A thread to post some of the short stories I wrote! They were first put on my tumblr (as I wrote them in response to some writing prompts), but I decided to share some of my favorite ones here. (I'm still experimenting with how I'm going to put them though - either as edits to the first post, or posting a new reply every time - so heads-up that I might change the format from time-to-time until I'm satisfied)
(Also, please tell me if I'm in the wrong place! I was debating whether to put them in Prompts or Short Stories so, hm...)
(Also, please tell me if I'm in the wrong place! I was debating whether to put them in Prompts or Short Stories so, hm...)
Full prompt: Many years ago, you sold your soul to a Demon. Rather than simply taking possession, he invested it, and has returned to share the profits.
“…thank you.” She appeared relieved as she got her soul back, but inwardly she was grumbling about how hard it was to lose your soul these days.
“ N̸͐̔ͭͭ̋ͪ͏o̢̢̅ͯ̊ͪ͒͑,ͦ͛͟͢ ̶͂̑̄̿̑͌̐t̐̊͌͂͋̓̀̕hͧ̿ͬ̚a̛̎ͭͤͬ̓ͭ͝n̶̷ͦ̽͒̆̐͊͐͑ͨk̵̾̿͋ͧ ̇̌͛ͦ͐̏Y̶̛̽́̇̋ͦ̄͌ͤOͭͯ͟U̷͐̊ͭ̿ͥ̚!ͪͩ̑͌͊͑̚͟͜ “ The demon gave a hearty laugh - at least she thought it must be a hearty laugh and not a hacking cough. “ À̵̛̈͑͑̈ͬͩͮͭ͛͌́h̸ͫͨ͒̃̊ͧ͂ͪ̀̕e̴̢̿̈̅̃̈̋͐̌̓͒͘͞͝m͆̐̈ͩ̓̆͗͝͝͏͞͠ – there we go.“
…So he WAS coughing.
“I, no, WE profited!!!“ The demon grinned and did a little happy dance. He handed over some of sack at the end of his dance routine.
Were high circle demons always this… wonky?
‘Nope, nope, this won’t do at all. I should summon something else…’ She began redesigning the summoning circle in her head, trying to tweak it so she summons a demon from a lower circle instead. “Wait, what’s this?” She had accepted the sack absent-mindedly, and had no idea what else would the demon return.
“More souls!“ He grinned some more, and danced again.
“…what.“ She peered inside the bag, and saw wisps of different color fluttering around. An idea suddenly popped into her mind. “No, no, no, isn’t the whole soul thing your business and not mine? Look, just, take these back, okay?” She pushed the sack back to his hands.
“You’re helping me invest again?!?!?!” You didn’t think he could grin wider, but he did, the edges of his mouth ripped slightly to let him express his bigger joy. He also did a more elaborate dance routine, incorporating splits and cartwheels into the production. “Thank you SO SO MUCH!!”
“No, wait-”
But, poof, he was gone. Now he’s back into the pits of hell.
“…I shouldn’t have snuck in my soul into that sack.” She massaged her temples, trying to forget the whole thing happened.
‘Mother, is this why you told me not to deal with demons? I should’ve listened to you.’
“…thank you.” She appeared relieved as she got her soul back, but inwardly she was grumbling about how hard it was to lose your soul these days.
“ N̸͐̔ͭͭ̋ͪ͏o̢̢̅ͯ̊ͪ͒͑,ͦ͛͟͢ ̶͂̑̄̿̑͌̐t̐̊͌͂͋̓̀̕hͧ̿ͬ̚a̛̎ͭͤͬ̓ͭ͝n̶̷ͦ̽͒̆̐͊͐͑ͨk̵̾̿͋ͧ ̇̌͛ͦ͐̏Y̶̛̽́̇̋ͦ̄͌ͤOͭͯ͟U̷͐̊ͭ̿ͥ̚!ͪͩ̑͌͊͑̚͟͜ “ The demon gave a hearty laugh - at least she thought it must be a hearty laugh and not a hacking cough. “ À̵̛̈͑͑̈ͬͩͮͭ͛͌́h̸ͫͨ͒̃̊ͧ͂ͪ̀̕e̴̢̿̈̅̃̈̋͐̌̓͒͘͞͝m͆̐̈ͩ̓̆͗͝͝͏͞͠ – there we go.“
…So he WAS coughing.
