Other stories for this prompt

It was the fall that surprised me the most. The fact that it took so long that I could actually be afraid of the action of falling. The wind was stinging my face and making my eyes water, I was screaming but the noise of the explosion had taken out my hearing. The people strapped in around me were mere shadows, forms with fuzzy outlines and indiscernible features, mouths open in silent noise.

I forced my head back round, my throat filling with bile as the ground suddenly rushed up to meet us, my fingers twisting in the belt around...

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I had never really considered how high your presence made me. It was just not one of the things that troubled me as I soared far above the clouds when I held your hand. What did it matter to me the distance from the ground that each of your kisses took me? It wasn't as if people as in love as I was ever had to worry about the consequences.

I wasn't shocked that we didn't work out. You never opened up to me, you liked being miserable, you had a girlfriend. I was naive, insecure and adored you. Of...

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It was the fall that surprised me the most. The push I think I kind of expected. I knew there would be some repercussions of me speaking out of term the way I did. I knew that he would push me, I did not expect the fall.

It was that stomach rising to your throat kind of feeling, where you suddenly realise what is happening and you cannot stop it. The fear that runs through you so quickly that it makes every part of you feel cold.

It passed in as quicker time as it had begun, yet I was...

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It was the fall that surprised me the most. Summer seemed to go on forever, endless heat and misery. When the leaves finally started changing, my eyes were still blinking out the sweat, trying to focus on the shimmering horizon. When it became acceptable to wear heavier clothes, I persisted in the delusion that this was merely a blip, and that the inevitability of summer would win out, sense be damned.

It finally hit me standing atop my building, feeling the inarguable autumn winds whip at me. The smell of woodsmoke filled my nostrils, wrapped around me and told me,...

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It was the fall that surprised me the most.

I had been running, running so hard so fast that, when I finally stopped behind the closed fire door, I could feel my lungs burning from the cold air filling them with each harsh breath that I took. Placing a hand against the cold metal door I leaned over and peered down the dirty stairwell, the only sound that I could hear was the sound of my own panting until a door several floors down flew open, echoing loudly as it hit the brick and mortar wall.

I hadn't said a...

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It was the fall that surprised me the most. Three steps backward, and then that horrible feeling of stomach-in-throat, where time passes normally but feels like an eternity; seconds equaled hours as I prepared myself for the eventual landing; just as I thought I was ready, more time would pass.

All told, I was probably lacking contact with the ground for no longer than a fraction of a second, but just like in the movies, the fall felt like a slow-motion ordeal--it was as if the air were made of liquid and I was lighter than normal, but still heavy...

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Prison is for mossy bricks, reinforced iron bars, decrepid toilets and savage guards beating on the door every morning. How can it be anything else?

And yet, within the confines of this framework, there is a nook as tangible as any cell; the walls are closing in on me, invisible monsters lurking in the dark, only — these are worse than any monster imaginable, for they do not breathe, do not reason. You can't reason with walls.

The post seemed like a good idea at the time, for who doesn't dream of directing such a large, historic enterprise if given...

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It was the fall that surprised me the most. We worked together for years on the 82nd floor of Tower two, and when I knew we couldn't get to the bottom I knew he'd want to go to the top. I agreed immediately even though I knew he had a plan, he always had a plan. I was too busy not thinking clearly to think clearly, about what this plan would would to do us, how it would end, how we could survive.

For the last minute of his life, the terror was gone. His smile didn't surprise me, I...

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It was the fall that surprised me most.

I guessed the weight and the distance. It is easy really once you think about it, I guess easy for me at least or at least it was easy, once.

I scrapped up the side of my leg and sometimes that takes longer to heal now that I am older, but being alone who cares really.
It is a good story to tell if anyone is listening.

It was the fall that surprised me most. It is never expected I suppose. One thinks that you will always be quick, cute, desirable. Always...

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It was the fall that surprised me most.

I had never intended to move to the Northeast. Strange set of circumstances. Long story. Really long. Maybe not too long to relate, but longer than I'd like it to have. I just sort of ended up there.

Anyway, I got there in early December. I thought, having come from California, that that was "winter".

That's not winter.

Winter is bleak. Winter is white death. Winter is hell -- not just for Chekhov, mind you. For Vermont, too.

The first week I was there, I was talking about how poorly-equipped Southern California...

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About the prompt

It was the fall that surprised me most.
Prompt suggested by davidjmcgee
Originally displayed on:
September 28, 2010

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