Writing Prompt – Day 21
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It’s Monday!
IT’S WRITING PROMPT TIME!!!
I might start posting writing prompts daily, even through the weekend. The more practice we get, the better we will be. (: It’s a thought right now because I always find myself wanting to write literally every day. So why not? We’ll see!
Alright, let’s start the week off with Suspense.
Let’s go!
Someone puts a large box on your doorstep. A note on the front reads, “Caution: may bite.”
My example :
Fed up, Anthony finally called the police. His gut kept telling him something wasn’t right but instead, he had brushed it all off one-by-one. This though, this was the last straw.
The police arrived five minutes later. It was mid-morning and Anthony was still waiting for the caffeine to kick in when loud knocks echoed from the front door.
“Officers.” Anthony nodded at them. “Thank you so much for coming.” He motioned for them to enter the walkway in the house. It wasn’t the warmest morning, certainly not the coldest, but there was enough chill in the air to not make the officers stand outside while explaining everything.
“Good morning. Anthony is it?” asked the older officer with the mutton chops.
“Yessir.” Anthony shook their hands.
Mutton chops cleared his throat. “What’s going on Anthony?”
Anthony shook his head as he realized the front door was still left open. His mind clearly wasn’t working properly. He took a step in-between the officers and pointed to the box on the porch. “That arrived for me some time throughout the night. My cameras are broken right now and I don’t have a good feeling about whatever that is. Especially because it says right on the front ‘Caution May Bite’. But oddly, there’s no label on it.”
The two officers exchanged glances as if speaking a silent hidden language no-one else was meant to understand. If that was the case, it was working. Anthony had no idea what they were thinking. He followed the officers out the front door and watched as they inspected the box. They poked and prodded the box before getting ready to open it.
“With all due respect,” Anthony frantically let out, stopping the officer from opening the box. “Do you really think it’s a good idea to open the box here? Don’t you maybe want to take it to the station… you know, just incase or something?”
The younger officer laughed as he slightly kicked the box. “Trust me, it’s okay. We’ve been seeing a lot of these boxes placed on porches lately. They have all been harmless. You’ll see.”
Anthony watched as he slid the box cutter across the top of the mysterious package. There was no way to explain the uneasy feeling that struck him as he watched the officers. “You said you’ve been seeing a lot of these boxes placed on porches lately? I haven’t heard of any of it happening to any of my neighbors. Why would anyone just leave a harmless box on a stranger’s porch?”
The older cop, who come to think of it never introduced himself, leaned over the open box. “Ahh, just as we suspected. Here,” he said, standing up and pointing at the front door. “Why don’t we talk inside, out of this chill, and I’ll explain what’s going on in this neighborhood. I’m surprised none of your neighbors have informed you. We’ve had quite a few calls in the past few weeks. Lots of suspicious activity.”
They all headed back into the house and the younger officer brought the box in with him. Anthony, certainly confused, was also relieved. He was going to get an explanation for the random markings he had seen around his house, the red golf ball that somehow landed on his front lawn even though none of his neighbors were golfers and there were no golf-courses around, the strange random flyers typed out in a different language that have ended up in his mailbox, and now this box. He thought it was all in his head and besides, none of the weird previous offenses were enough to call the police.
What would he say?
Officer, can you please inspect this random golf ball in my front yard, maybe run it for DNA? No, the golfball isn’t threatening me but I just have a bad feeling. Officer, there’s a suspicious flyer in my mailbox. No, I have no idea if it is a threat because I can’t read what it says. Can you come out here and take a look anyway? Officer, it looks like crop circles around my bird feeder. Yes, it’s possible an animal did something I suppose and not an alien out to get me. But can you investigate it anyway?
This box told Anthony they weren’t random things happening to him, they were all with a purpose. Shutting the door behind the officers, he was about to have all the answers he was seeking.
None of it was just in Anthony’s head – the golf ball, the flyer, the markings – his house was being tracked and those were all left to flag the house. And the box? Well, that was the grand finale. The officers? Not real. It was only a matter of time before the real police showed up. The intruders knew they were running out of time. The box contained all the contents they needed in order to take Anthony out of there and take a few souvenirs along with them. They had been planning for this for weeks. They were as ready as they would ever be.
Question is, would they succeed?
What happens to Anthony? Does Anthony have to fight for his life? Does he have a life left after the intruders are done with him? Or maybe Anthony is someone the intruders will regret targeting. Maybe he has some secret life they were unaware of and they had no clue what they were getting themselves into… I guess we will never know! (;
How’d you do pals?!
I would love to see how yours turned out! Share yours in the comment section below!
& Stay tuned for another prompt tomorrow! (:
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