The following is my submission to a prompt from the r/WritingPrompts subreddit. The full Reddit post can be seen here.
Prompt: They finally caught you. Out in the middle of nowhere, you are digging your own grave. Suddenly, your shovel hits... something.
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“What was that?” I muttered to myself, the edge of my shovel ricocheted off the ground with a clank.
The desolate desert landscape stretched for miles around me. I stood alone, accompanied only by the moonlight reflecting off of the shovel. I pulled the flashlight out of my back pocket and pointed it into the hole.
I couldn’t make out what I had hit, so I lowered onto my hands and knees, taking a closer look. I used the shovel to carefully dig around the rocklike bit that I had struck. Slowly, a shape emerged from the clay dirt.
It was a solid, metallic square about the size of a Rubik’s cube. With caution, I pried it from the ground and held it up, examining it. On the backside of the cube, there was a black button about the size of a quarter.
I pressed it. A soft, calm voice spoke from the box.
“Hello Noah, do you wish to continue?”
Surprised, I sprang to my feet and dropped the cube onto the ground. I looked down at it, and then blurted, “Continue what? And how do you know my name?”
A few moments passed, nothing happened. I reached down to pick the cube up again and pressed the button.
The voice spoke again, “Do you wish to forfeit your life? If yes, then please continue and all of the necessary arrangements will be made.”
I answered back with confusion and slight irritation, “What arrangements? How do you know what I was planning out here? Is this some sort of sick prank or am I losing my mind?”
I pressed the black button once again.
“You’re running out of time. They will find you soon. Please choose,” the voice said with the same tranquil demeanor.
I stared helplessly at the moon, then down at the cube, then over to my truck, parked about 50 feet away. I reached for the gun tucked into the back of my waistband, contemplating my decision.
Finally, I responded, “No, I don’t choose to kill myself. What happens now?”
I pressed the button one final time.
“Then the people you love will keep on loving you. Thank you for making a decision.”
A bolt of light shot down from the night sky above, and in a flash, collected the metallic cube. It was gone. I collapsed onto the ground, sitting at the edge of the hole I had dug. Tears streamed down my face.
I reached again for the gun in the back of my waistband, but to my surprise, nothing was there.
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The following is my submission to a prompt from the r/WritingPrompts subreddit. The full Reddit post can be seen here.
Prompt: They finally caught you. Out in the middle of nowhere, you are digging your own grave. Suddenly, your shovel hits... something.
____________________________________________________________________________
“What was that?” I muttered to myself, the edge of my shovel ricocheted off the ground with a clank.
The desolate desert landscape stretched for miles around me. I stood alone, accompanied only by the moonlight reflecting off of the shovel. I pulled the flashlight out of my back pocket and pointed it into the hole.
I couldn’t make out what I had hit, so I lowered onto my hands and knees, taking a closer look. I used the shovel to carefully dig around the rocklike bit that I had struck. Slowly, a shape emerged from the clay dirt.
It was a solid, metallic square about the size of a Rubik’s cube. With caution, I pried it from the ground and held it up, examining it. On the backside of the cube, there was a black button about the size of a quarter.
I pressed it. A soft, calm voice spoke from the box.
“Hello Noah, do you wish to continue?”
Surprised, I sprang to my feet and dropped the cube onto the ground. I looked down at it, and then blurted, “Continue what? And how do you know my name?”
A few moments passed, nothing happened. I reached down to pick the cube up again and pressed the button.
The voice spoke again, “Do you wish to forfeit your life? If yes, then please continue and all of the necessary arrangements will be made.”
I answered back with confusion and slight irritation, “What arrangements? How do you know what I was planning out here? Is this some sort of sick prank or am I losing my mind?”
I pressed the black button once again.
“You’re running out of time. They will find you soon. Please choose,” the voice said with the same tranquil demeanor.
I stared helplessly at the moon, then down at the cube, then over to my truck, parked about 50 feet away. I reached for the gun tucked into the back of my waistband, contemplating my decision.
Finally, I responded, “No, I don’t choose to kill myself. What happens now?”
I pressed the button one final time.
“Then the people you love will keep on loving you. Thank you for making a decision.”
A bolt of light shot down from the night sky above, and in a flash, collected the metallic cube. It was gone. I collapsed onto the ground, sitting at the edge of the hole I had dug. Tears streamed down my face.
I reached again for the gun in the back of my waistband, but to my surprise, nothing was there.
