I love a good writing prompt. Every 2 weeks I give myself the challenge to grab a writing prompt online that sparks an idea and try to write a piece of fiction from the prompt in and around 500 words.
WRITING PROMPT:
Write a story that contains the phrase ‘Okay class! Pop quiz.‘
Curiosity
By Jess Knaus
‘Okay class! Pop quiz.’
The groans across the room were violent.
‘Sir, not another one,’ said Jimmy Fall indignantly.
‘Yes Jimmy, another one. Buckle up. Grab a pencil and answer the five questions I’m about to put on the board, no complaints,’ explained Mr Palway firmly, turning to face the board. He picked up a piece of chalk and began scraping across with their questions.
The boys, sitting neatly in their tweed blazers, navy shirts and pulled up socks, rustled their pens and paper together, and waited. All except one boy – Simon.
Sitting in the far left hand corner of the room, he had a comprehensive view of his classmates, but also the quadrangle outside. The stone arches and manicured hedges remained proudly where they usually stood, but the spacecraft that had landed on the distant oval, however – well, that was an unusual occurrence.
Unsure whether he should stand up and scream at the top of his lungs or keep the information to himself and seek it out after the quiz, he wasn’t sure. He looked around the room nervously, assessing whether anyone had simultaneously noticed the occurrence. But all eyes were forward, and Mr Palway was still facing the board. If he was quiet enough he could pretend to get fresh paper from the desk near the back door, and sneak out.
He gently pulled himself to his feet and slowly wandered over to the stationery corner, grabbing his ‘supplies’. He shuffled through the blank notebooks, before pulling one from the pile and stepping out of sight quickly. The old door handle was a little stiff, but with two hands holding tight he managed to twist it enough to slip out of the door.
Assessing the empty hallway, he bent down low below the classroom window height and bolted toward the quadrangle entrance. Squinting his eyes in the bright morning light he made his way towards what he thought had been the landing site, ensuring he ducked below windows as he went. The last thing he needed was for entire classrooms of boys to see him racing through the school grounds.
As he got nearer he heard a faint beeping sound, and could see a soft billow of smoke rising from the far side of the oval. His running slowed now – what if there was a hostile creature on board? He hadn’t had the time to think it through properly, nor to prepare his response, yet he was drawn onwards.
He’d read about spacecraft from outer space in his science fiction novels – they were strange but addictively curious things. He had devoured anything his mother would send to him, before rereading all of them again until a new one was sent. No, he needed to approach the vessel with caution.
He slowly paced his way over the crest of the hill. Below him a deep, dusty and steaming hole sat torn into the grass, with a large silver object lying crashed at the far side. It matched his visions exactly, and his heart rate had matched the pace when he read about moments like this in his books.
At that very moment a loud rushing sound exuded from the vessel, and a triangular opening popped out in the broad daylight. Expecting a giant green alien to appear he was somewhat put off in hearing a distinctly earth-centric sound escape from the new door – a dog bark.
Next moment a fluffy and yapping miniature schnauzer leapt into the air and escaped across the playing fields into the forest beyond the fenceline. Startled, Simon flustered around in an effort to protect himself, realising halfway through his fall that the dog posed no threat to him.
Relieved, yet still aware of the lack of normalcy of the situation, he regained his footing and lumbered over to the vessel. Gently placing his hand on the cold surface of the transport, he edged his face up and over the hole leading inward. It was dark and no shape could be seen.
He audibly heard his mother’s voice of reason, drawing him away from the potential danger. But what did mum know? She’d never seen an alien vessel! He needed to know what was going on. So he soldiered on, pulling his slight frame up over the lip and down into the unknown.
He landed softly on a hard surface, seemingly a metal material. For a few minutes it remained still. But without warning the opening above him shut fiercely and his knees gave way as the transport obviously moved upward, gaining metres of height every second.
He had been captured, and he had no way out.
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