“I, no, WE profited!!!“ The demon grinned and did a little happy dance. He handed over some of sack at the end of his dance routine.
Were high circle demons always this… wonky?
‘Nope, nope, this won’t do at all. I should summon something else…’ She began redesigning the summoning circle in her head, trying to tweak it so she summons a demon from a lower circle instead. “Wait, what’s this?” She had accepted the sack absent-mindedly, and had no idea what else would the demon return.
“More souls!“ He grinned some more, and danced again.
“…what.“ She peered inside the bag, and saw wisps of different color fluttering around. An idea suddenly popped into her mind. “No, no, no, isn’t the whole soul thing your business and not mine? Look, just, take these back, okay?” She pushed the sack back to his hands.
“You’re helping me invest again?!?!?!” You didn’t think he could grin wider, but he did, the edges of his mouth ripped slightly to let him express his bigger joy. He also did a more elaborate dance routine, incorporating splits and cartwheels into the production. “Thank you SO SO MUCH!!”
“No, wait-”
But, poof, he was gone. Now he’s back into the pits of hell.
“…I shouldn’t have snuck in my soul into that sack.” She massaged her temples, trying to forget the whole thing happened.
‘Mother, is this why you told me not to deal with demons? I should’ve listened to you.’
Full prompt: It turns that it’s actually possible to travel through mirrors. However, our reflections make it their job to block us from getting to the other side, and there’s a good reason why.
There were some things you can never really be sure of. Sometimes, you’d think that it’s possible someone may be tailing you, even though you’re relatively normal. Highly improbable, yes, but there’s still that minuscule possibility. So, more often than not, you catch yourself saying, “I know you’re there. Come out.” whenever you’re sure no one can see you. It is a tad bit embarrassing to be that presumptuous, and you still had that small ounce of shame.
Needless to say, no one ever really comes out even when you give them a full minute to reveal themselves.
And although you think the action is a bit silly, you’ve continued doing this every month. Maybe you’ll accidentally catch someone, but who are you kidding? You’ve just grown too amused by your own actions that it had already become a hobby of sorts.
“I know you’re there.” You whispered to your doppelganger - a perfect copy of you, trapped in reflective glass. You’ve already grown bored of trying it in desolate alleys, as no one had ever appeared for two years. So you decided to do it one last time, but on something else.
“Quit pretending.” You smirked at your image and tapped against the glass. It reflected your actions just fine, just like how a fully functional mirror would do. Of course.
But you weren’t really that impatient, despite knowing how ridiculous this scenario is. You tilted your head expectantly and stared, as if somehow you could unnerve your reflection to just outright confess its existence.
And boy did you unnerve your reflection real badly.
“…okay, okay, I’ll stop pretending…“
Ah.
Was that your voice? You weren’t even sure how you sounded like to others, but here was your copy, using what was presumably your voice in a somewhat bashful tone.
…you weren’t bashful at all, so it sort of irked you to hear you(?) sound like that.
“H-hello?” Your reflection took a step and waved at you, trying to ascertain what you wanted. It fiddled with its shirt - your shirt? - and fidgeted. Really, you couldn’t decide whether you were the same entity or not, but maybe it’d be safer to just assume you’re not the same. You didn’t act like it did after all.
“Wait for a moment.“ You replied as you closed your eyes and rubbed your temples. You were strangely rational about this - but that was because you knew how to forcibly suppress panic. That didn’t mean you weren’t panicking. You just liked to think you didn’t seem to be panicking.
You struggled to collect your thoughts. You never really thought you’d get this far, so what exactly should your next course of action be?
“R-right, so-“ You coughed, noticing your voice faltered for a moment. “Sorry for the wait, I was just thinking of what I wanted to ask first.“
“U-um, yeah…“
“Stop sounding so nervous! It’s not like I’ll eat you.“ You accidentally snapped at it, annoyed at the lack of backbone your reflection had. You obviously weren’t related then.
