{"id":5016,"date":"2022-03-30T04:58:26","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T03:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edgeverse.org\/?p=5016"},"modified":"2025-05-09T09:09:38","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T08:09:38","slug":"the-dancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeverse.org\/?p=5016","title":{"rendered":"The Dancer"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
Here you can read an entire shorty story, completely free. Blips are strictly less than two thousand words, or maybe more, and typically have a surprise twist in the tail. \nThese stories are free for you to download and share but please link back to us so we can build our site and create more free content. \nThanks very much for visiting. Please enjoy the story. <\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
Writing a short story is a great exercise for a writer of any skill level. It keeps us sharp and focused and practices our creative skills, as well as helping us to stay productive. For new writers, it develops your writing skills in a fun and unique way.<\/h6>
On our site we have a page where you can generate your own writing prompt. Every time you visit, it will randomly select a bunch of suggestions including a title, a protagonist, a theme, a setting and a genre. If you don\u2019t like what you get, simply refresh the page until a set comes up that inspires you.<\/h6>
I thought I\u2019d try it myself and got lucky with my very first role. I got a set up of suggestions that fitted together remarkably well and decided to go ahead and put together a story from the prompts the page generated and that story is here, for you bemusement.<\/h6>
At the end of the story, we\u2019ve included the prompts so you can see how the story came together from the suggestions our page generated.<\/h6>
Anyone can do this, it just takes a little practice.<\/h6>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t

The Dancer<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
By The Dark Jack and Iron Seth<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Bright Light flooded the room with coffee.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cDammit,\u201d she said, yelling far too loudly as she caught the falling glass jug too late. More, seemingly endless liquid spilled out all over the floor, sloshing around her white boots. That was going to leave a stain.<\/p>

Thunder clapped. He grinned at her, flashing a set of perfect white teeth. \u201cDid you mean to drop that?\u201d he quipped in his usual offhand manner. \u201cIs dropping things your special ability? Because you do drop a lot of things.\u201d<\/p>

She clenched her teeth and cast him an angry glare out from the side of her deep brown eyes. \u201cNo!\u201d she snapped, just as The Power went out. He stepped through the door with a huff, grumbling to himself. \u201cHelp me clean this up,\u201d Bright Light said darkly.\u00a0<\/p>

Thunder struck. He slapped the wall with his huge, leather-clad glove, and with a wide grin said, \u201cNot my job. My job is saving the day, or some shit. You have fun with that. I\u2019m going to find The Power and see if I can turn him on, if you know what I mean!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

The sound of Thunder walking out made her grind her teeth together.\u00a0<\/p>

Everyone knew what he meant. Thunder was as subtle as an explosion in the sky.\u00a0<\/p>

Bright Light grabbed a mop. She grumbled to herself, almost muttering under her breath, \u201cWhy am I doing this? Don\u2019t we have people for this?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWhy are you doing that?\u201d said The Truth as she stepped into the room. \u201cWe have people for that.\u201d<\/p>

She looked up and sighed. The Truth was always right, of course. Sometimes, hearing The Truth and realising you disagreed was a poignant reminder of your own stupidity, which always dimmed Bright Light\u2019s enthusiasm. \u201cI dropped it. I just thought I should clean it up.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cThen you should,\u201d said The Truth.\u00a0<\/p>

This wasn\u2019t quite what Bright Light had wanted to hear. Her voice low and her eyes averted to the floor, she took a deep breath and said, \u201cI\u2019m having a bad day!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAre The Crabs annoying you again?\u201d<\/p>

Bright Light shook her head. \u201cNo. The Crabs have been leaving me alone since The Cure joined us.\u201d<\/p>

The Truth smiled and nodded. \u201cYeah, they really like him for some reason. He is not enjoying the attention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Bright Light leant the mop up against the kitchen counter and looked at her evenly. With hesitance, she said, \u201cBut you know the reason they like him, don\u2019t you? Because, you\u2019re The Truth. You know everything.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI am The Truth,\u201d she nodded. \u201cAnd yes, I do know the reason. Knowing everything isn\u2019t all it’s cracked up to be. As well as knowing why The Cure doesn\u2019t enjoy The Crabs, I also know why Thunder\u2019s bedsheets are made of rubber.\u201d<\/p>

Bright Light looked down at herself, a sad look on what showed of her pale face. She was slender and dressed in a tight, form-fitting blue costume with a white flash running down the middle. Covering her eyes was a mask in the same white fabric, and her long, slightly-kinked red hair tumbled down from beneath it. There was always a line in her hair now from where the elastic in the mask held it firm.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cLook at me!\u201d Bright Light said. \u201cI\u2019m ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYes!\u201d said The Truth, earning herself a frown from Bright Light. \u201cLook at me! I\u2019m dressed in a black cape with an eye logo stitched on by a woman in Surrey named \u2018Judith.\u2019 We\u2019re all a little bit ridiculous. It\u2019s the price we pay for being superheroes, an inspiration to the entire world.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Bright Light looked down at her white boots and shuffled her feet awkwardly. \u201cThe Power can lift a bus over his head. I once saw him pull the door of a vault and throw it at the arch villain \u2018Tusk,\u2019 who could be identified by the rubber elephant\u2019s trunk held on his face with a leather strap. He\u2019s genuinely powerful. Thunder can clap his hands and make a sound that can knock everyone in the room out cold. He\u2019s like a walking stun-grenade that can focus his powers to shatter glass or even roll over a car. Even The Crabs are useful in a fight\u2014those twins have a grip of iron and can cut through anything with their weird bare hands.<\/p>

