Today’s prompt will be something fairly easy for a lot of you. If you are a creative writer, then it will be a huge advantage.
On the other hand, if you struggle with writing, then the prompt may be more of a challenge.
In this case, I urge you to see it through. Push yourself to make it the best bit of writing you have done all week. Flex those creative muscles and try to surprise yourself with what you create.
Please don’t just take the prompt at face value. Really dive in and make an extra effort to go beyond ordinary.
Ready?
January 06
Write about something that scares you.
Here’s the rub: I want you to really challenge yourself here. Use all of your words. Don’t be scared to use adjectives.
For instance, if you are scared of bees, don’t just write “I am scared of bees, they are scary.” and be done for the day.
Instead, reach down deep, show us that emotion, let the reader feel what it is like to be that scared of a bee. Try to write in a way that your reader then becomes scared of the same thing.
Ready? Here is what I got so far.
I love Halloween, I always have. I don’t like haunted houses though. They scare me too much. Mom says it’s okay, that she is scared, too, but I can see the drop in her smile when I refuse to go in and she has to wait outside with me.
This year, we didn’t even try, Instead, mom is taking me trick or treating to a new neighborhood. She says “they have the best candy, and they should because Jack’s dad makes a lot of money.” Whatever that means.
The new neighborhood looks nice though and as we park the car I can see a bouncy house in the park and some kind of carnival on the water front. Maybe they have rides!
After the 4th block my legs are tired and my hand hurts. Mom said I had to carry my candy or we would stop and go home. I am having a lot of fun though, it’s just a lot of walking for my legs.
We just finished the last house on the block and it is a dark corner around to the next one. I grip my mom’s hand tighter. And then, I see him.
His name is Ted, and he is the 5th grade bully at school. He is 3 years older than me and I always stay away from him. He likes to push me into the lockers or through a door to some classroom. I’m too little to fight back.
(Bully’s are scary, right?)
This year, I heard him say he wasn’t going to go trick or treating, and instead he was going to hide and steal everyone’s bags as they went by. He already has five bags at his feet, and I just saw him look at mine!
I was torn between just dropping my bag to have two hands to hold onto my mom and dropping her hand to hold my candy with both hands. In the end, I squeezed by bag tighter and started to sweat.
I could feel the bag being ripped from hand long before I could even make out Ted’s ridiculous costume. It was Frankenstein’s Monster, apparently.
My heart raced, my smile faded behind the painted on batman mask. The cape behind me scraping the ground and I just knew it would make me trip.
I had a headache and I just wanted to go home. I started walking behind my mom more and more with each step, peering out from behind her legs as we walked. Time stopped. The carnival noises faded into night-time screams.
As Ted got closer I started to tremble. Mom was tugging on my arm and asking what was wrong. All I could hear were limbs ripping, bags tearing, candy hitting the ground.
Ted was nearly on top of us now. He must have been 100 feet tall! I wanted to cry. I wished I was home, or in the car, or back at school where all he could do was push me into a stupid locker.
He passed. He didn’t grab for my candy. But he leaned in and whispered. I’ll never forget those words until I’m at least 9 years old. “You’re next.”
