Wicked (Freewrite #26: Weekend Prompts)

poetrybyjeremy (58)in #weekendfreewrite • 6 years ago

Freewriting

It's the weekend freewrite! The prompts for this triple freewrite start with the first sentence. Unlike my other freewrites, I will not be putting the prompts in bold. You will still have an idea what the prompts maybe, so I would suggest doing your own freewrite before reading this (to maximise the freewriting potential without spoilers). I hope you enjoy this interesting story that I came up with.

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Wicked

Charlotte ate green peppers all day long. They reminded her of the Wicked Witch of the West. She loved Wizard of Oz, but unlike most of us, she rooted for the Wicked Witch. There was something about her - she was misunderstood. As readers, or viewers, we tend to empathise most with Dorothy and her crew. The author weaves in a specific story to help us connect with her. Yet, Charlotte had a thing for villains. She respected them in ways that nobody else did.

Part of this was due that she was an outcast. Well, not directly. Her father was. Nobody in his town liked him. He had to do certain things to keep things going in the town; things that most people frown upon. Yet, somebody has to do all these things. People think he is evil. Why? He creates too much noise. He distracts their sleep. He is always smelly. Nobody likes him - he is wicked. Yet, without him, the town would fall apart. It takes a brave person to fight the rats from infesting the town. People hate the rats, and they have seen too many of their garden plants being eaten away. Somehow, they refuse to understand that Charlotte's father is the sole reason that they are still living there. He never stops chasing rats away, and it takes a toll on his family. They're wicked.

"If you don't take chances," said the man in striped pajamas, "you might as well not be alive." These words echoed in Charlotte's head. She was looking outside her window one night, when her neighbour approached and had a heated conversation with her dad. What was these chances he was talking about?

Her dad seemed pretty upset. He worked very hard to keep the streets clean. Clearly, his efforts were not enough. He was simply maintaining and not fixing the problem. What was it that he had to do? Why was it him that had to take this chance?

The next morning, he was not at the table for breakfast. This was unusual; for even though he worked labourusly throughout the night, he never missed having breakfast. The neighbour's words echoed in her mind as she ate her cereal. Her mother was watching TV and she saw a familiar face on the morning news. There was this sort of weird humanoid creature, captured on camera at night. It was hard to see; but why was it familiar? Its face looked as if she knew it. She could not pinpoint the character from one of the shows she watched. Suddenly, it came to her. It resembled her father way too much. Could it be what that neighbour was talking about? Was it this chance that her father had to take?

Charlotte suddenly remember the time he invited his mother to dinner, her grandmother. Her mother seemed agitated, and so did her father. When grandma had arrived, she seemed like a typical, loving grandmother, so she could not understand what the hassle was. Maybe they had to clean up another room for her to stay in and sleep. Yet, there was something odd about the panicked conversations they had before she arrived. It all made sense now.

Her grandmother, and her father, were not pure humans. They were hybrid creatures, who were able to shapeshift into their true form. She had never seen them before, until that morning on the news. The footage showed her dad, or someone resembling him, in a mixture between rat and human. Ratman. That sounded like something from the movies. It was twisted - there were no words to explain it. Her father transformed into this huge rat-like creature, and was able to find the gathering of rats. It was somewhat dangerous, apparently; but he managed to lure them out out of town. He still needed to find a new home for them, away from our town, yet, somewhere where they can live. Most of these rats, if not all, were just rats. No humanoid rats except for him. It did not make anysense. Then, she wondered if she was able to transform as well. Is that why she felt like an outcast all this time? Did everyone know but her?

My new poetry collection, Welcome to the Sombre Days, will be published on Amazon on the 9th of March. Each day, I am sharing another poem from the book on Steemit. Here are the available parts so far:

Announcement & Forward

Chapter 1: Puppet Strings
#1 - Dancing Queen
#2 - Fruitcake