\u201cAnd me\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAnd you?\u201d Truth asked with a wry smile.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI make a bright light!\u201d she said with a heavy sigh. \u201cI was literally made redundant last week when The Power began carrying an LED torch on his utility belt.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re feeling a bit useless, aren\u2019t you?\u201d said The Truth.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cHere we are in a secret underground bunker surrounded by super-able people with incredible gifts, and I can be replaced with something you can buy in Poundland with your pocket change,\u201d she grumbled. \u201cThe \u2018Justice-Squad\u2019 base is miles from the nearest town and I can\u2019t fly or anything. I have to ride the Justice-Bicycle to the Justice-Busstop, then hop on the Justice-Bus with The Crabs and The Lone Avenger. All he ever talks about is how he doesn\u2019t need any of us. I think he\u2019s just some guy in a black suit, to be honest. It\u2019s all so depressing.\u201d<\/p>

The Truth shrugged. \u201cAll I do is know the truth; I\u2019m no use in a fight at all. That\u2019s why I just stay here, guiding the rest of you and pushing you into dangerous situations. I thought I was going to help save the world, but when you get there, the reality can feel quite different.\u201d She shook her head and smiled.\u00a0<\/p>

Bright Light nodded back.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWould you rather be Iris Bottomly again, part time social-studies student and night-time exotic dancer?\u201d The Truth asked with a pointed smile. \u201cBy night, gyrating on a greasy pole that smells like sadness and evil smashed together, and by day, drinking Red Bull and crying into your \u2018rudimentary psychology\u2019 textbook?\u201d<\/p>

Bright Light glared at her, her eyes narrowing beneath her tight fabric mask. \u201cI won\u2019t bother asking how you knew that!\u201d she grumbled.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI have no desire to go back to being Sharon Beckinsford, purveyor of mobile communication solutions. I might not be living up to my childish dreams of being a real superhero, but I\u2019m still part of something more important than hawking a technology that allows you to share pictures of cats, breakfasts and genitals shot from weird angles in questionable lighting conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Bright Light sighed. \u201cIs it too dark in here?\u201d she said, her voice lacking sincerity. \u201cI can make it a little brighter. Would that make the world a better place?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m wasting my time here!\u201d The Truth said finally and turned to leave, her black cape swishing through the air.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>

The Truth turned to her once again and said, \u201cMop the floor. Nobody needs a grumbling woman whose only power is substituting for a broken lightbulb. You can join the cleaning crew or something and finally be genuinely useful.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut\u2026\u201d she stammered.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cThe problem with you is that you don\u2019t understand the power of your own light. You don\u2019t have a useless super-power\u2014you have a gift that gives you an opportunity to do something amazing. You\u2019ve forgotten that light is energy, that your abilities go beyond the power of a flickering candle, and could be truly something amazing if you put in the same amount of effort into harnessing them as you do in moaning about them.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBut\u2026\u201d she whispered.<\/p>

\u201cIn life, you don\u2019t get to choose who you are or what opportunities you get. Your job isn\u2019t to moan about the hand you\u2019ve been dealt. It\u2019s to make the most of what you\u2019re given. I don\u2019t have time to waste on some dancer who never learnt to use her gifts to help herself or others. My job is to point out the truth to special people that have learned that the power to change the world is inside them, even if all they are to everyone else is a pair of twins with weird hands!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI\u2019m special,\u201d said Iris Bottomly. \u201cAren\u2019t I?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAre you?\u201d The Truth countered. A faint flicker of a smile flashed across her lips.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cYes!\u201d said Bright Light. She straightened her slouching back and puffed out her chest. \u201cI am! I\u2019m really special!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cThen put down that mop and get to the meeting room!\u201d The Truth told her. \u201cThe Stenchmaster has threatened to drop fifteen metric tonnes of expired milk onto the city for\u2026 some reason. We\u2019re going to stop him.\u201d<\/p>

Bright Light raised an eyebrow. \u201cDon\u2019t you know the reason?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cSometimes, the truth is that you don\u2019t want to know\u2026\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Title \u2013 The dancer<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Protagonist \u2013 A Superhero who has a terrible super-power<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Setting \u2013 A secret underground bunker<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Theme \u2013 Justice<\/strong><\/em><\/p>

Genre \u2013 Fantasy<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGo to the random story generator<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n