Found this again tonight as I was digging through my documents looking for writing to entertain my friends and family with. I had forgotten I'd actually finished a one sentence challenge, because so rarely do I seem to finish anything these days. But I'm posting it anyway because hey, might as well if I put the effort into it, even if it's old! A big thank you is in order for anyone who's read my other works and left words of praise or encouragement. Life had been throwing me sucker punches and curveballs at every turn, and it might not show from how inactive I am, but I appreciate every little thing, and all of it keeps me going through these tough times. :D
50 Themes
One sentence challenge
1 - Focus
It was funny how he could remain perfectly focused in the operating room while the mere mention of a man could distract him so completely.
2 - Civilization
Humanity would like to think that it had come a long way from a dark and brutal past, yet they were constantly cleaning up the mess of experiments and weapons gone wrong.
3 - Sink
If this had been normal everyday life, with normal jobs and a normal family, (and whatever else made up a state of normalcy) then maybe seeing Kiriko washing the dishes wouldn't have seemed so strange.
4 - Bullet
It didn't matter that he was bleeding or that he was going in to shock or that damn it hurt like hell- It was the satisfaction of knowing it hadn't connected with the intended target.
5 - Count
Minutes, hours, days, weeks, months… It was cheesy, but the moments alone always seemed to drag on forever.
6 - Mental
"Does it ever get any easier?",' to lose someone close to you' is what Black Jack means, but no matter how you hide it, death is never easy.
7 - Coast
Out on the remote cape there is no urban public to question what really goes on behind closed doors.
8 - Fence
"One of these days," Black Jack growls in his ear as he pins him against the wall. "I'm going to set up an electric fence so you can't just waltz in here whenever you damn well please."
9 - Circle
Black Jack once had a calendar hanging in his office to keep track of important dates- He took it down after it was repeatedly vandalized with certain days being circled in red ink and rather inappropriate comments being scribbled on them.
10 - Thin
The line between love and hate is almost nonexistent at time, and still they will walk it.
11 - Room
As the edges of the dawn start to creep through the windows he lays awake just to watch the other breathing.
12 - Blaze
"That's a burn..." It's a simple observation of the scar formation spreading over Kiriko's shoulders, a mark of another nightmare he'll never share.
13 - Thought
It became an unconscious motion to automatically connect everyday things with 'that person' who remained usually unmentioned but never forgotten.
14 - Jealous
"I swear, I was not checking her out- Ow! Stop it! For christssake she was just giving me the change for my coffee!"
15 - Sand
It started with Pinoko demanding that they help with her sand castle, and ended with them both soaked with saltwater and covered in seaweed.
16 - Doll
It's the random acts of kindness that startle him more than they should, like when he watches Kiriko patch together a crying girls cloth doll with a suture and surgical thread.
17 - Curl
"Not. A. Word." He growls out, daring Black Jack to comment on the fact Pinoko had attacked him with a curling iron.
18 - Farewell
They are no fools, no strangers to the fact each goodbye could be the last.
19 - Story
"…You know, you don't need to come up with bullshit excuses just to see me."
20 - Soft
It's when Kiriko's voice drops down real, real low that you know he's furious.
21 - Pool
The blood will get everywhere, trailing and draining, pooling into stains of a life lost too soon.
22 - Serpent
It never seemed to end, for once Phoenix was eradicated it was the Draconias virus that would rear its ugly head, testing not just them but the world all over again.
23 - Prey
Some days it was hard to tell just who was hunting whom.
24 - Friend
"Friends? Not a chance." No, not when it was so much more than that.
25 - Still
As easily as one could start an argument, the other could calm the raging storm.
26 - Exhausted
As he leaned against Kiriko, he couldn't even find the energy to be startled by the sporadic bursts of weapons fire.
27 - Bold
Certainly, he concluded, Black Jack was not one for subtlety.
28 - Hook
It was Pinoko who was always left confused when she found coasts carelessly discarded on the floor instead of hung up on the provided hooks.
29 - Attraction
He almost didn't believe him when he was told he was beautiful, because how could anyone find him attractive with the myriad of scars he bore?
30 - Will
Sometimes it was only through sheer willpower that they seemed to get out of situations more or less in one piece.
31 - Bed
Owning a twin-sized bed had never been an issue before he had someone to share it with.
32 - Bell
It was with the ringing of a cat's collar that Black Jack realized they were taking in yet another pet.
33 - Joy
How does one find the means to be truly happy, when ones focus in life has solely been on been on vengeance alone?
34 - Decade
It was strange to thing that they had known each other for years longer than most people caught on too.
35 - Test
It was almost like a game, with Kiriko seeing how far he could push him until he snapped.
36 - Gentle
People would think they were always explosively violent around each other, but the truth couldn't be further from it.
37 - Hunger
"Instant ramen does not count as a food group, Black Jack."
38 - Mute
It's worse when he's quiet, because Kiriko can't fix anything if he won't tell him what's wrong.
39 - Quicken
It's a touch, ghosting and barely there, that brings along a racing heartbeat.
40 - Absence
You would think that not seeing him (read as: interfering) would be a good thing, not something to make him worry.
41 - Maze
This is a reminder, for those who where lost and then found again cannot return to the same as they were when they began.
42 - Close
The door slams shut in a ferocious rage, although the anger is petty and short lived.
43 - Reign
It's never very clear who wields the power, or who holds the upper hand.
44 - Crush
Numbly, Black Jack realizes this is what a broken heart really feels like.
45 - Run
No matter how far you go, the distance will never be enough.
46 - Art
Pinoko insists on tacking every picture she draws of their sorry excuse of a family to the fridge, to the point where you can't tell where one ends and another begins.
47 - Pressure
It's voices cracking under the strain, the emotion of buried confessions and hid away fears.
48 - Echo
Words become hollow and meaningless if spoken too often, so they make the choice never to speak them.
49 - Heal
It takes years, and years, but slowly the change becomes evident and world is no longer as dark as it once was.
50 - Clear
If one things clear by now, it's that no matter how screwed up or hopeless life becomes, nothing is impossible.