“S-sorry.“ It shrunk further back into the mirror-image of your room.
The tension you initially had vanished the moment you realized how timid your reflection was. You sighed and settled on asking one question for now. “You are?“
“A-ah.. I-I’m Uoy…“
“Oo-woy?“ Your tongue hesitated at forming the sound. Was the language beyond the mirror different in some degrees? You managed to converse in English just fine, but the way it pronounced its name seemed foreign to you.
“Y-yes. Uoy. It’s spelled as U-O-Y, Uoy.“ It sounded strangely proud at being able to spell its name.
…But, really? Uoy?
Is this someone’s idea of a joke?
You already stopped calling out randomly after having met Uoy. After all, you’re not sure how you’re going to deal with another incident like that.
Well, that’s what you told yourself, but you’re actually enjoying keeping in touch with Uoy. Whenever you’re sure that no one would suddenly walk in and hear you converse, you’d go the the nearest mirror and just talk with Uoy. In fact, you even keep a portable mirror in your bag.
“Uoy, is it still you I see on other mirrors?“ You asked idly, as you began working on some papers due in a few days.
“Y-yeah.“ The stutter Uoy had never really vanished, but the nervousness that used to be apparent was gone now. “A-all of us here get permanently assigned to o-one thing on your side.“
“I see.“ Now that was a bit interesting. “What are you exactly, then?“
“I-I… um.. since I-I’m assigned to you, I’m c-classified as Namuh.“
…
“Spelled N-A-M-U-H, huh?“ You muttered to yourself. A frown automatically formed on your lips as you internally winced at the classification. Whoever did the nomenclature in their mirror world has a terrible naming sense.
“A-amazing! You even know how to spell it!“ You swear you could see Uoy’s eyes sparkle when you had spelt Namuh.
“What’s the big deal with spelling things, anyway?“
“T-that’s because…“
“Nah, you don’t have to answer that. There was something else I was supposed to ask anyway.“ You thought for a moment, trying to decide whether it was a strange question you were about to ask.
Then again, talking to your reflection ought to be strange enough.
“Is it possible to get to your side? You always seemed to be blocking me whether I get close to the mirror.“
“Y-YOU CAN’T! Y-YOU ABSOLUTELY C-CAN’T!“
It surprised you how strong a reaction Uoy had to your casual inquiry. In fact, you had to stop working on your paper to calm your reflection down. It’s not like you can work on writing anything with the sound of Uoy’s wails as background music, anyway.
It has been a few weeks since that incident but you still felt terribly curious. You had no plans to cross over to his world, but the way Uoy insisted that you just musn’t do it made you want to know.
“Uoy.“
“Y-yes?“
“Tell me what happens if I try to get to your side.“
“N-NO, Y-YOU-“
“-can’t, yes! Jesus, calm down! I’m not planning to actually do it.“ Your outburst managed to effectively stop Uoy’s start of a sobfest.
“Y-you can’t…“ Uoy muttered, slightly sniffing.
“Yeah, I won’t. I just wanted to know what would happen.”
“I.. I’d vanish. W-we, u-us guys from this s-side, vanish w-when we don’t have our c-counterparts…“
Ah. So Uoy was just being uncharacteristically selfish, huh… Well, self-preservation IS an instinct. So maybe calling that selfishness won’t do at all.
“A-and, y-you’d get lost here…“
“Lost? My sense of direction is excellent.“ Uoy’s second reason sounded absurd.
“O-our place has a different method of navigating… T-that’s why we can appear anywhere instantly w-whenever there’s a reflective surface.“
Well, you’ve never really thought about how travelling happens over there. There was no reason to.
“You said I’d get lost, but you didn’t really say I couldn’t get back here?“
“Y-yeah. W-with some i-incredibly high luck, y-you can get back here j-just fine.“
“And you’d come back into existence?“
“I-I think so.“ Uoy’s eyes suddenly widened. “P-please don’t ever try it! I beg you!“
“Yeah, yeah, sure, don’t worry.“
The blame wasn’t really solely on Uoy. Uoy was supposed to be guarding the mirror, yes, and it is a blunder to have let you somehow get to a mirror without him appearing. You acknowledge the part that was your fault, though. Having been warned about it several times, you still decided to step through the mirror. And look where that got you.
