Writing Prompt – Day 4

Hey guys! Day 4 already of writing prompts!

This next one is a prompt suggestion from a new follower and I am up for the challenge…

Shout out to my 12-year-old son Jace who looked up my blog, found it, followed it, commented on it, liked my posts, AND e-mailed me a suggestion. I just love him so much and he is so sweet & supportive!

Jace – if you are reading this, don’t forget to comment your prompt example below! You are not getting away with suggesting one and not doing it yourself! (Side note: Jace is a fantastic writer and I am so proud of how talented he is!) I love you! Xoxo – Mom

Before we get started, if you are unsure of how to do a writing prompt, you can click here to learn more!

My timer is set for fifteen minutes and I am ready to write…

Are you?

Good!

Now let’s dive right into Day 4’s writing prompt!!

Your parents tell you that they actually don’t know whose child you are.

Sheila fidgeted with her hands in her lap as the silence in the air lingered. She couldn’t take the tension in the room for a second longer.

“Okay guys, you are scaring me. Will someone please tell me what is going on already?” Sheila said.

Will glanced at Nancy and then back at Sheila.

“Honey, there is a secret we’ve been keeping from you for some time now. Your whole life actually. And now that you turned 17, we think it’s the right thing to do to tell you.” He took a sharp breath in, getting ready to crush Sheila’s world, but when he tried, he couldn’t find the next words to say.

Sheila’s heart dropped. She knew whatever they needed to tell her was going to be life changing. She could feel it in the air, hear it in her father’s tone, and see it on her parents faces. Maybe she wasn’t ready to hear whatever they needed to say. Maybe this could wait.

“You know what, do we have to talk about this now? Could it wait until, I don’t know, maybe another year?”

Nancy threw Will a confused glance, but he wasn’t looking back at her. He was staring intently at Sheila, debating whether waiting to tell her was an option. He knew what the right thing to do was but maybe they really could wait just one more year. Maybe things didn’t have to chan-

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this,” Nancy said, stopping Will from convincing himself they should hold off. “Sheila, we love you so so much and we are deeply and truly sorry for having kept this from you for all these years but…” Nancy ended all other possibilities with her next words. “Your father and I, well, we actually don’t know who your real parents are. We…” Her words trailed off into an abyss of mixed emotions.

“You don’t know who-” Sheila held back tears and shook her head gently. She needed to make sure she heard her mother – or who she thought was her mother – right. “That’s not possible. Are you trying to say that you and dad aren’t my real parents?” She held her breath, waiting for the answer she already knew was coming. She knew she hadn’t mistaken what she heard but she wished to God she had.

Will gently placed his hand on Sheila’s shoulder. “We’ve had to carry this from you for 14 years Sheila. You heard correctly. We don’t have a clue who your real parents are.” He paused. “Since you don’t have any memory of your childhood, we thought it best to keep the truth from you. But the truth is, when you were three, we found you. You were alone in a park with a broken arm and bruises all over. We took you in to protect you, to keep you safe. To raise you properly. But the guilt has been eating away at us and now that you are old enough to hopefully understand, we thought you should know.”

Nancy wiped tears from her face. “We will try to answer any of your questions the best we can. But just know, we are your parents. No matter how we came to be your mom and dad, we are your real parents.”

Sheila’s head was spinning but somehow she managed to remind herself to breathe. Her hands were trembling and her heart was pounding so hard she could feel the pulse in her ears. Her life would never be the same again. It didn’t make sense and she didn’t know whether to love Nancy and Will for saving her or hate them from keeping such a big secret all these years.

All she knew for certain was that her life had been a lie and she needed answers, starting with if her real name was even Sheila. And then suddenly, her thoughts went to a dark place…

If Nancy and Will could lie about something like this, what else had they lied to her about? And were they even telling her the truth about the park? She knew her parents were unconventional, but she never would have thought something like this. But there was an even bigger question that lingered over her. More than anything, Sheila needed to know…

Who exactly were Nancy and Will?

With a split-second decision, she played it off like everything was fine the best she could. She hugged them, cried with them, and even told them it was all okay. But when the moment was over, and she escaped their presence, she immediately locked herself in her bedroom and flipped her laptop open.

Come hell or high water, she was going to find out the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

With a racing heart, Sheila opened google.

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Alright, how’d you guys do? That one was most definitely a challenge! I wasn’t sure what to say or where to go with it but I still managed to write something!

Thank you for that idea Jace! (:

I would love to know how everyone else’s turned out. Share yours in the comment section below (including you Jace lol!).

& don’t forget to subscribe below to be the first know when new posts are made!

Tomorrow will be our last prompt for the week and then we will start again Monday. Almost five days already! Is it starting to feel like a habit yet?

We have a calling to write & together we will make our dreams come true – one prompt at a time!