A Series of (Very) Short Stories

Prompt #1

Hey all!!! Sorry for the long break! I'm in Europe now and want to get back into posting! Enjoy!

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Prompt: “You asked me to run away with you. Are you still willing to do that?”

Angelica stared silently through the scraggly woods, looking past them to the dusty desert beyond. It had been a long year, filled with pain. Her mind wandered to her community and her family, destroyed in The Panic, the rest lost to the rain that followed. It rained almost every night, electrical storms licking across the desert, before ferociously attacking the few remaining villages. There weren’t many left, most destroyed as hers had been. Those who survived fled to the mountains, or were captured and put to work. One day, she hoped to make it to those mountains too, but perhaps that was just a wistful dream.

A tap on her arm abruptly pulled her from her thoughts. Devon met her eyes, smiling towards her.

“You okay there Angelica? You don’t want people to think you’re not enjoying the work, right?” That’s when she noticed that his smile seemed tight, forced, as though it didn’t quite meet his eyes. Shifting to glance over her shoulder, she followed his gaze to the guards surrounding the field, two whom were staring directly at her.

Quickly she looked down, back at the field, dealing with the matter at hand. She didn’t dare to look out at the forest again.

…

“We could do it you know.” Angelica abruptly stated, sitting up. Devon sighed, rolling his eyes slightly, with no response.

“I’m serious. We could lead a revolution, and get to the mountains.”

“Not this again Angelica. The mountains are just a dream. No one ever makes it there.”

“You don’t know that, we all could.”

“This isn’t the place to discuss such things,” a voice echoed from the shadows. “You both should know better than that.” A man stepped out, a few years older than they were. His eyes were ages away from this place, haunted and pained, but also containing a spark, of something that Angelica couldn’t quite place. “There is talk in this institute of rebellion. Much talk, with no action. You will find others, supporters of your cause, but you must be more discreet about this.” With this, he faded back into the shadows from whence he came.

Devon broke the silence first with a snort of laughter. “That was wack” he mumbled.

“Did you hear anything he actually said? Others want to revolt too. As a group, we could do it.”

Devon’s smile dropped, “ You’ve asked before. Maybe we could make it out of here, but with everyone else? Please Angelica, get real.”