‘Uoy should’ve been more demanding about it.’ You thought as you faced the hazy world in front of you. You think that this is what the scenery should look like if you were high. You’ve never been high, though, so this was mere speculation. Everything was quickly becoming one thing and turning into the next. It was a mess.
You take a step back - or you think you did - but you feel as if someone had lifted you upside-down with all the blood rushing to your head. You move a little bit, and all the sensations change. A second ago you could hear trumpets, now you can hear the thumping of a heart. It had been freezing for a moment, and yet now you feel as if you’re being slowly roasted.
Occasionally, you’d find more comfortable places where you feel that things are as normal as they can seem to be. You tried to still yourself as much as possible during these times, because if you moved a bit more, you’d want to vomit. But the mere fact that you move ever so slightly when you breathe was enough to shift you to some other sensory overload.
He really wasn’t kidding when he said they had a different method of navigating, huh.
You offered a silent apology to the Uoy that has vanished by now. You really didn’t think you’d be sane enough to get back.
There were some things you can never really be sure of. Sometimes, you’d think that it’s possible someone may be tailing you, even though you’re relatively normal. Highly improbable, yes, but there’s still that minuscule possibility. So, more often than not, you catch yourself saying, “I know you’re there. Come out.” whenever you’re sure no one can see you. It is a tad bit embarrassing to be that presumptuous, and you still had that small ounce of shame.
Needless to say, no one ever really comes out even when you give them a full minute to reveal themselves.
And although you think the action is a bit silly, you’ve continued doing this every month. Maybe you’ll accidentally catch someone, but who are you kidding? You’ve just grown too amused by your own actions that it had already become a hobby of sorts.
“I know you’re there.” You whispered to your doppelganger - a perfect copy of you, trapped in reflective glass. You’ve already grown bored of trying it in desolate alleys, as no one had ever appeared for two years. So you decided to do it one last time, but on something else.
“Quit pretending.” You smirked at your image and tapped against the glass. It reflected your actions just fine, just like how a fully functional mirror would do. Of course.
But you weren’t really that impatient, despite knowing how ridiculous this scenario is. You tilted your head expectantly and stared, as if somehow you could unnerve your reflection to just outright confess its existence.
And boy did you unnerve your reflection real badly.
“…okay, okay, I’ll stop pretending…“
Ah.
Was that your voice? You weren’t even sure how you sounded like to others, but here was your copy, using what was presumably your voice in a somewhat bashful tone.
…you weren’t bashful at all, so it sort of irked you to hear you(?) sound like that.
“H-hello?” Your reflection took a step and waved at you, trying to ascertain what you wanted. It fiddled with its shirt - your shirt? - and fidgeted. Really, you couldn’t decide whether you were the same entity or not, but maybe it’d be safer to just assume you’re not the same. You didn’t act like it did after all.
“Wait for a moment.“ You replied as you closed your eyes and rubbed your temples. You were strangely rational about this - but that was because you knew how to forcibly suppress panic. That didn’t mean you weren’t panicking. You just liked to think you didn’t seem to be panicking.
You struggled to collect your thoughts. You never really thought you’d get this far, so what exactly should your next course of action be?
“R-right, so-“ You coughed, noticing your voice faltered for a moment. “Sorry for the wait, I was just thinking of what I wanted to ask first.“
“U-um, yeah…“
“Stop sounding so nervous! It’s not like I’ll eat you.“ You accidentally snapped at it, annoyed at the lack of backbone your reflection had. You obviously weren’t related then.
“S-sorry.“ It shrunk further back into the mirror-image of your room.
The tension you initially had vanished the moment you realized how timid your reflection was. You sighed and settled on asking one question for now. “You are?“
“A-ah.. I-I’m Uoy…“
“Oo-woy?“ Your tongue hesitated at forming the sound. Was the language beyond the mirror different in some degrees? You managed to converse in English just fine, but the way it pronounced its name seemed foreign to you.
