September 2021 Writing Prompts

[iam_senpai]

August was a super heavy super busy month for a lot of us but bow howdy I was not ready to realize it was already gone! September is here. The end of summer, the turn toward the holiday-heavy year end approaches. Let's see summer out with some new prompts to fire the imagination and get folks back into writing shape.

And As always--

Disclaimer: I never close old writing prompts from previous months. People can and should be encouraged to post on old month's prompts and I highly encourage players to track these posts to catch stragglers or new people writing on old prompts.

Now. With that out of the way, onto this month's prompts.

September's Writing Prompts

1. What’s a taste or smell that will always remind your character of their childhood?

2. One last hurrah before the weather turns.

3. “Do you know how far I had to travel to get these?”

4. A sudden upheaval.

5. “So... now what?”



Bonus image prompt:

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4 - A Sudden Upheaval

[itmeanstruth]

Thunderous applause only died down to allow the crowd to start chanting ‘One more song! One more song!’ The Spiders had just left the stage, but they’d be back for an encore. Maybe two. Minoru had been to more than enough concerts to know what to expect.

This show, though, had been particularly impressive. There was a palpable aura of emotion over the whole venue. Minoru, hidden up in the rafters above it all, could feel everything - Ziggy’s love, the energy of the audience below, the heat of the lights in front of him as they signaled that the encore was about to begin. It was the perfect night.

And then suddenly, it wasn’t.

Minoru didn’t know what pulled his attention from the stage, maybe a stray click or a bit of movement in his peripheral vision. He glanced to the right, and quickly realized that he wasn’t the only person hiding up in the rafters.

There was somebody else crouching on the middle set, carefully staring down the barrel of a gun…They were watching, waiting for the curtains to part so that Ziggy could make one last grand entrance. The first few notes of Mick’s guitar felt like daggers in Minoru’s chest. Excited screams rose like bile in his throat. They all knew the song. It was ‘Rock n Roll Suicide.’ Ironic, the papers would say. Tragic…

Minoru didn’t think. He didn’t have time to think. Taking what little running start he could get on the narrow catwalk, he leapt into the air. He caught a bar above him, swinging again to close the distance between him and the gunman. He might have screamed. It might have been someone below. A string broke. Minoru came up short. Miraculously, he managed to snag the assailant’s left leg as he frantically grabbed for anything he could reach. The gun went off, but into a stage light. And time, instead of taking a cigarette, seemed to stand still.

Screams turned into silence, and then into an entirely different sort of screams. Minoru held on. The gunman, pulled from the rafters, dropped his weapon to catch the ledge. He almost missed, but somehow managed to hold on too, his chest slamming against the metal and knocking the wind from his lungs. Minoru felt the jerk, but didn’t fall. People trampled over the discarded gun and broken glass, pushing and shoving in every direction. It was chaos.

But dangling 25 feet in the air, everyone moved in slow motion. The sounds were blinding. The arena lights were deafening. A few words cut through the rising panic, or maybe Minoru just imagined them. Everything was far too intense to be real.

“Everybody stay calm!”
“Security!”
“Where’s Ziggy? Get the Spiders out of here!”
“Minoru!”

He swore he heard his name.

As Damien and the other security personnel fought their way through the stampeding crowd, Minoru fought to hold on. The gunman, of course, was desperately trying to pull himself back onto the catwalk. He kicked his legs, but Minoru tightened his grip. His pants sagged, and Minoru felt himself drop several inches. When he tried to climb, the ledge was just out of reach.

“Minoru!!”

Someone was definitely calling his name.

He turned his head, narrowly missing the assailant’s other kneecap as it swung forward. Most of the crowd was still running, but some had stopped to watch. Security had made a hole, and Damien was standing in it.

“Hang on!” Someone shouted.

But the Diamond Dog screamed louder. “Jump!”

Minoru didn’t think. He didn’t have time to think. He simply jumped. When the gunman kicked his feet, his fingers slipped, but Minoru had already let go.

For Minoru, time finally took that cigarette. For everyone else, though, the two and a half story fall must have stretched into eternity. The gunman flailed, smacking the other ledge of the catwalk, but failed to grab onto it. He screeched like a dying bird, his limbs thrashing in every direction like four broken wings. He hit the ground with a sickening crack, his back and neck completely shattered upon impact. Minoru, on the other hand, felt his entire body relax. He didn’t resist the fall. Instead, he broke it, spreading out the impact over as much of his body as possible as he slapped the ground and rolled to a stop. Neither men moved.

One was dead. What remained of the crowd was dead silent.

Immediately, the security guards swarmed the body. Damien bolted to Minoru’s side as the traceur tentatively wiggled his fingers and flexed his ankles. Minoru was shaken, but conscious. Bruised, most certainly, but not broken. He was vaguely aware of Damien’s hands inspecting him for injuries, almost positive he heard someone mention a medic was on their way. He sat up just as they told him not to move, and turned to face a veritable army of stunned faces.

“Ziggy?” Minoru gulped. “Did he…”

“Everybody’s safe.” The Diamond Dog confirmed, and Minoru felt his heart settle back into his chest. He very nearly laughed out loud in relief. That was an encore they’d hopefully never have to repeat.