30 Minute Story #14 - A Day in the Life of Danny

https://thestoryshack.com/tools/writing-prompt-generator/
Genre: Children
Character: A soldier
Material: Paint
Sentence: "Not for you."
Bonus: There is a great storm.

A Day in the Life of Danny

Danny was walking down the sidewalk with his head down, quietly fuming. Just a few minutes ago he was yelled at by his mom for staying out too long, and something about bread and lunch. He didn't really pay much attention to the second part, Danny was too busy feeling bad for himself. Like it was his fault the game of hide and seek took so long, he thought. If his friends weren't so bad at the game, and didn't spend twenty whole minutes looking for him, Danny wouldn't be in this mess right now. On top of everything they called him a cheater, when he wasn't doing anything like that! It wasn't his fault the boys didn't think of hiding inside that abandoned garage. "It's too dangerous" they said. And what did he get as a reward for his bravery? A lecture by his mother. Now he had to go to the store to pick up a loaf of bread, all on an empty stomach. As a punishment, his mom didn't even give him any ice cream money, and that was just unfair.

It was a hot summer day, and there weren't many trees to hide under on the way to the store. Danny's tummy grumbled, he was feeling the lowest of the low. What if he collapsed right here and now, he thought. He was hungry, and the sun was scorching hot, it sounded like a perfect recipe for a sun stroke. "What if I actually did pass out? I bet mom would feel really bad for being mad at me, and nobody would call me a cheater anymore." Danny's imagination was running wild. "If I was gone, they would all be crying about just how much they all miss Daniel, and how nice of a son and a friend he was. I bet they would regret calling me a cheater. My mom would donate all her money to an ice-cream factory, so all the kids would get ice-cream. Of course she would do that, mom would hate anyone else to pass away from a stroke like her beloved son."

As he snapped out of his daydream, Danny realized where he was - the construction site across the road from the store! Thinking about the benefits of his untimely demise ended up being a good way to waste just enough time. It was oddly quite at the construction. Usually the street was filled with loud, rhythmic banging of the hammer, with occasional whirring of the drill chiming in. The construction was almost done. The workers were taking a break from painting the building, and were all relaxing under the roof of the front porch, eating sandwiches for lunch. Oof, what a punch to his poor, empty gut this was.

As Danny kept on walking, he watched the workers eat, imagining how good those sandwiches had to be. The one place he was definitely not watching, was under his own feet. One of the workers looked over at Danny, his mouth full of bread, tuna and mayo, and the moment he did, all of the sudden the worker jumped up on his feet, pointed in front of Danny and tried his best to say something. Unfortunately, all that's left his mouth were a few muffled noises and a few chunks of tuna. It happened in an instant, but to Danny it felt like an excruciating eternity.

TIME UP

What happened next: Our boy Danny accidentally kicked a bucket of white paint right in front of him. He didn't get any on himself, but as luck would have it, there was a soldier walking right in front of the boy. The soldier was wearing a pristine, spotless, beautifully ironed uniform - he was clearly high up in the ranks. Of course, it WAS a pristine, spotless, beautifully ironed uniform, until it got white paint splashed all over it. Danny knew this was the end. He might have been imagining his demise minutes ago, but this was real life. He never imagined his life was going to be ended by a real soldier. As the man turned around, Danny saw the man's intent, as soon as their eyes locked. The boy quickly though about everything he could do in this case. Maybe he could take this man on, he thought, but that idea quickly flew out of his mind. Of course not! Soldiers all know karate, he wasn't an idiot. His friend's grandpa was a sailor in the navy, so he taught him everything there is to know about soldiers. The only option was to run. Soldiers could run at superhuman speeds, of course he knew that, but what choice did he have? As quickly as he could, Danny turned and darted across the street. All he wanted to do was run home, but he couldn't do that. If he showed up at home empty handed, he would surely spend the rest of his life imprisoned in his own room, forced to read educational books. He'd rather risk being killed by the soldier.


Well, I wanted to write something from a viewpoint of a kid. This was inspired by the many Russian children books I've read as a kid, all from a kid's perspective. It was always funny to me how insane and hyperactive kids' imagination was, so I tried recreating little bits and pieces of that in here! Hope it was at least a little successful :) I might have gone over the top haha, but that's me in general.

See ya'll next time!