That side didn’t deserve that kind of pain.

I watched his head turn slowly to focus on me with his red eyes. He let out a roar, and when I didn’t react he came running over to me. My heart was racing, but I’d fight him if I had to. “It’s me, it’s Amber. I’m you’re best friend,” I kept my voice steady as his breathing got heavier and he continued to growl.

“We used to walk home from school together everyday, do remember that Eric?” He lunged forward and I stepped aside. “I was there when this first started happening to you, and you were scared, but you got through it,” I spoke a little faster this time. He raised his hand, as if he was going to slap me. “You won’t hurt me Eric,” I kept eye contact. “Because you love me and I love you, and you’ll get through this too, because I know you’re in there. I know you can hear me.”

He lowered his hand and looked to the side. Though he flinched once to raise his hand again, he made eye contact and stopped himself. He was there, I was right.

Flip your character’s switch.

Day 246 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: What are your character’s main expenses.

Shannon:

1. Rent
2. Insurance
3. Food and Drinks
4. Bills
5. Toiletries and Cleaning Supplies
6. Pet supplies
7. Restaurant bills
8. Clothes
9. Makeup
10. Decorations
11. Crafts
12. Comic Books

Erin: Trading cards, CDs, Snickers bars, Arcade tokens, and Stickers.

Where is all the money going?

Day 245 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: What is your character’s life motto?

Erin: It ain’t over till the fat lady sings

Shannon: Don’t rely on the branch, rely on your wings.

Reveal some words to live by.

Day 244 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about the similarities in two very different characters.

Shannon: “The two of us aren’t that different, you know.” He looked as if he was holding onto something he could barely will himself to get out.

“I’m nothing like you,” my jaw tensed.

He took in a breath as has he looked up, “We both never eat the M&M’s in the trail mix, while everybody else is avoiding the raisins. We both have terrible memory of the past because we can’t ever seem to agree on that. You’re completely content with being alone, because you’d rather read a book, and as it turns out we have the same taste in those too.”

I didn’t know how to feel about what he just admitted. “You know all of that about me?”

“Don’t make it a thing,” he gave a quick shrug before walking away.

Erin: The only thing they had in common was their lack of any commonalities. Well that and their love of ice-cream.

What’s the one piece of common ground?

Day 243 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Be inspired by the Randy Pausch quote. “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the game.”

Erin: She was the kind of girl who never got upset. At least if she did she wasn’t the kind of girl who reacted when she got upset. She was stone faced no matter if everything was going to shit or if everything was going her way. She was the definition of stability.

Shannon: I was born with a desire to act, but I soon learned after many auditions that I didn’t have the look of a main character. I was always a sidekick, a buddy, or any other supporting character. Good enough to deserve a part, but never worthy of the best one, and there wasn’t anything I could do to change it.

Then one day I decided to stop auditioning to fit into their roles. I started searching for characters like me, and not the ones hiding in the background. They had to be the lead. It wasn’t an easy search, but my characters where out there. I could shine a light on them, and I did.

What’s in your character’s cards?

Day 242 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Where do your characters go to get away from the rest of the world?

Shannon: We weren’t supposed to be on the roof, but no one ever found out we were up there, so we figured it was fair game. We didn’t plan it the first day, just ended up in the same place. It only took that one night of staying up late to talk, as we stared at the stars, to know this rooftop was were we wanted to be. We kept coming back. It became our spot.

Erin: There is this island that only I know about. That’s why I love it. When I can’t handle people anymore I know the grass mound can be my safe space. The only way to get to the land mass is to swim into the underwater cave and out the other end. It takes about 45 seconds without breathing to swim it. Most people would turn back after 30, and so far, everyone but me has. The island in the center started with just some tall glass and wild flowers. Then I brought my tent, books, blankets, pillows, and myself. Maybe one day I would bring a friend, but for the time being I needed the secret space for myself.

Take us to your character’s safe space.

Day 241 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write about a train headed to a mystery location.

Erin: Being on that rickety train under normal circumstances would be intimidating. Waking up to the rust bucket barreling forward when the last thing I remembered was my bed was terrifying. The other people around me looked even less confident than myself. I was determined to team them up and take down the engineer. We could come up with a plan and it was going to be one heck of a ride.

Shannon: My eyelids were heavy as I opened them to see a foggy view of a bright light from the window my head was resting against. I picked my head up, not remembering how I got here as I turned my head to see a stranger sitting next to me. He was sleeping too. Once my eyes could focus a bit more I deducted that we were on a train, and I didn’t recognize a single face around me.

“Hey, are you awake,” a voice behind me questioned, and I twisted by torso to look back at another stranger. “Do you know where we’re going?”

I shook my head, apologetically, “I don’t even know how I got here.”

She sighed, and leaned back again, “Me neither.”

Where is the ticket for?

Day 240 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Put a strange curse on your character.

Shannon: “You think it’s funny to make fun of the parts of people you deem undesirable?” My teacher looked at me with a disappointed stare down, but it didn’t faze me. They wanted me to be kind, but where did kind ever get anyone? “Fine you’re not hurt by anything, then this won’t her you either,” she filled in my silence. “The next time you criticize a person for what they look like, you will share that same trait you despise so much. Be careful about who you hurt, because it will come back to you.”

I crossed my arms, “Is that a threat?”

She smiled and shook her head. “It’s a curse.”

Erin: I was cursed from a young age. Parents used to judge my mother for not being strict enough with me. I remember not understanding why she was getting yelled at for what I was doing to my own hair. Dying hair could damage the health of it though. That was the only explanation normal people had for my hair being blue one day and red the next. If they knew my mood was responsible for my color and highlights their concern would turn to me and I didn’t need that kind of attention.

What curse is your character under?

Day 239 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Create a new superhero.

Erin: Ology was the controller of her victim’s emotions. By manipulating their highs and lows and she could twist them into thinking the decisions they were making were their own. When they followed her wishes they were rewarded with a high inducing level of dopamine. If they did the opposite she could inflict a debilitating dose of sadness. No one realized the full pull of their emotions and that made it easy for her to play puppet master in the shadows.

Shannon: The florescent lights above my head shattered one by one as I ran down the hallway. No one could find out that I was the true cause of the school’s sudden electrical malfunction. I hoped as soon as I was out of the building the chaos would stop, but when I turned back to check I spotted a new problem.

“It’s you. You’re The Spark,” a classmate had been following me. I didn’t know much about him, besides his name and what I’d observed about his intelligence. He was a bit of a nerd, so if anyone in the school was going to find out who I was, I wasn’t surprised it was him.

“What are you talking about? I’m just getting the hell out of the school before it blows up,” I spewed the first excuse I could come up with.

He smiled, like I’d confirmed his suspicion. “How does it work? I’ve never seen electricity function the way it does when you’re fighting. It’s beautiful,” he stepped closer. “I’ve tried to figure out your secret, but I found out it’s impossible to harness that kind of energy. Please, I’ve got to know how you do it.”

I sighed and closed my eyes, giving myself a second to breathe before I opened them again. “Why would,” I paused to air quote the name the media gave me, “The Spark tell you her secret.”

“Well,” he adjusted his glasses, as he thought, “I guess…because I care.”

He managed to get his reason out before the rest of the school started evacuating the building. I took that as my chance to get away, even though it wasn’t a bad answer on his part.

What power does your character possess?