City Street
Today’s post is based on a writing prompt I shared in the exclusive Daily Drafters chat thread: City Street. Keep reading to see what I wrote, then scroll to see today's Flash Fiction Friday prompt .
What I wrote below is based on the following writing prompt: Describe a city street twice, in 150 words each time. First describe the city street as welcoming. Then describe the city street as threatening. Only change the details you emphasize in each version, the details that are setting the mood of the scene. Try to write about the same street in the second version, but describe a different experience and mood than what you wrote in the first version.
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City Street
AM
As I lengthen my stride, the sun beats down on the cracked cement in front of me, making the lower part of my legs burn inside and out reassuringly. The sparse tree canopy overhead barely shields the rays peeking through, but a light spring breeze keeps them from scorching the top of my head. I can even smell the sweet earthy musk of the rainstorm approaching from the east, though it won’t hit for another hour or so yet. Basically, it’s the perfect day, perfect hour, perfect weather for a run on my favorite city street.
It’s a holiday weekend, so neighbors and all the polluted traffic they bring are scarce too. Right now, with nothing but fresh petrichor-filled air in my lungs and club bass in my ears, it feels like it’s only me on this city street, like I’m the only one serendipitously linked to it by some temporary cosmic force no one else can sense but me. It’s as if I’m running toward cloud nine, away from all my worries.
I’ve already rounded the block thrice, but I’m going for a fourth turn, content with the pace I’ve kept so far, grateful nothing is interfering with my momentum. No strollers. No free-roaming dogs, or children. No scooters. No hoverboards. No school buses or delivery trucks. No weird stalkers in black hoodies lurking around. No people rushing to someplace they’re obligated to be. No, there’s nothing but the verdant fields of the park sprawling ahead, just beyond the unobstructed path stretching out before me.
PM
When I drop my apartment keys into the gutter, I wince, then seriously debate moving apartments so I don’t have to bend down to fish them out of the gooey mess they’ve landed in, which consists of broken wet leaves, assorted fast food debris, and an unidentifiable metallic sludge that’s twinkling like false gold underneath the flickering street lamp.
Just then a preteen on a motorized bike whizzes by out of nowhere, forcing me to pirouette inelegantly into the street. Luckily, there aren’t any cars headed toward me. But the quick-footed evasion forces me to land awkwardly on the left side of my foot, snapping off the heel of my right shoe with a dull yet decisive crunch.
I’m already running late, so have no choice but to retrieve the ballet flats I keep in my bag for emergency situations like this and put them on, even though they squeeze my toes and barely match the outfit I’m wearing, which is when I notice the huge grease stain running down the side of my white blouse. I have no idea whether the stain came from the kid’s bike or the mysterious sludge I had to reclaim my keys from while bending over to don the flats. Regardless, it’s abominably large and starting to spread into an oblong upside-down-cactus shape with spikes.
Shedding no more than three or four tears of frustration, I turn back to the direction of my apartment, conceding defeat. I’m clearly a magnet for disaster tonight, not fun, and this recent unfortunate series of events is obviously a sinister omen of some kind because… this is also the exact moment I see him, my week-old stalker, in his stark black hoodie, charging directly toward me.
I might revise, edit, or add to this draft in the future. Stay tuned!
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© This work is not available for artificial intelligence (AI) training. All Rights Reserved by K.E. Creighton; Creighton’s Compositions LLC. The above work is a piece of fiction. While, as in all fiction, the literary perceptions and insights are based on experience, all names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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Community Notes
⚡Flash Fiction Friday Prompt⚡
No Letter E
✍️Write a 250-word story without using the letter ‘e’ (the most common letter in English). ✍️
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