Prompt: “She peeled back the old, dry, cracked paper, and he tried to hold back his tears.”

When Lorraine was eight years old, she drew a portrait of Mrs. Hershaw. She drew her with great detail as her small hands gripped the pencil and moved it carefully across the page to create the wiry strands of grey hair, the roundness of her eyes, and width of her broad shoulders. As she drew, the old woman disappeared little by little, and when Lorraine finished the portrait, Mrs. Hershaw had completely vanished from existence.

Prompt: “Life is but a bowl of cherries.”

“Life is but a bowl of cherries,” said the commander, plopping a juicy one into his mouth. “And your bowl is about to be emptied very soon if you don’t start talking.”

Dmitri shifted his weight backwards, trying to see if he could wiggle his hands free but they were tied too tightly to the chair. He wondered if Jinsoo had a plan.