“Y-yes. Uoy. It’s spelled as U-O-Y, Uoy.“ It sounded strangely proud at being able to spell its name.
…But, really? Uoy?
Is this someone’s idea of a joke?
You already stopped calling out randomly after having met Uoy. After all, you’re not sure how you’re going to deal with another incident like that.
Well, that’s what you told yourself, but you’re actually enjoying keeping in touch with Uoy. Whenever you’re sure that no one would suddenly walk in and hear you converse, you’d go the the nearest mirror and just talk with Uoy. In fact, you even keep a portable mirror in your bag.
“Uoy, is it still you I see on other mirrors?“ You asked idly, as you began working on some papers due in a few days.
“Y-yeah.“ The stutter Uoy had never really vanished, but the nervousness that used to be apparent was gone now. “A-all of us here get permanently assigned to o-one thing on your side.“
“I see.“ Now that was a bit interesting. “What are you exactly, then?“
“I-I… um.. since I-I’m assigned to you, I’m c-classified as Namuh.“
…
“Spelled N-A-M-U-H, huh?“ You muttered to yourself. A frown automatically formed on your lips as you internally winced at the classification. Whoever did the nomenclature in their mirror world has a terrible naming sense.
“A-amazing! You even know how to spell it!“ You swear you could see Uoy’s eyes sparkle when you had spelt Namuh.
“What’s the big deal with spelling things, anyway?“
“T-that’s because…“
“Nah, you don’t have to answer that. There was something else I was supposed to ask anyway.“ You thought for a moment, trying to decide whether it was a strange question you were about to ask.
Then again, talking to your reflection ought to be strange enough.
“Is it possible to get to your side? You always seemed to be blocking me whether I get close to the mirror.“
“Y-YOU CAN’T! Y-YOU ABSOLUTELY C-CAN’T!“
It surprised you how strong a reaction Uoy had to your casual inquiry. In fact, you had to stop working on your paper to calm your reflection down. It’s not like you can work on writing anything with the sound of Uoy’s wails as background music, anyway.
It has been a few weeks since that incident but you still felt terribly curious. You had no plans to cross over to his world, but the way Uoy insisted that you just musn’t do it made you want to know.
“Uoy.“
“Y-yes?“
“Tell me what happens if I try to get to your side.“
“N-NO, Y-YOU-“
“-can’t, yes! Jesus, calm down! I’m not planning to actually do it.“ Your outburst managed to effectively stop Uoy’s start of a sobfest.
“Y-you can’t…“ Uoy muttered, slightly sniffing.
“Yeah, I won’t. I just wanted to know what would happen.”
“I.. I’d vanish. W-we, u-us guys from this s-side, vanish w-when we don’t have our c-counterparts…“
Ah. So Uoy was just being uncharacteristically selfish, huh… Well, self-preservation IS an instinct. So maybe calling that selfishness won’t do at all.
“A-and, y-you’d get lost here…“
“Lost? My sense of direction is excellent.“ Uoy’s second reason sounded absurd.
“O-our place has a different method of navigating… T-that’s why we can appear anywhere instantly w-whenever there’s a reflective surface.“
Well, you’ve never really thought about how travelling happens over there. There was no reason to.
“You said I’d get lost, but you didn’t really say I couldn’t get back here?“
“Y-yeah. W-with some i-incredibly high luck, y-you can get back here j-just fine.“
“And you’d come back into existence?“
“I-I think so.“ Uoy’s eyes suddenly widened. “P-please don’t ever try it! I beg you!“
“Yeah, yeah, sure, don’t worry.“
The blame wasn’t really solely on Uoy. Uoy was supposed to be guarding the mirror, yes, and it is a blunder to have let you somehow get to a mirror without him appearing. You acknowledge the part that was your fault, though. Having been warned about it several times, you still decided to step through the mirror. And look where that got you.
