DWP: disaster prompt

Chelsea sits on the bed beside her sleeping daughter, listening for the sound of disaster that she was told will be coming anytime now. In the eerie silence of the suddenly cold evening, she waits to hear that sound and she is determined to protect her child at any cost, even if she has to fight the will of God to keep her alive.

Two thousand miles away, the sound of disaster still rings in Kasuko's ears, the eerie humming sound that accompanied the earthquake which shattered everything in her home, including the crystal frame of her son's photograph she now holds in her hand. They have found his ravaged body, swept by the mighty waters and pinned down between large debris still clutching the body of a little child he had attempted to save.

DWP: wrong turns

They have come back to haunt her at last, those series of wrong turns she made in her life. She had the incredible knack for attracting emotionally deficient men, lovers with whom she held on for too long thinking that what she felt was love. Each time it felt the same and different simultaneously, a déja vu of crumpled emotions.

Staying in this hospice, lying in this narrow bed all alone, discarded by society, the past comes back like those bad reruns on TV.

DWP: the last night

The last night that Veronica was in Manila, she had promised herself it would be the last time she would visit. Even though she had reconnected with a lot of her friends, Manila is still hellishly hot, her relatives painfully unbearable, and money gets spent like it was going out of style. But four years later, the phone call came.

Now, she's on the plane back.

in the donut shop

For the fourth time, this time with the Tim Horton's store manager as witness, Olivia repeated her order, "Cinnamon-raisin bagel, lightly toasted, double butter, please."

"Anything else?" the cashier asked, also for the fourth time, then looked at the manager who nodded in approval.

"Large green tea, bag on the side, please," says Olivia, rolling her eyes at the exercise.

When her order came, for the fourth time she received a small cup of green tea with the bag in it, and milk, and a maple glazed donut with a slice of cheese.

the dinner guests

Elizabeth wakes up from her long nap on the sofa; she must have been really tired to have had napped for more than three hours and had it not been for the doorbell, she probably would have slept until morning. She looks at the clock, walks towards the door, stretches her arms as she lets out a big yawn at the same time as she opens the door. It is her good friend Leah, holding a bottle of wine, and her husband Bobby, holding a bunch of store-bought flowers.

As the two visitors say "Hi", Elizabeth suddenly remembers that this is the night she's having them for dinner and that there's virtually nothing in the fridge.

the concert

the concert

Watching her was a dream come true. In her black velvet gown, she sat on the edge of the high stool, delicately brushed her hair aside with her beautiful fingers, and when she sang the first few notes of "What are you doing the rest of your life?", I cried.

Her voice was half a note lower than 30 years ago, but it didn't matter. For the mere price of $275 I got to see her and hear personally the greatest voice of them all: Barbra Streisand.

DWP - paranoia: prompt

paranoia

Kalan knows this business of killing and murdering people for money has got to catch up with him sooner or later and he has wished it would have been later, much, much later. All these times that Kalan has come to Father Richard for confession, is it possible that, no matter the two of them have been kindred spirits ever since their young years, Father Richard is actually a spy and an assassin? And now that Kalan's thinking about it, in all forty of his missions, Father Richard has always suddenly and conveniently appeared.

And Kalan thinks that perhaps, the priest has sold him to his enemies.

DWP - elves: prompt

elves

Mila, the daughter of the groundskeeper at the large house on our street, was a skinny, dark-skinned and plain-looking girl who was also painfully shy that everyone was surprised when word got on the street that she was pregnant and that Antonio was the father. Antonio was a handsome, fast-talking man, being the product of an American service man in Subic and the "laundry woman" at the little inn that the soldiers frequented when they leave the base for good time. People were divided as to what actually transpired between Antonio and Mila, with one group saying Mila, for all her shyness must've seduced Antonio beause no one else would pursue her, while the other group said Antonio must've fast-talked Mila and raped her because, really, who wants a handsome midget (yes, he's a midget) for a husband if you're tall and lanky like Mila.

So when people heard that Mila had given birth to twins, they asked Antonio what he was going to call his children, to which he replied with a mocking smile on his face, "Since you refer to me as an elf, I guess, my children are 'elves'?"

DWP - broken: prompt

Broken
(Continued from the "plugged in" prompt)

Neves can't believe her ears. "What do you mean it's not plugged in?"

"Gheez, Auntie Nev, see this?" Shayla says popping pink bubble gum while waving an assortment of cables at Neves. "Besides, I think the damn camera's broken."

DWP - magic: prompt

First I heard his voice and when I turned around, Benjamin was there, with the same smile, and the same sparkle in his eyes and I felt like I was transported back in time.

"Ben!" I called, the excitement in my voice obvious even though I tried to act cool.

It was like a slow motion scene in a movie, the camera panning between the protagonists, like everything else and everyone else were blurred and there was no one else in the scene except Benjamin and me, as he reached for my hands and our fingers intertwined and we just stood there and stared at each other, just staring and not saying anything. It seemed like magic.