Tabitha’s Breakfast

Creative writing prompt

Set a timer for, let’s say, seventy-five minutes. Now write a 200-word story. BUT the trick is: you get to use only 50 words to do it. You’ll discover your own way of keeping track of the word count; one approach is to make a running list. 

Say, for example, your first sentence turns out to be “A cow stood in the field.” Now you “have” those 6 words to use going forward. When you hit 50 words, that’s it: you have to start reusing words. (Let’s allow plurals. So “cow” and “cows” count as the same word.) The final product is to be exactly 200 words (not 199, not 201).

Tabitha’s Breakfast

Tabitha opened her eyes. Something had woken her. A strange scent waiting somewhere in the sticky air. 

Breakfast. She padded into the kitchen.

The floor was wet. She lifted her feet gingerly, leaving sticky footprints. This was where the scent was coming from. A strange scent, but familiar. Somewhere deep in her psyche, she felt a subtle thrill, like the scent was waiting for her. Her eyes opened wider. 

There was no movement in the kitchen. No breakfast waiting. Strange. 

She lapped the kitchen, looking. No breakfast. No familiar face. 

There was no face. No eyes. Just sticky and wet.

She bent and lapped her bloody paws. No breakfast waiting. But this was wet and familiar.