HT100 #123: Scene It - Prompts 11 & 12
Hello all, I'm back with a couple more
Prompt: City Lights
Characters: Sean Murphy, Tim McManus
Word Count: 233
It was quiet for a while. Sean watched the city lights twinkle in the distance. He didn’t know if this was better for Tim than the meditative maze, but it was out of the prison and Tim’s brain seemed to be going in so many circles that maybe it didn’t matter that he was no longer walking in them. First Hill, now this. And Sean suspected in some ways, that this was worse than when Diane left. Tim sighed and Sean braced himself for another circle.
“Could have prevented it,” Tim whispered. “Should have let him go.”
Sean sighed. The damned clemency thing again. “He blew up a building, instigated a riot that put your life in danger, and you wanted him on the street?”
“Some things were never meant to be caged.”
Sean sensed that Tim was quoting something that he’d heard before and shook it off. He tried again, “So setting him free would have prevented his death. I don’t think so, my friend. It was his time. He would have bought it today if he was in Oz or off enjoying his life out there. The only difference would be that you wouldn’t have to deal with it firsthand.”
Tim stared out the window, stunned by Sean’s words. Everything seemed to still. The lights of the city stopped swimming, separated and began twinkling in their individual patterns. Life went on.
Prompt: Trees
Characters: Leo Glynn, Tim McManus
Word Count: 100
“It’s up to us to plant the seeds and watch them grow,” McManus stated.
Damn McManus and his metaphors.
Leo had a saying of his own. McManus couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Or for the one particular tree he was focusing on at any given time. Put the money into a program to benefit one or two prisoners and you lose things that would benefit the entire prison. It was Leo’s job to tend the forest, but there were days like today that he just wanted to light a match, step back, and watch the whole thing burn.
Prompt: City Lights
Characters: Sean Murphy, Tim McManus
Word Count: 233
It was quiet for a while. Sean watched the city lights twinkle in the distance. He didn’t know if this was better for Tim than the meditative maze, but it was out of the prison and Tim’s brain seemed to be going in so many circles that maybe it didn’t matter that he was no longer walking in them. First Hill, now this. And Sean suspected in some ways, that this was worse than when Diane left. Tim sighed and Sean braced himself for another circle.
“Could have prevented it,” Tim whispered. “Should have let him go.”
Sean sighed. The damned clemency thing again. “He blew up a building, instigated a riot that put your life in danger, and you wanted him on the street?”
“Some things were never meant to be caged.”
Sean sensed that Tim was quoting something that he’d heard before and shook it off. He tried again, “So setting him free would have prevented his death. I don’t think so, my friend. It was his time. He would have bought it today if he was in Oz or off enjoying his life out there. The only difference would be that you wouldn’t have to deal with it firsthand.”
Tim stared out the window, stunned by Sean’s words. Everything seemed to still. The lights of the city stopped swimming, separated and began twinkling in their individual patterns. Life went on.
Prompt: Trees
Characters: Leo Glynn, Tim McManus
Word Count: 100
“It’s up to us to plant the seeds and watch them grow,” McManus stated.
Damn McManus and his metaphors.
Leo had a saying of his own. McManus couldn’t see the forest for the trees. Or for the one particular tree he was focusing on at any given time. Put the money into a program to benefit one or two prisoners and you lose things that would benefit the entire prison. It was Leo’s job to tend the forest, but there were days like today that he just wanted to light a match, step back, and watch the whole thing burn.