Original

For 90 seconds, list everything you can think of that would be found in a hospital. Now write a story using every word you have listed, but don’t set your story anywhere near a hospital.

Beds, Rib cutting saw, scalpel, Syringe, Latex Gloves, Surgical blade, Cotton bandage, Gauze swab, Surgeon Gown, face mask, Operating Table, operation lamp, MONITORING SYSTEMS, Stethoscope, Sphygmomanometer, Scissors, Forceps

I hadn't even gotten my eyes open and I could feel the fear break in. It all happened slowly and it started with pain in my chest and my hands and feet were trying to get me away from my captors and then it registered in my mind that something was wrong and panic set in on every inch of my body. But I couldn't move to satisfy my decision of flight instead of fight. And it still didn't settle when I finally opened my eyes and saw that all it was was me strapped to this chair in the corner of a small room. But wait for it. It keeps getting worse. At first there was confusion, I couldn't even force myself to remember what had happened before i regained consciousness and it made the panic and fear much worse. The restraints on my wrists and ankles that kept me to the chair were cutting off the circulation and making them slightly numb. The restraint across my chest crushed my lungs and I could hardly get in a breath. Threatening to send me back into the darkness if I didn't settle down and breathe properly. Hyperventilation is an enemy in this situation. My first thought was to assess the situation, look for any escape, but I was almost too scared to look around the room, worried of what I might find and what I did find, made me realize the pain all over was not just panic and fear.

There was a large light that hung on the ceiling, brightening up all the blood on a large silver tray on a cart covered in small bloody surgical tools. My blood. A fairly large operating table is in the corner across from me with a large operating lamp over it, more restraints attached to it, looking old and broken, more blood. One time I was asked what I considered a bad day to be, this was definitely not even near one of my ideas. I checked myself over, as much as I could see. The clothes I had on were tattered and torn up and dirty. Blood was crusted around the rips, open gashes could be seen under the tear in the knee of my pants and a rip on the left arm of my shirt. No bandages, no stitches. I looked back at the handful of different sized scalpels that lay in the pool of red. You ever been stuck in a room with pain all over and look around to find a saw meant for cutting ribs in surgery, covered in blood? No? Ya.. didn't think so. But take it from me, everything else you have ever worried about in your entire life, just looked so much better. There was two shelves on this cart, the second one was full of cotton bandages, scissors, face masks, gloves. On the floor in front of it was a bloody surgeon gown, with a needle and syringe. This was really not making me feel any better.

I didn't know how long I had been here since I had no idea what day it was. The cuts that I could see looked anything but new, same with the blood everywhere else. But I'm no expert, so what do I know. I was too panicked to realize I hadn't even noticed the smell. (Old, stale air, sweat, and too much of the metallic smell blood has). But before I could really feel sick from the smell, the door opened. You'll never guess who it was. Well.. of course you wont, you don't even know who I am. How rude of me.. I'm sorry. My name is William. I'm the presidents son. How do you do?. The man who opened the small wooden door to the room was a friend of the family, Dr.(Robinson) Well, I guess friend is an over statement now. He smiled, like everything was OK, a smile that made me hate him. He brought up a chair, put it in front of me and sat down, so we were face to face. Victim to Criminal. His eyes brightened when he started with his story. Explaining to me the plan he and his group had. I didn't even have to ask. But as he finished, I realized I didn't want to know. The plan? What else could it be? Kill the president. How? A bomb they were gonna strap to me. But it didn't add up. Why was this room turned into a hospital and why was I once a patient?

