Short Story Prompts - First Paragraphs (Part One)

Happy February!

Thanks to all who contributed to January's short story prompts either on here or Facebook. I thought that I'd update you on the writing by posting the prompts and the first paragraph or two that they sparked. Some worked well, some not so well. Which isn't the fault of the prompt but of my brain or the day it happened to fall on. Some of the stories have become part of a bigger story, such as The Silver Assassin and The Resurrection Man.

So here in the order I did them and I have put the original prompt in bold.

The Snow Hound

The snow began falling and I thought nothing of it, snow isn’t exactly a rare commodity in the Rockies. I never became sick of the sight of it, I loved the sugar coated frosty mountain look too much for that, but the constant clearing of roofs and driveways palled.

Doctor Who

The woman turns back to her friend. "So after all that, I don't think he was even a real Doctor."
Her friend pauses, and shakes her head. "I'm sorry. After all what?

It had been one of those days where the world had dragged its ass and all Bella wanted was for it to end. But before that happened she had one more conference call and then the dreaded commute home.

It seemed to her that her commute was getting worse each day. The tubes less frequent the platforms more crowded. She pushed her way to the furthest end of the platform at St James Park and took out her book. She had perfected the London bubble of being aware of but not making eye contact with anyone on the platform.

The Body (The Resurrection Man)

The body bounced off the windscreen and vanished under the wheels. He thought about not stopping but his foot was already hitting the brake so it was a fleeting thought. His skin crawled at what he might find under the van. He knew it wasn’t the done thing here in the Badlands to stop and investigate anything but that was a body.

“What are you doing? Get the car moving!”

His partner, Grover shouted at him as he looked fearfully out of the grilled side window.

He knew he should . This was madness. But the body had been small, maybe one of those lost and feral kids that roamed the Badlands. He couldn’t just drive over them. The thought of the crunching bones made his stomach roil. He’d seen some bad things in his time but he still couldn’t get used to the way a kid’s life was held so cheap.

The Time Machine

The dial for the time machine spun in front of her. Wild, Wild West or Space 3013 where would she end up?

She tapped her nail against the side of the booth. Why she was worrying so much she didn’t know. It was only a hologram booth at the University but the way Professor Drake was staring hard at her from across the lab, she became flustered.

He was a complete hotty! Even taking into consideration his academic persuasion. She stared at the broad shoulders that strained the seams of his shirt, that sort of muscle didn’t come from sitting around in a lab all day.

The Mirror (The Silver Assassin)

From certain angles, Leon took on the appearance of his former self and it always took him by surprise. You would have thought after 900 years he would be use to this new look him. The re-sculpting of his face by a sword and a horse but he wasn’t.

The Jump

The options were limited and Selina's least favourite was to jump. Which was a bit of a problem as she was currently at altitude with a parachute strapped to her back.

“Three… two… one… JUMP!”

She heard the command through her headset and watched as one of her fellow classmates fell screaming from the plane with a not so hunky instructor strapped to their back.

Why in hell had she agreed to this?

The Foot (The Resurrection Man)

The left foot appeared first rising up out of the mud. It was small, a child’s foot. It even wore the remains of a trainer. Even though he should have been immune to this after all these years he couldn’t help the bile that rose in his throat.

It was probably a child that had been there since the Fall. The shores of the River still gave up their gruesome treasures after all these years. If it was a child from the Fall then they would have been the same age as him…

Art

She never expected a piece of art to affect her so deeply. It revolted her and made her so angry she could feel every part of her tense up. It was only with extreme difficulty she didn’t reach over and rip it from the wall.

“Do you like it?” his voice was mockingly innocent.

Did she like it? How could she? The painting showed her completely exposed to the world. Not just her flesh which nauseated her with its folds and round pinkness which seemed to spill from the canvas. It was the naked longing in her eyes that stared out. Longing that had once been the way she had looked at him

The Last Kiss

First kisses are the ones that every one celebrates, the ones you remember. The ones you treasure as it happened storing up your memories to take out and relive.

But what about the last kiss?

Do you even remember them? Because sometimes the relationship has faded away so that the last kiss is a blurred faded polaroid bleached in the sun. Other times it is wrenched from you when the relationship implodes and leaves a gapping hole. That last kiss turned into a negative photo of a relationship you believed in but suddenly can’t be sure was real.

And then there are those last kisses salted with tears unshed.

Come back soon for the rest of them... Thanks to all who helped. And if you want to use the prompts yourself go ahead.