‘Uoy should’ve been more demanding about it.’ You thought as you faced the hazy world in front of you. You think that this is what the scenery should look like if you were high. You’ve never been high, though, so this was mere speculation. Everything was quickly becoming one thing and turning into the next. It was a mess.
You take a step back - or you think you did - but you feel as if someone had lifted you upside-down with all the blood rushing to your head. You move a little bit, and all the sensations change. A second ago you could hear trumpets, now you can hear the thumping of a heart. It had been freezing for a moment, and yet now you feel as if you’re being slowly roasted.
Occasionally, you’d find more comfortable places where you feel that things are as normal as they can seem to be. You tried to still yourself as much as possible during these times, because if you moved a bit more, you’d want to vomit. But the mere fact that you move ever so slightly when you breathe was enough to shift you to some other sensory overload.
He really wasn’t kidding when he said they had a different method of navigating, huh.
You offered a silent apology to the Uoy that has vanished by now. You really didn’t think you’d be sane enough to get back.
Full prompt: One day, while helping set up a film set for a satanic ritual scene, you cut your hand, and the blood dripped onto the fake summoning circle. To everyone’s horror, it glows ominously.
“Ahaha, it’s a trick, a trick!“ You waved your non-bloody hand at them, grinning. “Ever heard of those lamps that activate when you drop some blood? It works by the same principle!“
The cast and staff are stunned and impressed at your knowledge, some laughing in relief and others chiding themselves because it is, in fact, ridiculous for a summoning circle to actually work. That’s not how it goes in real life, after all.
Nevertheless, the fact that you’re injured meant they had to postpone the shooting for a bit. Some people rushed around frantically, and no one noticed that your sliced hand was desperately pushing something back inside the summoning circle.
Now, you regret having used one of your grandmother’s old magicky-gimicky books as reference for the magic circle. Those circles weren’t supposed to work! They were already outdated, and the satanic summoners of the next generation have already worked out better and more efficient summoning circles.
“Go back.“ You hissed quietly at the creature that pushed against your hand, struggling to crawl out of the portal you inadvertently opened. You wanted to stop the bleeding on your palm immediately, but making the little demon disappear was obviously your first priority. The world didn’t need to know about true satanic rituals yet.
“i just got here!!!“ It whined, attempting to claw you with hands that lack nails. Cute.
“I don’t care, I don’t have any babies or goats to sacrifice. Go back.“ You managed to push him back with less effort this time, knowing very well how the pitiful amount of blood spilled could only sustain him for so long.
And before anyone could notice the frown you sported on your lips after the interaction, you turned to your coworkers with a goofy smile, making some of them shake their head at how idiotic you seem.
“Ahaha, it’s a trick, a trick!“ You waved your non-bloody hand at them, grinning. “Ever heard of those lamps that activate when you drop some blood? It works by the same principle!“
The cast and staff are stunned and impressed at your knowledge, some laughing in relief and others chiding themselves because it is, in fact, ridiculous for a summoning circle to actually work. That’s not how it goes in real life, after all.
Nevertheless, the fact that you’re injured meant they had to postpone the shooting for a bit. Some people rushed around frantically, and no one noticed that your sliced hand was desperately pushing something back inside the summoning circle.
Now, you regret having used one of your grandmother’s old magicky-gimicky books as reference for the magic circle. Those circles weren’t supposed to work! They were already outdated, and the satanic summoners of the next generation have already worked out better and more efficient summoning circles.
“Go back.“ You hissed quietly at the creature that pushed against your hand, struggling to crawl out of the portal you inadvertently opened. You wanted to stop the bleeding on your palm immediately, but making the little demon disappear was obviously your first priority. The world didn’t need to know about true satanic rituals yet.
“i just got here!!!“ It whined, attempting to claw you with hands that lack nails. Cute.
“I don’t care, I don’t have any babies or goats to sacrifice. Go back.“ You managed to push him back with less effort this time, knowing very well how the pitiful amount of blood spilled could only sustain him for so long.
And before anyone could notice the frown you sported on your lips after the interaction, you turned to your coworkers with a goofy smile, making some of them shake their head at how idiotic you seem.
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. It's sort of like the allure of the unknown 