“But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptised of thee, and comest thou to me? And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Hear now—permit it. Do not restrain me!” -Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Russian Novelist

Today is an experiment, in short, constrained writing. I will number each little writing I make, I don’t know how many I will do, but I will not tell you the constraints before you read it, however, I will include the description of the constraints at the bottom of the post.

  1. I was lost and buried in chaos. I fought every day of my life to be strong and get over the issues. Communication with friends kept me in a good place mentally but it couldn’t protect me from everything. We live in a shitty town in the middle of America and there isn’t much to do. Luckily for me, I liked to fight. I had an attitude and lived with no regard for my own safety. I talked shit and tried to fight anyone I could. A broken nose or cut face was nothing unusual. Walking down the road on the way home, holding my jacket close to my body to keep the rain out but it was relatively ineffective and even worse it was windy. It cut right through my jacket. The rain started to subside and so did the wind. They are building “the biggest building” in the county but right now it is just a ton of dirt, scaffolding, and sheet metal. The site was maybe 100 or 150 yards long but it’s much better than walking around it. I climbed under the broken fence and try to move fast in case there was a security guard today. Luckily it is eerily quiet. I stay under the main scaffolding to avoid any more rain that may come but all I felt was wind. With the wind, you could hear occasional creaking from metal rubbing on metal. The wind picked up a bit, gusting and the creaking got louder and a pipe fell nearby and crashed to the ground. It stunned me. The clattering sound it made on the concrete shook me to my core. After catching my breath, I walked faster but then the wind gusted unlike anything else. It got as dark as night and there was an unmistakable whistle. I started to run but the wind gusted and I banged into one of the supports of the scaffolding and pain shot through my shoulder but I moved as fast as I could. There was a large metallic crunch I felt a cut down the left side of my body as more metal fell against me. Dirt and dust were flying everywhere and got in my eyes but I fought to see through it and moved as fast as I could. Then a collapsing crashing sound echoed out from above me as metal and wood fell around then finally something struck my shoulder, my vision went dark and I fell to my knees. The sounds of cement smashing, metal clanging and rubbing together and wood cracking grew louder around me as I tried to find my feet but I never did. I was lost and buried in chaos.

  2. Born in Winnipeg, Canada. Did well in school. Fought for his country and the greater good. He lived across the world. Married at age 26 to his dream girl. Had three children. Spoke three languages. Danced whenever there was music, made music when there wasn’t. Finished his life in France.

  3. Oops! Those things smell. At least they are doing something. They look so weird. Should I let them live? Sure.

Constraints:

  1. Your main character is going to die but begin your story with one sentence and then end it with the exact same sentence.

  2. 50 words precisely, The words on a gravestone. It must describe an entire life.

  3. A time traveling man discovers he accidentally created mankind. He considers reversing his decision. 20 words precisely.