Friday Fictioneers: Part Two: But A Window

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.

PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook

I’m committed to posting this sequel instead of creating a wholly new story for this wholly holey stump. It’s probably a good thing since my mind isn’t wholly available at the moment. If you missed part one or you need a refresher since I missed last week, it’s available here: Friday Fictioneers: Part One: But A Door. If you don’t want to read part one, this will act as a stand-alone. I’ll try not to be offended or let you see my tears.

Dearly beloved, We are gathered here today to get through this thing called life. Electric word “life.” It means forever, and that’s a mighty long time. – Prince (Let’s Go Crazy)

Part Two: But A Window

I died today. It’s all right. I’m fine. I’m used to it.

Everybody dies. Food is scarce. Diseases run rampant. Death is no longer the panacea it once was. Crime is a plague. The air is unbreathable. Suicide rates are uncountable, not just for their frequency. Everybody dies. Everybody comes back.

Eternal life was once sought after. It was a blessing. Now, the blessing is a curse. Procreation has become our greatest sin, not because it increases the population as much as the cruelty of the act.

Scientists around the world are searching for a cure, a cure for life. 

70 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers: Part Two: But A Window”

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  1. Pingback: Friday Fictioneers: Part One: But A Door – NobbinBlog

  2. Oh God, I got a sick feeling in my stomach reading this. I see the prophetic potential. The only way off the merry go-round would be to do a mass detonation across the planet. We would need to do it before the only life forms left for us to reincarnate into are insects and fungi (both made of the same material, btw, chitin.)

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    1. No bullchitin. Blow up the planet. That could work. Though the explosion could throw Venus and/or Mars off their rotation to the point they could sustain life as we know it. We could start coming back on one of them.

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  5. Excellent part 2. I can’t help but think that people would get so tired of just living and seeing all around them become more and more miserable. It feels like hell.

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      1. What’s the meaning of life?

        I think Concrete Blonde was saying the bullet is a god as it has the power to take life, but I’m sick, so I could have misinterpreted.

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      2. Exactly. But in your world there is no death. No way to take life.

        If you want to expand the story, you need to know the end game; how does the world get death back?

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    2. I’ve never heard of Concrete Blonde. What are they playing at? None of them are blonde.

      I wish I had enough of insight into this world to make it a novel. Maybe when I feel better.

      Thanks, T.

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      6. Thank you. My initial plan was to write a script and go for one of those Pixar-type animated blockbusters. I started the book as a treatment, but got more into the book. Now, I’m working on the third.

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      8. It all started as a weird dream I had. I woke up laughing and the first chapter and characters were pretty much fully formed in my head. Thanks. It’s a labor of love like your Hannah series.

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      9. I’ve had those dreams so often with Holly and have to spend hours I should be sleeping making notes for her.
        I had such a deep connection with her that if I saw something relating to a mystery I’d see her face, her icy-blue eyes twinkling at me.

        People ask how writers do what they do, thats how it’s like magic when you connect to characters like we do.

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      10. Hitchcock told a story about a writer who woke up in the middle of the night with a brilliant idea. He rolled over and made a note. He woke up in the morning, remember he had a genius idea, and jumped up to read his notes. The note said, “Boy meets girl.”

        My characters carry me through everything I write. They guide me. They tell the stories. Any time I struggle or I’m stuck, I let them talk. Once they get talking, they find the breakthroughs.

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      11. That’s not a genius idea, thats an very ordinary one with nothing to work on lol.

        I’m with you, when writing with Holly I barely thought of anything she just told me everything either as I tried to sleep or over my shoulder as I was working. It was a magical time. She would often go off on a tangent changing the plan. a ‘Holly’s plot twist’ I’d call it. I’d think about returning to the plan and swiftly realise what she did was going to work out way better anyway. This magic is why writers write so much isn’t it?

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      12. That’s the joke.

        I wrote my first L Squad and first Norman book in a month each. I wrote another book while I was writing Norman. I’ve never been that productive again. A little inspiration can go a long way.

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      14. Stephen King says one should get 2,000 words per day. For those three books, I stuck to that. Three months is a good pace. It’s better than my three in three months, then nothing for two years. I’m back into a steady routine of at least half an hour per day no matter what’s happening.

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      15. I did three months writing, one month reading for seven years. Ended up with 20 mysteries. None are published right now. But might be soon.
        I think as writers we must all find a routine and pace that suits us and go with it really.

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      16. 20 mysteries? That’s impressive. Good luck with publishing.

        Routine is important. I know whenever I slack, it’s hard to get back into it.

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      19. Well I can’t do the editing and publishing work with out help. I’m not skilled enough.

        My hands cramp with tendonitis and worsening nerve issues so I can’t even use the laptop sometimes.

        I just do what I can when I can and hope its good enough now.

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      20. Have you ever used Grammarly or Pro Writing Aid? PWA has improved my editing and writing immensely. I use the free version of Grammarly for basic stuff and the paid version, less than $200 for lifetime access, gets the in-depth stuff. It’s so rigorous it’s exhausting.

        That sounds rough. Do you use any voice-to-text software?

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      21. I have Grammerly working all the time. I don’t feel it works very well at all. Pro Writing Aid is far to complex. I felt I needed to be a scientist to use it.

        I do use diction. Still have to type to edit and such though so it doesn’t completely solve the issue.

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    1. There are a few scenarios in which eternal life would be a nightmare. Imagine watching everyone you love die only to be replace by a new cast who dies over and over.

      Thank you, and thank you for taking the time to go back to part one.

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  14. What a horrible development. Of course humanity could, for once, tap into its better nature and try to make something of the situation. Reach towards spiritual enlightenment. Pursue the sciences and explore the universe. If you don’t die, you have all the time in the world, and what are a few hundred light years compared to all the wonders waiting in the universe. Since the universe isn’t exactly tiny, it would provide enough space for humans from their beginning (H. sapiens? H. erectus? Australopithecus?) 😀 (Of course they’d have to stop to procreate).

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    1. Ah, but what about the space madness?

      That would be ideal, but I was thinking of this happening in the near future and the planet becoming uninhabitable before we achieve interstellar travel or even a holodeck to keep the travelers sane-ish. I’m sure there would be people exploring an escape option, but that’s at least decades off.

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  19. Pingback: Friday Fictioneers: As We Know It – NobbinBlog

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