346 Prompts

Number 11

"Below are 3 sets of words. Use all the words in each set to write mini stories in 300 words or less:

SET 1: paper clips, principal, lunchbox, swing, girl with a pink ribbon

SET 2: biology, class card, foreign student, leaf, blood sample

SET 3: typewriter, filing cabinet, puncher, clerk, carbon paper, janitor"

The girl with the pink ribbon in her hair had sat on that rope and wood swing. A blue lunchbox waited patiently beside the swings, paperclips held school work and notes from teacher to parent. From counsellor to teacher. From parent to principal.

The swing set was taped off now. The breeze sighed in grief and the frayed rope wavered. The blood had been spilled all over the sand, but they had scooped it up. The offending stone had been taken away in secrecy. The only remnant of the girl was her memory and her little pink ribbon. The ribbon got caught on a guilty blade of grass and refused to leave. No matter how hard the wind blew and tried to forget, the ribbon stuck to the grass. It fluttered and glittered in the sun.

Innocence had been lost.

***

They judged the foreign student by his blood sample. The class card that looked like a leaf falling into his hand carried his picture; carried his shame. They judged him by his biology, his anatomy. They judged him by the colour of their skin. They judged him by the colour of his skin.

***

Typewriter closed the book he had just finished reading aloud. The group around him acknowledged the story's ending with nods and various mumbled comments.

"I liked the part about the war," Puncher leaned back and crossed his well-muscled arms.

"You always like the parts about war," Filing Cabinet quipped.

"And how is he to know? Only you can remember things," Clerk debated.

"She's right," Carbon Paper agreed with Clerk.

"It doesn't matter," Janitor sat in his corner as always.

Puncher stood, his massive form filling the small space. Filing Cabinet stood too, almost half Puncher's size.

"We don't have to do this," Janitor curled up in his corner.

"We've been here for too long, even I know that," Clerk sighed, "We need to get out soon, before we tear each other apart."

Puncher glared at Filing Cabinet, then both sat.

"Do you think they'll let us out soon?" Clerk asked.

Everyone shrugged and shook their heads. Filing Cabinet leaned back on a sack like so many others around the room.

Typewriter pulled another book from the shelf behind him, from what seemed like a lifetime of stories. As he began to read the first chapter from print that only he could read, the events of the last hour, the chapters of the former story faded away in their memories. All forgot what had happened except for one. None remembered how they had gotten there; why they were there.