“Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, go hiking tomorrow.“
“Who is this?”
“Hello?”
Laura pulled the phone away from her ear and confirmed what she already suspected – the call had been disconnected.
The call came from a blocked/ unknown number, so she had no way of dialing it back. Even though the voice sounded familiar, she was unable to place it.
“Who was it?”
“Huh?”
Laura was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice that her friend had come back from the bathroom.
“On the phone. Who called you?” – Sarah clarified.
“I don’t know…” – Laura answered hesitantly, still looking at her phone.
“Well, what did they want?” – Sarah asked.
“They warned me not to go hiking tomorrow.”
“What? Why?”
Laura shrugged.
“Let’s just go back to the hotel. I’m tired” – Laura said and stood up, still unable to figure out whose voice that was.
***
“We’re still going hiking tomorrow, right?” – Sarah asked her friend as they laid in their beds.
“I don’t know. It was eerie” – Laura answered, knowing full well that she was NOT going on that hike the next day.
“Laura, c’mon. It’s someone playing a prank on you.”
“We’ve been backpacking through South America for a few weeks now. I haven’t told anyone about our plans for tomorrow. I haven’t spoken to my family in DAYS.”
“Listen to yourself. We’ve been on a walking adventure for weeks. What are the chances we will be hiking tomorrow?” – Sarah asked with clear sarcasm in her voice.
“Good night” – said Laura and she rolled to her other side, away from Sarah.
“Night” – Sarah answered, rolling her eyes at the ceiling.
***
It was high time for Sarah to return from her hike. She said she would only be gone a couple of hours, leaving right after lunch at 1 pm. It was now 7 o’clock, and Laura was getting annoyed. The two of them were supposed to hang out by the pool for a little while and then go out to a local club.
They were travelling on foot Monday through Friday, but on the weekends, they vacationed. Saturday and Sunday were days when they relaxed and had fun, gathering strength for the next week of walking. Laura didn’t understand why Sarah wanted to do more walking on their day off, but Sarah insisted on seeing the Colca Canyon before they left Chivay, Peru.
“Screw it” – Laura said to herself, switched the TV off and put on the dress she laid out earlier.
It was her hope that Sarah comes in while she was getting ready so that they could still both go out. But Laura did her hair and makeup and Sarah still didn’t return.
“Oh, well” – she said to herself with disappointment as she closed the hotel door behind her.
***
When Laura woke up, she did not know where she was.
Her head was pounding.
As she tried to recall what happened last night, she looked around the room she was in.
Tile floor.
Her purse laid in the opposite corner.
A shiver ran down her spine.
She was cold.
When she looked down, she realized that her dress was torn vertically, leaving her chest exposed.
With some help from the wall, Laura slowly got up to her feet.
A sink.
A toilet.
Bathroom.
She was in a bathroom.
Taking a deep breath, she approached the mirror hanging above the sink.
Her hair was a mess.
Her lipstick smudged.
Her mascara all over her face.
She could still see the paths her tears took as they ran down her cheeks.
Hurting all over, she made her way out of the bathroom into the main room of the night club she went to by herself the previous night.
She remembered sitting at the bar, sipping on a cocktail and checking her phone to see if Sarah was going to message her.
And then…
And then Javier sat down next to her and they started chatting. She told him how angry she was with Sarah and he empathized with her. It was his birthday and his friends didn’t come out to celebrate with him.
He bought her a drink. And then another.
And then…
Laura tried to remember what happened next, but she couldn’t.
Holding her dress together, she walked to the hotel, trying not to pay attention to the people staring at her. Judging her. MIS – judging her.
She wanted to scream.
Now she was even angrier at Sarah. This wouldn’t have happened if she never went on that stupid hike.
To Laura’s surprise, Sarah wasn’t in the hotel room. Nothing seemed disturbed. It was like no one was in the room since Laura left the night before.
She tried to call Sarah, but it went straight to voicemail.
Laura turned the TV on as she took her dress off.
“Authorities have found the body of a woman in her mid twenties. She had no identification on her. Please call the number on the bottom of the screen if you recognize her.”
The remote fell from Laura’s hands.
There was a photo of Sarah on the screen.
A photo of DEAD Sarah.
“Do NOT, under ANY circumstances, go hiking tomorrow.”
She finally knew whose voice it was on the other end of the line.
It was her own.
From the future.
“A random phone call from the future.”
– a prompt for this week’s CW piece.
[Source: @DailyPrompt]
***
P.S. As always, you are more than welcome to use this prompt to inspire your post. If you decide to write something, be sure to pingback to this post, so that I can get an alert and check out your post. (A post on how to do pingbacks can be found here.) If pingbacks are not your thing, feel free to simply leave a link to your piece in the comment section below. The more, the merrier!
Stay golden,
***
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nice post thanks for share
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Oh my gosh, the story had me on the edge of my seat. What a clever, though sad, ending!
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I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for reading.
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Wow! Great story, chilling ending. I like this one because it made me think, kept me guessing with just the right amount of tension, then came to a resolution at the end. Which is good, because I’m still waiting for part 2 of some of your other stories!
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I do want to finish some of those stories, but I’m not sure how, yet. I don’t think they would be in the same post format as the previous ones. But all in due time.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. I can always count on specific comments from you when it comes to my CW pieces. I really appreciate it. It’s great feedback.
