Short Stories and Writing exercises

Exercise #1: "The pugilist and the madman"

Exercise #1: Pick two random characters and write a short story.

"The pugilist and the madman"

She
She was a bit of a, how would you call it? Troublemaker? Short spikey blood red hair, baggy ¾ camo-pants and a stained white shirt with angelic wings on the back. Fists at the ready, bloody nose dripping on the floor and her beach sandals. She stood straight. She had always stood straight. She wouldn’t bow, for no one… no one but him.

He
He had just left that place. It was not as if they could have helped him. The pills they had given him flew out of the window of the driver’s window. He knew they wouldn’t make the difference and so had they. He wiped the slick brown hair from his eyes and tucked the most annoying end behind his ear. He couldn’t understand how those rebellious strands had always seemed to slip from the tight tail in his neck. Red light. His clunky black boots impatiently hit the brake. The car came to a moaning standstill. He wore tight black jeans and a smudged green shirt of his favourite band. He grinned, but his split lip made the grin into a tight frown. Such sarcasm he would be going back to school. It was not as if he wasn’t able to skip some of the lessons in his final year here, but the men at the centre had told him some social activities would do him good. Since the medicine lay a few miles back in the dirt, he reckoned social contact was as good as any medicine. School it was.

She
Issues. She had issues? Hardly as much as the guy laying bloody and broken on the floor. She on the other hand was perfectly fine. Her knuckles stung and she could taste the iron aftertaste from the blow she had taken to the jaw, but it was nothing to worry about, She had most definitely seen worse days. As far as she could tell the pile of misery on the flood had just got what he had asked for, shouldn’t have pestered those girls asking for their lunch money. It was not as if she had planned to beat him to pulp, it had just sort of happened. Somewhere in between her telling him to lay off and him telling her to go f#ck herself the first blow had landed. The girls had already fled inside of the school and she could see how the life of the spectators inside of the building slowly moved into action. She sighed. This would be another visit to the principal. Than man just couldn’t understand the necessity of a well-aimed punch. Or several in this case.

He
As he parked the car he already dreaded the decision to come to school today. He spotted the yard crammed with a massive crowd of franticly mumbling and pointing people. He also spotted the ambulance. It seemed as if today was no exception form any other day. As the ambulance brothers hoisted a tightly wrapped red package onto the stretcher he spotted her just sitting there, scraping the dried blood of her knuckled looking sheepishly at the boy she beat into the hospital. He rolled his eyes. Was there nothing better she could do? Before he could answer that question he realised he couldn’t care. He had problems of his own and it seemed as if she would have some as well as the balding headmaster came dashing towards her in his checker blouse and bleak grey pants. He sighed and headed for the classrooms. If he was fast enough, he might have the seat all the way back where no one could bother him. He felt his stomach twist. Another wave announced itself. He dashed past a couple of giggling girls who fell silent on seeing his pale sweaty face. Instead of helping they just stared. Typical of this school. He dashed past them, only to find himself confronted with her as soon as he set foot in the classroom. ‘What are you doing here?’ He asked her in a hoarse voice. It came out more hostile than he had intended, but he knew he wouldn’t have too much time left. He didn’t even wait for her to answer and flung his bag off his shoulder before throwing himself in the back chair. She just grinned. ‘The last place headmaster Pickles would be looking for me would be in this class.’ She stared at his face and put a dirty palm on his forehead. He noticed her hands were uncommonly smooth for someone with her ‘hobbies’. ‘You feelin’ okay?’ She asked. ‘Y’ look shitty’. He flinched but didn’t back away. He tried to warn her, but it was too late. He could feel himself slipping into darkness, consuming everything around him leaving only dread behind. When he opened his eyes again he could feel the world around him break. The only thing he could think over and over again was ‘why did I have to go to school. Why did I-’His emerald green eyes shot towards her light grey ones. She looked surprised to see his struggle was not with her. She quickly regained her calm and suddenly lashed out. The small classroom was filled with the sound of an open palm hitting soft flesh. He blinked once before shooting her a ungrateful look. ‘What the hell was that for?’ Then he realised the headache was gone along with his dizziness. ‘Y’ seemed to enter som’ sort of fit. ‘ve dealt with some people who suffer from that. Usually givin’ them a good scare snapped them right out of it.’ She told him. He rubbed the sore spot on his cheek. The meat was a little numb and stung, but the pain kept him with both feet on the ground. ‘Thanks’ He told her surprised. As she grinned he could see she was missing a couple of teeth in her mouth, probably hit out in some fight. ‘No Prob, Bob!’ He shuffled a bit uncomfortable in his chair. ‘Cinder.’ He told her. ‘My name is Cinder.’ Her smile got even wider. ‘Fire, eh? I like that, Cinder. I’m Kathrine, but you just call me Kat’ She firmly and formally shook his still slightly shaking hand. It was the beginning of a turbulent but rewarding friendship.