I decided to post another set of stories today so that I can finish catching up tomorrow.

Ready

He was ready. He had packed supplies, made numerous plans, and waited for this moment. As the metal beast continued descending, heedless of the skyscrapers, he went through the plan one more time. First, he would find a way inside the vessel. The rest of the plan would crumble like those buildings if he didn’t.

Since the ship was landing, that would make getting onboard easier. Of course, he had made plans and contingencies for every scenario he could think of, but this was one of the easier methods.

As those around him at last began to register what was happening—others continuing to stare, frozen, at the majestic sight bringing ruin—he walked toward it as they fled in terror.

Renewed

Two hours later, Peter started, lifting his head from where it rested across his arm. When had he fallen asleep? He was still at his desk, though it was raining more heavily now. Panicked, Peter checked the time: 6:19pm. He thought about grabbing dinner at the dining hall, but wasn’t fond of getting drenched. Plus, the thought of wasting more time made him anxious. Instead, he found a granola bar lying under a stack of papers—wasn’t he supposed to finish reading those by tomorrow?—and unwrapped it, then took a bite.

Peter set down the granola bar and turned on his laptop, back to the familiar blank page where his essay should be. He swallowed the bite, taking another, and was surprised to feel a new sense of vigor. Maybe that unintentional nap had done him some good? Peter smiled—actually smiled—and hovered his hands over his laptop’s keyboard. For the first time in five days, Peter knew what to write his essay on.

He started typing.

The Program

She was glad to have made the program output its progress. Otherwise, she would have no way of knowing if it would be done in an hour, a day, or a week.

Time Left: 000:00:01:30 | Progress: 99.993%

She sat eagerly at her desk, watching the seconds count down. It had taken her over a year to program—her largest project yet—but she had been dreaming it up and really working on it for much longer. Unfortunately, it also took forever to run—even with all the optimizations she had added. The program had been running nonstop on her custom-built PC for over two weeks now.

Time Left: 000:00:00:42 | Progress: 99.997%

She leaned forward, closer to the monitor. Less than a minute left. She just hoped it would work. This was the second time she had run the program—the last time had taken three weeks and had ended up having several bugs. She had tried to fix them, but new errors often cropped up after you thought you fixed them all. What’s another two weeks? She thought, trying to convince herself it would not be too bad if the program failed. Truth was, she had hardly gone an hour in the last two weeks without checking on the program, if only to experience the pleasure that came from seeing that the progress had ticked up half a percent.

Time Left: 000:00:00:04 | Progress: 99.999%

She waited the last few seconds, shaking with anticipation. This was it, she hoped. The product of many years’ dreaming.

Attention

Carla couldn’t focus on what her Chemistry teacher—Mr. Ackner—was saying. Zack hadn’t come to school in days, nor had he texted her. The night he had vanished, Carla had heard a crash, and found her mailbox and garbage cans knocked over, with tire paths along the grass in front of her home. The signs added up. Zack had been kidnapped.

Obscured by Smoke

I watched the landscape—obscured by grey smoke—from above. What had caused this? Last time I was able to see the vast forests, deserts, oceans, and civilization. Now, I could only see that in some areas—at least from afar. Closer in, I could see all that was still present. Except here.

The River

Lewis came to a stop where the ground became a steep slope down to the river. He looked over his shoulder, seeing the figures grow closer by the second. The river was fairly calm, and someone could swim across without much trouble. Only Lewis couldn’t swim.

Andddd that's it for today. Tomorrow, I'll be posting the stories I wrote yesterday, today, and those I'll write tomorrow. Kinda confusing lol. Anyway, stay tuned for some poems I wrote earlier today!! (Which will be posted tomorrow lol).