walk a paragraph - Claire

The alarm clock goes at 8:00. It wakes me with the soft sound of classical music. A piano and a bit of violin mixed in with it. It's a peaceful yet sad awakening. I sigh. Waking up alone gets easier every time. The sadness doesn't go away, you just get used to the fact that he’s not here anymore. Not here anymore to wake me up gently and tell me I look as pretty as I did when he first saw me. I have to keep my day filled up with things that keep me busy so I don't notice as much that I am alone. I always thought I would have him to spend the rest of my life with, till I was too old to remember my own name. I always thought I was too young to lose him. Reality cleared that up for me. I get dressed and fix up my hair so it’s smooth with slight curls and so that the gentle blond streaks show. I dress up in a white blouse and black dress pants as if to say "I'm important and on a job mission ... Don’t get in my way". I need to seem strong and confident so people stop asking me if I'm doing OK and if I'm mourning still. The answer is 'Yes'. But I put on this mask, of light makeup and put on a show. The thing he never wanted me to do. And I smile a type of lie that fools most people. But in the mirror, my reflection is still just an aging, weak, single woman that I wish could up and disappear and never come back. But she’s part of me now and she always will be. I have to deal with it. Some days I'm not sure if I still want to wear my wedding ring. It brings up questions that lead to bringing up all the memories. And everyone I know gives me a look that says "poor her, still holding on, won’t let go". But would I be hurting the memories if I took the ring off and acted like there was nothing that happened that has made my days empty and less meaningful. but with my mask I have painted on, I can handle anything. And I slip the ring on my finger anyways. Bring it on world.

The process takes just a little over 30 minutes and I get ready to walk out the door, throwing on a long dark purple coat with black dress shoes and i grab my reading glasses, gently placing them in my bag beside my book, I'm a sucker for romance novels. Not the typical ones that have the damsel and the shirtless hunk on the cover, which multiple writers do. Where am I going do you ask? Out of this house, out and away of only me and the empty left side of the closet. The empty side of the bed, the empty side of the dresser. I have the day off today and I do what I do on most of my days off. I drive, though I hate it, I was always the passenger, but had to get used to it since I can’t rely on people to drive me everywhere all the time. And I end up at the mall. where I walk down to the small square that contains cushioned chairs and benches, where the men usually sit, wait and hang with the other husbands and boyfriends while their wives and girlfriends go around and shop at stores that don't contain sports equipment, cars, food, or movies with people getting beat up and dying every other minute. And I sit. All small stores within the mall are closed and the grocery store is full of employees fixing everything on the shelves to make them look nice. But I'm not here to shop. Most of the people that come in around nine a.m are the retired folks that go straight to the lotto to win that few million dollars before they die, or the food court for a morning deal of heart attack. I pull out a book and my glasses and open to the page I left off on last night. Most people might think that the mall is a weird place to decide to read a book in, there's no quiet or peace and there's always people walking around that can be distracting. But to me it’s something different. I don't mind the people, early like this, there is not a lot anyways, even the odd number of teenagers there seems to be today, but I don't feel alone, which is what I want as much most of all. And I can always zone out into my book and become this damsel that gets saved by a shirtless guy on a powerful white horse. Cheesy yes, it never happens, but my hero is gone. I just want to be surrounded by people and not have to talk to them, not feel alone but be in silence at the same time.

I'm not there for long before my name being called brings me out of my trance and I look up to see Betty, dressed in a long black coat, clutching her bag strap and looking as upbeat as always. Her unnatural curly hair in place and wouldn't move if a wind storm hit. I smile at her but not sure if I want to deal with her at the moment. But too late, before I can do anything and go back into fairly tale land, she’s chatting up a storm as always and sits down beside me before I can offer her a seat. Oh Betty. I respond when there's a question and just smile and nod to everything else. But then I realize how nice it is to actually talk to someone. And her endless chatter seems a little peaceful and my smile becomes real. I bookmark my page and close it so my full attention is on her and then she is asking me if I would like to get some coffee and a biscuit. I agree without really thinking and we get on our way to a small coffee shop away from the mall. I tell myself to enjoy it as much as possible and soak it all up. Don’t take this friendship for granted and be interesting in the conversation. Make an effort Claire. Because when the day ends and I’m back at home, I climb into my side of the empty bed and fall asleep. And when the alarm clock wakes me up. I’m alone again. And it starts all over.

Mathematical school for artistic people

Rewind a few years and I am sitting there in middle school worrying only about my friends and what to do over lunch break. Bring it back to now and I'm stuck with not much else except the few skills that I have. The only things that could possibly help me in life are my writing and drawing skills that Ive worked on since i was twelve but they have only now just meant anything. But here i am in grade twelve, largely based on arts, and doing math eleven for the third time in two years and passing science with a 50%. why? because there are people like me who's life revolves around Arts and the comprehension of Science and Math is almost non existent but we have to depend on it if we want to pass grade twelve, and we have to depend on the passing of grade twelve to get anywhere major in life or to even get close to our goals most of the time. so what the hell do we do. we fail, and then we try again until we fail again. until school has become nothing more then a waste of time. And our teenage years are supposed to be the most important, its where we develop and grow up. So what if we grow up being told we are failures and we cant do what we want because its not in the guidelines of school. then what.

