Deviation Actions
Literature Text
"Do you enjoy hurting people?" I gasped, fighting against the medieval chains that held me stuck to the wall.
"Why, yes, I do enjoy it," he said. He, Revolutionist, had committed more crimes than I could imagine, and I had been a fool to think I could catch him with my codes. I had programmed what I had thought to be the perfect way of catching him, and what had it led me to? A trap Revolutionist had created for me via my own code. And I had fallen for it and paid for it now. Damn my stupidity. Dammit.
The shattered glass under my feet shone with the faint light in the room I was stuck in. What a terrible fool had I been to think I could catch a criminal as famous and elusive as Revolutionist... The visions of fame and finally getting work had blinded my reason, I suppose.
It did not change the fact that I was stuck here, hopeless and wounded by the glass. The police had not been able to locate Revolutionist's hideout and I had been stupid enough not to let them know. And nobody knew where I had gone, I had not left even a note at my apartment.
I wonder if anyone notices I'm gone. I'll rot here or wherever I'll be hauled to for weeks before the authorities notice that I'm missing.
I had no place to run to when Revolutionist came again to torture me more with the shards of glass. Yet sometimes he took a break from it, treated my bleeding wounds and just... talked. He was twisted, I could feel it. And it was obvious, of course. At one moment he commits a crime against me and next he treats me, as if to make amends. I just don't understand it. Why?
Why me? Why not just shoot me and throw me into a garbage chute? Why... why does he keep here? I'm just a mere young foolish programmer. Why... why did he choose me?
He's told stories. It felt like he was yearning for letting them out. As if... as if he wanted me to carry them. To be his backup copy in case he was captured and... killed.
"You know, I have to keep this image in everyone's eyes; cruel criminal with no heart. It protects me from the imps. But I want it to end, I'm sick of this. You now know what I know. Could you please pass it onto the next one?" the Revolutionist suddenly freed me of my chains and gave a small data chip. "Can I trust you to give it to the one who comes to see me and whom I send to you?"
"Why?" I asked.
"Because I chose you to be my only hope. And the next one can get you off this place, get you work. Can you... be the hero that rose against my capture and captured me instead?" now Revolutionist took off his hood and revealed his... no, her face.
"Let her help you just like you helped me," she said. "Leave into a new life."
"I'll do it. Thank you," I said.
"The rest is up to you," she rasped and offered a blaster. I took it.
It was time to go now.
What was the 5th flash prompt challenge?
FLASH PROMPT # 5 - WHEEL OF FORTUNE
Your instructions for this month's prompt are thus:
Step 1. Go to the Story Shack Flash Fiction Writing Prompt Generator and click the big button that says "GENERATE". 
Step 2. Make a copy of your generator results, then generate 4 more prompts. You should end up with FIVE WRITING PROMPTS in total (and don't forget to write them all down). Step 3. Now take your combined results and choose ONE element from each of the five prompts that you've generated. Your final result should consist of one Word count, Genre, Character, Material, and Sentence to Use (and a bonus prompt as well if you received one). Step 4. Take your fantastic new PROMPT RESULT and post it in the comments below so that all of us may point at it and be jealous of your prompting luck. Then write a story based upon this prompt (obviously), and post that too!I was lucky and got the bonus prompt too! And I was very satisfied with my prompts of choice, they made sense together!
So, my prompts were these:
Word count: 550
Genre: Crime
Character: A programmer
Material: glass
Sentence: "Do you enjoy hurting people?"
Bonus: Your character is imprisoned.
550 words, as challenged. I loved this challenge. The nicest one of the ones that have been made during Flash Prompts.
As a hidden thing, in this story I feature two Exceptional Jedi characters from the time of the Galactic Empire. I won't tell you who the narrator or the dreaded Revolutionist are, though. They'll be a secret to be told in the future. I'll add this to the EJ timeline, however.
This story (c) Me
Star Wars (the only SW element that shows is the blaster, though, but still) (c) Lucasfilm
An interesting read, that’s for sure. Reminded me a bit of V for Vendetta.
I quite like the idea of a young programmer turned bounty hunter for want of a job; quite a change from the usual failed vigilante character. Their realisation of their lack of genre savvy-ness in failing to leave a note or a lead for the police was fun (though not for them!). Nobody ever seems to actually leave that note for the police, do they?
‘I wonder if anyone notices I'm gone’ You appear to change tense briefly for this sentence. I think I understand what you were going for, and it’s a tricky one – but I think it would be better as ‘I wondered if anybody had noticed I’d gone.’
The ending is a little hard to figure out; ‘let her help you just like you helped me.’ It took me a couple of times through to figure out who the ‘her’ was since the only ‘her’ so far was the Revolutionist. I’m guessing this is the ‘next one’? And that the ‘next one’ will be one of the authorities looking for the Revolutionist. It’s just about there, but I think you could make it just a bit clearer here.
Overall, I like the premise, and especially the way you scattered programming themes through the narrative – ‘backup copy.’