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Fear — September 22 Writing Prompt
My Deepest, Darkest Fear
What keeps me awake, palms sweating, in the middle of the night?
“Describe your worst fear.” I looked at the card, tempted to put it back and take the dare instead of telling the truth. Every nerve ending screamed, “NO!” But vulnerability lies in the heart of a good storyteller, and so I glanced around the room at my friends’ eager faces. Why did they so desperately want to know? I wondered.
“I fear the things that go bump in my head.”
My friends laughed. “Go on. What do you mean?”
“I mean that my imagination kicks into high gear at the worst possible times.”
“Imagination’s a good thing, though, right? Especially for a writer, I’d think,” observed Mary Sue.
“Sure. Most of the time, it’s a great thing. Sometimes, my greatest fear is that it won’t kick in at all. But then… have you ever written a story late at night and fallen asleep with your hands on the keyboard?”
More puzzled looks, shaking of heads. “No.”
“Well, I have,” I said, looking David right in the eyes. He averted his gaze. He’d lied. He knew. And he knew I knew. “When you wake up, and the story is finished, but you can’t remember typing…
