This is the time of year for top ten lists and Miss Turtle has decided to compile her own. Keep in mind I don't know how these lines will fit into the story, when they will be written, or even what they will be about exactly. Also, they are all from separate stories, minimal editing has been done, and, with the exception of the line from Story No. 1, they were written cold. When I finally get around writing the stories down, these lines will likely change. The numbering is purely for reference.
Story No. 1:
Revenge is the purest form of self-destruction.
Story No. 2:
Character 1: Why do you keep following me around?
Character 2: Because you need following. If you keep wandering around in these dangerous parts by yourself something bad is going to happen.
Character 1: Why should you care? We don't even really know each other.
Character 2: Hell if I know. Must be your big blue eyes or, more likely, my own damn boredom. Not much is happening right now and this is, well, it's a form of cheap entertainment.
Story No. 3:
He sat as he had for days. Mute, virtually paralyzed, unable to respond to any stimuli until he saw the flash of needle and the syringe being filled. There was no change in expression nor did he move but a single tear managed to leak out of his eye, running down his cheek when he finally blinked.
Story No. 4:
You're not going to shoot anyone! You're just a damn accountant!
Story No. 5:
The house dreamed, stretching and reaching. Its own hunger had finally been satiated and the desire to take more and more had subsided. Now it sat, looking regal with its old architecture and strangely elegant broken down insides. No one would go there anymore, it had done all it could to keep all the living things away. If anything or anybody tried to breach its walled and glass skins, it wouldn't just take lives, it would take everything that existed outside the overgrown garden walls.
Story No. 6:
The water pouring into the narrow space was warm at least. I looked up as the opening was sealed shut. I waited for them to turn off the lights but they remained on. The water was already up to my waist. I looked at my hands for a moment then up again. I couldn't figure out why they left the lights on. I took a deep breath. At least I'd learned to swim and tread water that would keep me alive for a little while. My heart was pounding. I was really going to drown this time. I'd almost done it twice before but this time it seemed inevitable.
Story No. 7:
The President sat alone in the Oval Office. He'd come to Washington riding on the backs of those voters who had high hopes for him. And he'd believed that he could live up to those hopes, but it was after 2:00 am EST on Wednesday and he'd seen the very last of his idealistic plans vanish in this week's round of grueling late night meetings. At least he'd held onto those plans until after he'd passed his first hundred days milestone.
Story No. 8:
The first time I saw my true love, I was getting on a train. The power had switched off for a few minutes as it does underground, and everyone was looking at their phones, their faces illuminated with that cell phone blue light. He was the only one not looking at his phone. Instead, he was looking at me.
UPDATE: This one wasn't written cold, actually. A friend posted on FB that she'd gotten on MUNI and the lights went out for a few seconds and everyone's face was illuminated by a cell phone. I asked her for permission to use this striking image in a story.
Story No. 9:
Character 1: I liked you a lot better before. At least you seemed to like me then. Now you can't wait to get rid of me.
Character 2: What else am I going to do stuck with the likes of you for 50 years? The whole universe in front of us, decades of time, and only you for company? I had to compromise on something.
Story No. 10:
This time I'm getting everything back. Everything I lost, that I hold dear is coming back to me. Just this once.
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