Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who provides us with a photo prompt. Each week’s challenge is to write a 100-word story inspired by the photo. Click here to play along or just read more stories.
“Death is but a door. Time is but a window. I’ll be back.” – Prince Vigo von Homburg Deutschendorf
Part One: But A Door
My father was dead. He was cremated in 2019. It’s the “was” that makes this story interesting.
When deceased people started returning, it was a shock to everyone. Everyone was overcome with elation and confusion, both the living and “reliving.” Opinions ran the spectrum from a miracle, the Rapture (reverse Rapture?), to demons, zombies, clones, robots, mass hallucination, an alternate universe…
Tests showed they were themselves, healthy, normal, human beings.
Every day more arrive. Every day our resources grow scarcer. We’re running out of space. Forests have been razed so skyscraper apartment buildings could be raised. Pollution is rampant.
NobbinBlog 
There’s a reason for death. Life would be intolerable if all those smartasses came back
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It be worse if it were the dumbasses who came back.
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Having read and heard stories like this so often over the years I so agree. Without death, mankind would have to deal with a living Hell. Pain, terminal disease, accidents, suicide attempts, wouldn’t go away. They would merely lead to the ultimate nightmare.
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I guess I wasn’t as original as I hoped. It would be pretty horrific.
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I’m not original either, having always been in the habit of stealing quite mercilessly~
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I blame my subconscious. All those things live there, and the subconscious brings them up, and I think I’m being clever.
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An interesting and horrifying take. Well done!
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Thank you.
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What an intriguing take. Do the dinosaurs come back, too or just dead humans? In any case, I see carnage.
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I didn’t consider dinosaurs. That would certainly add to the chaos. They’d make the story more fun.
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Certainly for the readers. The protagonists… uhm… 😀
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What an intriguing first paragraph. And it really sets us up for the rest of the frightening story. A great story.
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Thank you. That first paragraph hit me, and I knew I had to run with it.
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The elation was quickly replaced by despair. How will this place house and care for so many people, the living and the reliving? I must say, I’m glad there will be another part. Intriguing story from the very beginning!
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It would be a mixed blessin for sure. We’ll explore that more in part two. Thank you.
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My goodness what a wild idea, the Insurance Companies will go bust.
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Well, I guess it wouldn’t be all bad. Thank you.
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We’re told there’s more people alive today than have ever lived and died before. this scenario seems to be upon us without the dead adding to the numbers.
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The population is out of control, except in China.
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Heaven forbid this comes true. There are a couple of people I wouldn’t want to see again!
Here’s mine!
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I just want to see what happens with people who lost their spouse and remarried.
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Well, that’s thought provoking. We’d probably all be selective in who we wanted back. And just imagine the tangled webs of obligation. The daughter’s mother, who’s had half a lifetime of being cared for, coming back just when said daughter thinks she has some freedom!
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Yeah, there would be a plethora of complications. Someone who lost a spouse and remarried might have some ‘splanin’ to do. Thank you, Penny.
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Dear Nobbin,
This just might be more frightening than zombies. Imaginative and thought provoking.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yeah, the dead coming back would be a plague disguised as a blessing. Thank you, Rochelle.
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Nobbin,
So this is what we have to look forward to. Not a zombie apocalypse but a Reverse Rapture one. Coming to a theater near you. :>)
pax,
dora
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Yeah, I’m in. I’ll sell the movie rights. Thank you, Dora.
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I just watched a netflix series called, Katla that has a very similar plot although the living hell even the living are in cannot be further decimated. Part 1, eh? Looking forward to part 2.
link to info on Katla: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11102190/reference
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That looks interesting. I love those Icelandic names.
I thought about posting both at the same time, but I decided to dangle it out there.
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Unique idea. I can see how things may become a bit crowded 🙂
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Yeah, we’re crowding the planet as it is. Thank you.
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A challenging story, and it may be happening, but in a slightly different way.
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Yeah, we seem insistent on packing the planet as full as we can get it.
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I hope there is more. I love the concept. Reminds me of an Aussie TV show called Glitch. The dead start waking up in a country town.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glitch_(TV_series)
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That sounds a little like “The 4400” or “Manifest.” There is more. Now, we just have to hope it gets posted. Probably not this week. Thanks, T.
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Tease… 😀
Glitch as the dead actually coming back from their graves, nothing like “The 4400”.
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Whatever you say, Saucy Aussie.
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That was a really interesting concept. Thank you.
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No, thank you. It just hit me, and I ran with it.
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Definitely not a good thing for the dead to return. Population is already way up there! Really enjoyed this!
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Even if they’re not eating brains. Thank you.
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Eeesh…
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No thanks. The dead should stay that way. Great take.
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I agree. Dying is a choice they should have to live with. Thank you.
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You got me hooked with the first two lines! Going to Part Two now.
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Good. It’s important to have that hook. Thanks for going back to Part One first.
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I felt compelled to read Part One first. 🙂
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I’m always oddly amazed when people start anywhere other than the beginning of any story.
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Haha. The large majority of us are born in the middle of humanity’s story, aren’t we? 🙂
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I’ll give you that, but we go back and try to find the beginning of the story and the important parts we missed. “Previously on Humanity… “
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Great point. Maybe the people who are not particularly interested in history are the same ones who don’t start reading from the beginning of a story.
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Could be. They’re also the ones who repeat the mistakes of the past.
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