I do think that i am developing the skills that i have in school but i don't have much time for them because my school days and homework are mainly focused on the classes that i struggle with and that i don't have any skills in. So how much do i get to enjoy and work on the skills i do have when i have to focus and struggle on the classes that i have no comprehension in, in order to pass high school and the classes i wont need to get to where i want to go in life. So how is it helping me. its not.

We are living in an entertainment world. Its an Art world. but you are in school and your years are mainly about math and science. So here you go throwing a bunch of kids into school and forcing them to learn stuff they don't understand and testing them on what they don't understand and then telling them that they are stupid because they don't understand. It all depends on the build of your brain. Some people are just generally smart and can do everything possible in school and they get 100% in everything and they are set to go in life. But then you throw in a bunch of Students who's brains see things differently. People who aren't mentally challenged and need extra help but people who just generally see things scattered and not straight. These people generally aren't good at math and science but Art. Because in math and science there is one way to do it and if its not that way, then it is wrong. Why? because someone made it up and said so. So these Art people go to school and there are math and science outlines. ones you have to follow to pass. it doesn't make sense! there's math and science people who cant even draw a stick figure but it doesn't matter because that's not important and they are set because they have smarts in Math. But everything is put on the art people to do good in subjects they cant. Its not balanced.

The perfect school. If you want to be an RCMP officer you have to go to a special school that has certain training ways. Such as you have to march where ever you go and have your room perfect down to every shoe lace neatly tucked in or they toss it. why? because its learning discipline and how to pay attention to detail, like the polished button of your shoe. But thats not in normal school and kids run around with no respect for parents or teachers and adults complain that we are the generation thats going to rule them. But they never taught us otherwise. so who is to blame. I see tests as something like a training way. If there was more discipline to it, it would be perfect. Having to learn and remember it and then get it down on paper properly. Might not sound like discipline but there's consequences to not studying for most people and sometimes you have to give up a bit of your social life to study.

Its almost impossible to be able to change and have a perfect School system without changing the home. Parents have left it up to the schools to raise their kids and now the school also has to focus on that. Because now its not enough to have just one parent at home with their kids, now to survive with a family, the costs are higher and both parents have to work and focus less on starting a family or the family they already have. and its a mystery why immigration is needed to keep Canada alive. ...

But the school system needs to not be built around science and mathematics. Most people need the basic systems of math and they can live their life and do their job with that and can sleep at night with the fact that they dont remember K means potassium. they dont need trigonometry. Now, its a technology age and there's lots of games being created and photos being edited until they are almost completely fake and fake things being made to look so real, you believe it. There is art programs that you can use to create life like looking creations online. and there is a bit of math needed for it. but not algebra. After middle school, most sciences and math things being taught, go right down the drain once a student has graduated, or even just right after the test. So how many hours a day which add to weeks, which add to months, which add to years, were wasted struggling through math and science just to forget about it. Doesnt mean that every student has to learn to draw, because it is difficult, but learning something you dont comprehend or completely throws away the creativity that you have, is even more difficult.

SuperPowers

Any superpower in the world. That's probably the most dangerous gift anyone could ever have. Think of all the powers that could destroy the world. And I could have any one of them. But every super power has a weakness ... so which ones the best. Which one has the least amount of damage when everything goes wrong. Every superpower hurts someone else .. so which one is the least painful. Which ones worth it. And as we all know, every one with a super power has an enemy, causing the person with a power to not get close to anyone to keep them safe from getting hurt. So which one has the least of these problems?

To live forever, I think, would be the worst possible power that could be chosen. To live through all the historical events and history that repeats itself over and over and over again no matter how many times its taught. It would be sickening. to see everyone you get close to just get picked off one by one by the universe's decision that its their time to die. What would you have to do if you finally got sick of life and wanted it to end. Pay someone to knock you off or do it yourself? But to never get old .. to never have to worry about the people you care about getting tired of taking care of you and dropping you off with other old people in a building where the same thing goes on every day .. to eat the same food, to grow more tired every day and to lose memory of the things you love the best.. to not have to go through that, it might just be worth it.