Thanks for reading!
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This was one of the best creative writing I ever read and I actually mean it. Love the way you created the plot and ended the story.
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Wow. I’m stunned. Honored. Thank you for such a high compliment and thanks for reading.
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Pleasure is all mine🙂
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I am writing a story called ‘Winter Kill’ with a few bloggers as characters (bottomlesscoffee007, jmshistorycorner, myself, Rakkelle, and Britchy) and am planning on writing a sequel to it once I’ve finished ‘Winter Kill’. Would you like to be in the sequel? I would have you in a cloak, wearing a mask and voice scrambler.
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I think that’d be pretty cool. Thank you!
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I was thinking that you could be a Guardian of Time (one of a select few) that live in a ‘bubble’ so to speak, isolated from time where you never age and time never occurs where you guys look after the universe, for lack of better terminology, and help out when there is a major catastrophe happening (okay, didn’t realise how kinda’ silly that sounded until I was typing this, but I think it’s cool). What do you think? Yes? No?
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I think it’s totally cool. I’m really curious now!
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Great! Now I just gotta’ ask the Hinouema if she would like to participate…
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Hey, did you want to read ‘Winter Kill’ (which I have posted the first 5 chapters)? It’s on my site ‘Racheal’s Novels’. You might better understand the sequel where you appear better if you do.
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I already started, but will go back whenever I have some more time.
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Ok, that’s fine. Just read whenever you can. No problem.
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Too bad you don’t have comments enabled.
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I left a note at the end of ‘Winter Kill – Chapter Six’ that I have disabled them for the moment as I need a break.
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I see.
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So, what do you think of what you’ve read of ‘Winter Kill’ so far?
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Original and interesting.
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Sorry for the belated reply. Haven’t been feeling well.
Thanks!
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It’s alright. I’ve been crazy busy myself.
I hope you recover quickly.
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I have, thanks for asking. Hope you sort everything out.
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One day at a time…
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Absolutely.
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The Hinoeuma has agreed – she is going to be another Time Guardian. Would you be okay with her being your work partner?
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I don’t see why that would be a problem. I leave the creative freedom to you.
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Ok, thanks!
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I was sure it was going to be Sarah on the phone. I didn’t see that coming at all! That was a very enjoyable read 😊
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I’m glad I managed to throw you off.
Thank you 🙂
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Sent shivers down my spine!
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Thanks for reading and letting me know that you enjoyed it!
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Great post. By the way, https://earthtoash.com/2019/06/06/sunshine-blogger-award-2/ I am also in the midst of responding to your nomination….thanks again.
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Thanks, Ash!
I’ll be right over.
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You’re very welcome
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Goosebumps.
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Glad you enjoyed it.
Thanks for stopping by.
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🙂 A fantastic prompt, Goldie!
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Thanks, Renard.
Do you ever dabble in creative writing?
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🙂 The only form of creative writing that I dabble in is long-form content.
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Really? Interesting. Have you ever written a novel?
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🙂 Many years ago, I produced a science fiction piece.
Anyway, do enjoy the rest of your day, Goldie!
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Neat.
And you as well!
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What was the story called? Have you ever had it published?
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🙂 The story was called, “Massive Alien Invasion”.
And, no, I did not have it published because Earth lost the battle with the aliens (No one is going to like reading about losing a battle with an alien race).
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I have heard of some movies where the villains win – so I don’t know if it would have mattered. An interesting twist, anyway. The only problem I can think of is the title (not trying to offend or be nasty and am not attacking you – I’ve come up with pretty sucky titles).
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I’d like the aliens to win.
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Nah. Be an interesting twist-at-the-end…so long as there was a continuation where there is some remaining humans that will eventually overthrow the ruling aliens.
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Yea, you’d have to do that to have a sequel, but I fancy things that are unexpected.
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Sorry about what I said – that was mean, and I was wrong to say it. I don’t always think before I speak (or type). I am really sorry and I can’t talk.
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Everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Feel better.
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So long as we are being respectful and not attacking, etc.
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🙂 Believe it or not, I am not offended.
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I’m glad we all remain good blogging buddies.
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Oh! Thank you – that is a relief.
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Hey, was all of humanity wiped out in your story? Or just the majority?
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I hope all of it. Or some reintegrated with the aliens.
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🙂 The majority.
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You could write a continuation where the surviving humanity figure out a way to get rid of the aliens – such as some ancient prophecy warning about the alien invasion that the survivors find that also includes how to get rid of the aliens.
But that’s me.
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I think that would be a good idea.
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🙂
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Why not?
I get pretty annoyed with the “humans always win”.
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🙂 Because the majority of people would hate such a thing, Goldie.
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You’re probably right.
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What a chilling ending, Goldie! I had suspected that something horrible would happen to Sarah but nevertheless, this story kept me on the edge of my seat. And what a great prompt, too! Loved the pace of this story. Enthralling.
Also, I’d like to nominate you for this challenge. Let me know if you’re interested.
https://fictivefinesseff.wordpress.com/2019/06/09/wanna-know-you-better-challenge/
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I greatly appreciate your feedback. Glad to hear that the pace was appropriate.
I saw a pingback from you. Will be checking it out next. Thanks!
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My pleasure, Goldie! Yeah, do check it out.
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