Forest Angel

Writing Prompt Wednesday

Good morning, friends! I missed the post for yesterday. Yesterday was the last day for teachers at my school, so this is officially the first day of summer break for me. Woo-hoo! My schedule is going to look a bit different over the summer, but I am looking forward to sharing more of my life with you on here.

I went a bit of a different direction today with Writing Prompt Wednesday. This week we are working with a bit of creative, fictional writing. I actually found this prompt last week. I just loved the idea. Most books have amazing one-liner prompts in them and can be the beginning of stories completely different than the one already written by that author. I had a lot of fun writing this and would love to continue it one day.

After you read, please leave me your feedback in the comments below. Tell me what you think happens next, if I should continue writing this story, or if you enjoyed it. I will take any constructive criticism you have for me that could help me become a better writer. Who knows this excerpt could be part of a published book one day. 😊Thank you so much for taking the time to read my posts. You are so appreciated!

Rejoice in the truth of Christ today and everyday!

Prompt: Go over to your bookshelf, close your eyes, and pick up the first book you touch. Open the book to a random page, read the first full sentence on that page, and use it as the inspiration for a story or scene. Please include the original line at the beginning...

He opened his mouth, but before he could speak he collapsed to his knees (p. 283 in The Death Cure by James Dashner). I stared at him not knowing what to do. Do I run for help? Do I stay with him and comfort him? My mind flashed back to a few hours before when we had made the decision to enter the forest. If we hadn't made the decision to enter the forest in the first place, the branch from that tall oak tree would have fallen and hit the ground without hitting him first. Why had we made that life-changing decision?

I began to look around frantically trying to find anything that could possibly be of some help to us. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. Of course, I thought, no signal. I slipped it back into my pocket realizing that it was of no help now. Nobody knew we were out here and it would be at least a couple of hours before I could reach help. Would he still be alive by the time I made it back? I thought about trying to take him with me, but would that do more damage than good to his already broken body?

As helpless as I felt, I knew that the best thing I could do was pray. I dropped down to my knees, put my hands together and bowed my head. As tears began streaming down my face, I closed my eyes. I didn't know what to say. It had been a long time since I had prayed for something as important as this. I tried to remember all of the things my grandmother had taught me as a little girl about God and prayer. And then the words just came, "God, I know you are here. Please help Tyler. I have been told that You always have a good plan even when bad things happen. I don't understand why this had to happen to him, to us. I am trusting You. Tell me what I need to do to help him. In Jesus' name, Amen."

When I opened my eyes, I was shocked at what I saw. Standing before me was a man about six foot tall. He had a long gray beard and piercing blue eyes. He wore a beaten up old baseball cap that had "Angels" written on it in slanted cursive font. It looked like a cap someone might wear as part of a little league uniform. He also wore a button-up plaid shirt, jeans, and dirty, broken-in work boots. He was holding Tyler's limp body in his hands. He didn't say a word to me. He just turned around and started walking. So, I followed.