Pick-a-Plot

For this writing, write a short story about whatever pops into your head! Write a quick snippet in the header to tell us what your story is generally about. Then, have fun making up a story with plenty of twists and turns. It could be a story about a made up superhero, a fairytale, a kids story, an epic adventure… anything! You choose. Be creative and let your own tastes and personality shine through your writing. And don’t take these directions so seriously, just write and see where it takes you. Here’s my story I had fun with:

“The plot of this superhero fan-fiction is about the unassuming Everyman who gains the power of liberation and walks away from all this buuuullshit.”

Rick is walking down the street from work when BAM! A superhero flies down out of nowhere and knocks him out cold. Little did he know that his life was about to change forever…..

Rick was a simple guy. Easy going and didn’t have a strong opinion about anything. He liked getting to work on time and doing his work with his headphones on. Mealtimes were always relaxing and rejuvenating. He would watch his favorite shows and random clips on YouTube. He worked out once a month, brushed his teeth twice a day, and didn’t care about the latest trends. He was content with life and how it was going. He didn’t have a girlfriend, but he thought having one could be nice. There was this one girl that lived on his floor that he thought about asking out. They would run into each other every once in a while and have an awkward exchange of kindness and nervous laughter. He appreciated her genuine smile and the things she would say about the people she worked with and the nice old lady that lived down the hall from them. Although they lived in a world with a few superheroes, there was not much else out of the ordinary. Unlike the fictional Marvel Universe, there were no super villains to match the strength of the superheroes in this universe. The superheroes in his world were strong and helpful. Most of them could fly and they all had various abilities. So much attention was put on them by the media, but Rick didn’t pay much attention to the hype. He was happy with his normal life and finding a normal wife. 

When Rick woke up from the superhero knocking him out (which was a crash landing by the way, not an intentional punch to the face) he was disoriented and hungry. He’d never been this hungry before. He didn’t quite understand what had happened, but he knew which restaurant he wanted to go to. It was his favorite place down on fourth street. They served tacos and ravioli. Which normally wouldn’t make sense as a good combination for a restaurant, but they were so delicious that it didn’t matter that they only served those two items exclusively. After he downed several orders of tacos and ravioli, he realized his wallet was empty. Was he robbed by that superhero?! Or did he just buy an absurd amount of tacos and ravioli? The truth was revealed when he talked to the superhero much later in his life….. for now, Rick was content with feeling okay and having a full stomach. The owner, hearing about Rick’s recent accident, let him have his meal for free. As Rick walked home, he realized he was flying……

Jeez Rick, please be a little more self-aware, said the reader. Anyways, Rick was starting to get a headache from the large bump on his head from the crash landing. He decided to be surprised by the flying the next day. He flew up to his window and opened it up to go in his room and straight to bed. The next day Rick didn’t wake up. But the next day after that, Rick woke up to be amazed by the great strength he felt. Not only in his arms, but in his eyes as well. He could see details around the room like he had a professional grade magnify glass. Rick was worried about work because he missed it completely the day before and he was late today. He thought to himself, “wait…. why do I need to worry about my job? I’m a freaking superhero now…. or at least… I have powers….” Rick started to think about what he would do with his powers. He wasn’t questioning whether he would be a good or bad guy, but he was questioning what he stood for and what he cared about enough to fight for. To risk his life for. This was a serious decision that Rick never had to truly face in his entire life. And here he was, all the power a person could ever dream of at his fingertips, but not knowing what to do with it. He decided to table this thought train and go see if Shelly (that girl down the hall) was home. Rick was never one to intrude on people’s daily lives, but he was excited to show Shelly what had happened to him because he believed he had a genuine connection with her and wanted to see what she thought of all of this. He knocked on her door and ended up punching a hole straight through it. Normally, someone would be afraid and frantically concerned about what had happened. His knock through the door was quite loud… but Shelly ran over to see what had happened as calm as ever. When she saw that it was Rick she smiled and asked him what had happened? She was confused and curious. And she was kind, as always. Rick told her all about how a superhero, unknown to him which one, crashed into him the other day and he woke up extraordinarily hungry. He mentioned how he ate way too many tacos and ravioli for a normal human being. Shelly was impressed. Then Rick remembered he also flew and had super strength and mentioned that to her as well. 

Now the conversation started getting serious.

Rick: What do you think I should do? I was content with life and never wanted any superpowers. I don’t know if I should fight crime or whatever. I just want to go back to work and ask yo—… someone out on a date.

Shelly: Well Rick…. Wake up!!!!! You’ve been blessed with this incredible gift. Get up off your butt and do something with it!!!! You’re a good guy. But no one benefits from a good guy who sits back and watches the world go by. Say something. Speak out! You can really make a difference and not be afraid of the opposition because they won’t be able to hurt you. At least not physically. Or you could join the police force or be fire fighter. Do something man!!!

Rick was taken back…. He felt nervous and for the first time like this great burden has been laid on his shoulders without him ever asking for it. On the other hand, he felt this excitement burn within him like he never felt before as he heard the passion fly out of Shelly’s mouth. 

He decided to go for a walk and think about things…. Shelly understood, and gave him some banana bread to munch on while he took his time deciding what to do…

He then decided……… to leave town and become a hermit. He was done with all this buuuullshit.

THE END