Devina Divecha's Journals

This is how it works: We place three prompt cards face-down. We reveal the first card, then have five minutes to write. After five minutes, we reveal the second card and take another five minutes to write. Repeat for the third. At the end of 15 minutes, you’ve produced a bit of creative writing.

We wrote this on 5 October 2023 during the Writers’ Group meetup. These are the prompts, in order:

1. A sidewalk with a crack
2. Orange spray paint
3. A purple lollipop

And this is my story:

Pigeons were everywhere, hooting like the pests they can be. Large pigeons, thin ones, ones with wonky eyes, and others looking like they’d been bested in an aerial dogfight.

I stumbled slightly. I was trying to avoid a large group of the feathered fowl perched overhead on the moss-covered branches of the large tree, which had grown up from the depths of the sidewalk. Had the tree erupted from an existing crack, or was that crack caused by the tree’s growth?

It’s funny the things one notices when walking hurriedly towards a death sentence. A death sentence for someone else though. Not for me.

I kept walking, with a singular focus that made me a woman on a mission. A few pollution-filled blocks and impatient cars later, I arrived at the large, imposing gates of a very white building.

There was a crowd, I noticed. All hanging out near the gates, as if they very much wanted to go inside but an unknown barrier kept them out. Might be the makeshift barricade of security guards, I realised, a split second later. What was going on, I wondered?

A young woman screamed, she looked like she was about to have an apoplectic fit. “DON’T DO IT!” shouted an older man. A middle-aged, slightly frumpy-looking woman took out a canister from her large bag and started spraying on the brick wall outside the building.

I watched, mesmerized.

Suddenly I realised I was going to be late. I pushed through and went to the security guard and showed him my identification and appointment details. He gave me a once-over and let me through.

I turned my head, on a whim, just to see what was on the wall.

KILLERS.

The orange paint, offending in its brightness, glared balefully at anyone who dared look at the words it formed.

The sudden silence was antithetical to the din outside. The sterilized hallways and walls free of orange gashes stared blandly at me.

I walked quickly to the reception, showed them the same details I had shown the guard to give me access to this sanctuary. Or a place of death. Depends on your perspective.

A few minutes later, I was out of my jeans and t-shirt and in a hospital gown – one of those ugly ones. Although, are these every beautiful? I dangled my feet off the chair as I waited. The doctor came in and went through the sheaf of papers in front of him. He squinted, looked confused, then harrumphed his way into explaining what would happen next.

I let it wash over me. There wasn’t much more I could do.

A nurse arrived and walked me out of the white room and started shepherding me to what would no doubt be another equally boring room. On the way I spotted a bowl of lollipops at the nurses’ desk. “Can I have one?” I asked? She nodded, looking more confused than the doctor. I picked out a purple one, feeling the need to inject colour in this mausoleum.

I placed the lollipop with my belongings and went with her to the next room.

A few hours later, I walked out, sucking on my purple lollipop, past the irate crowd, with one less soul in my body than when I had entered.

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I haven’t edited it at all, so this is the raw copy from 15 minutes of writing, errors and all! Any thoughts? Let me know!