What about to never have to experience fear. When standing on the edge of a cliff could mean one small slip and you are done for, but you don't care. You don't fear death. You can do whatever you want and your life will never be the same because it will be full of larger then life options. But isn't fear what tells us when its time to quit and move on. So how do we know when its not fun and games anymore.

X-ray vision. Think of all the sick little things you could do with that. The abuse of the power. To see through walls and blackened windows and every corner that's blocked up to make sure no one knows whats going on behind it. You would know everything that went on in the city. Behind every door and in every little room full of sick little games. But you cant undo what you have already seen. Every small crime, every murder, its all in your hands, and what do you do about it. What about the power to read people's minds. To know what people actually think about you and how truthful your friends are. You would know every dirty little secret anyone was every holding back. And find the ones that eat at you and you wished you hadn't heard. You could expose everyone and ruin their lives. Until you dig up that little secret that ruins yours. Welcome to your new life.

The Power to see in the dark. To never bump into something when you are sneaking out late and cant turn on the lights. Or just too lazy to turn on the lights and just want a drink of water. You'd see into every small shadow in the dark of the sleeping city and it would be yours. And there in the shadows, evil lies and you are exposed to it, you now see what actually goes on. Welcome to your new life.

There's the power to rule the world. World domination. Every country, every city, every middle-of-nowhere place is all yours. But there's such thing as too much power. Who really wants every single person's, young and old, life in their hands. To be able to crush them at any moment of any day and tell everyone else not to care. The power to be invincible, to never die, never be killed. Go through life without really having to worry about anything. Think of the major complex someone would create from that. And when life's beaten you till you have nothing else to give, you are stuck being beaten and unable to come up with life's toll.

Obviously there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with powers like breathing underwater and I guess flying isn't too bad. Or powers like being bulletproof, not much negative like that. Or being able to be elastic. though I'm sure your friends would abuse it and purposely grab your arm and start running or something. Never having to sleep wouldn't be my choice, as much as I don’t mind having the whole day to do things... .there's also the 'having the whole day to do things' forever. Being up 24 hours a day when everyone that you may find interesting is asleep and all you can do is watch the hours tick by.. Boringly. Unless you decide to sleep, but really if you decided to sleep it would defeat the purpose of the power.

My first thought was the power to be invisible. Could take anything, go anywhere and not pay. Sneak into movie theaters, be an asset to police or a master mob boss. Master of all thieves’. And no one would know what hit them. It would be brilliant; there would be no need for major planning. it would be a great power for me ... besides I’m already half way there, do you really even know who I am?

My thought would also be to have no power. To never be tied down with the responsibility. Or the power to take away the powers of others. Be able to play god for a moment in time and control the outcome of peoples lives. To strip away what they rely on most and make them human. Watch them fight like the rest of the people do. Tired and hungry and worn out. Never having the power to put themselves above everyone else and say they are better.

I think the best power though, since our choice wasn't completely specific, would be able to absorb and use the powers that everyone else has, may sound like I’m contradicting myself. Though plenty of negatives come with many superpowers... I would be able to chose and filter what powers I wanted to have. Simple ones like being invisible and disappearing when things got a little rough. Being able to fly or "jump" to places without having to book a plane ticket or find a car to drive. Wanting to know what people actually think of me.. Not my thing. Wanting to know others secrets, kind of disturbing.

But if that's unacceptable and there's only one power to have, I'd want to be able to move in time. To be able to go back to the moments that made life worth it, and if possible, to never leave. Or to go forward in time to something you are waiting for, something amazing. And not have to wait for it. With this power comes the possibility of taking the stupid and upsetting moments and changing them .. but risk possibly changing everything, even the good things. But you could also have the perfect life, take the chances you ever took which actually ended up with you getting somewhere, and completely erase all the moments that you screwed up. Any superpower in the world. That's probably the most dangerous gift anyone could ever have. Think of all the powers that could destroy the world. And I could have any one of them. This is what I chose.