Facing the Storm: Starting Scenario
#15 of Writing Prompt Group Submissions
Submission or prompt 15 in the Writing Prompt Group. The objective is to have a character face a ear.
In this story, you get to make a teenager face his fear. There are three different Approaches you can take when that time comes. Until then, Enjoy the set up.
Facing the Storm: Starting Scenario
The last couple of days have been tough. Last week, Barnaby the sixteen year old who lives across the street toilet papered your house, the latest in a string of recent pranks he has played. When his parents need a place for him to stay, you volunteer to take him in for the week. You think you can do some good for the delinquent, so you make a list of daily chores and routine household maintenance for you and the boy to bond over.
He has stayed with you for the since yesterday. In the morning of his arrival, the rabbit scowls at you when he is dropped off at your doorstep. The teen is wearing a white tanktop with blue, denim shorts. The short, skinny, dark blue youth is holding a suitcase with all his clothes and other things he'll need for the stay. You have him put up his things in your guestroom, then have him help you in the yard.
The work gets done by him, but it is done with an apparent apathy and a begrudging attitude. He barely does anything with the bushes, even after you show him how to carefully and evenly trim the over grown limbs. The boy drags his feet when it was time to haul the lightweight branches you cut off of the big tree in your backyard to the road. Raking the leaves, a simple task, becomes the source of an argument between you and the boy. The grass has to be redone in some spots because he refused to even try to keep the mower straight. With complaints and all, a few easy chores, which should have taken only a couple of hours, end up taking up the entire afternoon.
This morning, the house's interior is your target. With the same attitude and apathy of the previous day, the adolescent gets the chores done. He half-asses the dishes, which you make him rewash four times before they are finally clean. The same repetition has to happen with the vacuuming and sweeping, when the lapine keeps tracking in dirt from other parts of the house. Laundry, the simplest of household task takes forever as you and the kit constantly argue over this and that. After everything is done, the boy locks himself in the guestroom, only leaving to use the bathroom and grab food from the fridge the rest of the day.
It is now night time, and you are getting ready for bed. As you lay in your huge bed, your buff, nude, orange body exposed to the air, you begin to doubt your ability to be a good influence on the boy. He obviously is not intimidated by you in anyway, despite your muscles, military training, and long, thick, sharp bull horns that sit upon your head. All attempts to be kind and try to build the bunny's character have failed, and you are not quite sure what to do. If things do end up being physical, you know you could take the teen in a fight, even though you're 60 plus years-old. However, a confrontation is the last thing you desire. You decide to try again tomorrow, when you plan to do the garage with him. Soon, you drift easily to sleep.
The next thing you know, you are awakened by the sound of beating on your door. You unlock the door, and the boy comes flying in. Clad in only red boxers and an A-shirt, he's breathing heavily. Before you can ask what has him so unnerved, a flash of lightning briefly illuminates your bedroom, causing the lapine seek safety in your toned frame. Thunder claps as the rabbit tightens his hold on your body. Barnaby shakes and begs to spend the night with you.
You realize now that the confrontational teen is not as tough or brave as he put out to be and has an apparent anxiety for storms. Helping him through the night and conquering his fear is your chance to get a good start on reforming his attitude and begin developing his character. You are a smart old steer, and this is not your first time dealing with a boy who is in a dire need of life changing. You can be affectionate and calm his nerves, or you can be a stern disciplinarian and straighten him out. There is also the option of giving him some stress relief and helping him relax. Any way you choose has the potential to help the boy open up to you so that you can start helping him work on his issues.
Which approach will you take?
(Be rough with him: https://www.sofurry.com/view/768777)
(Show him some affection: http://www.sofurry.com/view/770157)
(Relieve his stress: http://www.sofurry.com/view/770365)