This post was inspired by today's 5-minute writing prompt in the Freewriters Community - 11 January 2025, @mariannewest's Freewrite Writing Prompt Day 2614: friend from hell
I tried something slightly different with this one. Instead of writing a post then beating an AI art generator until it gave me something slightly close to the picture I had in my mind, I created an image based on the prompt and then wrote the story that popped into my head.
Enjoy !
Image created by AI in NightCafe Studio
It was freezing weather, and a few flakes of snow were drifting down onto the white spears that were once grass.
The winter made life even more intolerable for Dieter than it already was. He pulled the filthy sleeping bag closer, huddled under his small stack of cardboard boxes, and took another slug of vodka from the rapidly draining bottle that he kept by his side.
Through a haze of alcohol, cold, exhaustion and hunger, Dieter wondered if moving to the park had been his brightest idea. But he hadn't really had much choice. He was homeless, but hadn't fitted in with the other folks in the same predicament. They told him he was "odd" and "creepy". Then they'd beaten him, stolen his new coat, and told him to go away. Well, not with such polite language. The second word they'd used was "off".
So he had moved to the woodland on the edge of town.
People left him alone here, but there was no-one to beg from, no shops to steal from, and it was even colder here where there were no air conditioning vents or shop doorways to sleep in.
He just wished with all his being that he could be warm and have a full belly. It wasn't much to ask for, was it ?
There was a loud crack behind him. He sat up with a start. The crack turned to a crackle. Like fire.
Nervously, Dieter turned around.
Rising from the ground was a massive, horned figure wreathed in flames. It opened it's mouth with a fiery grin and spoke in a deep voice of ashes and doom.
"They were right when they called you odd. You have power. You called and I have come. Here...drink."
The monstrous being passed a flask of what looked like liquid flame to Dieter. It warmed him and filled him up, it was like drinking warm maple syrup laced with chilli peppers.
"Who... who are you ?" he asked shakily.
The creature grinned a devilish grin.
"I am your friend from Hell. Now, let's see about making it warmer around here...."
It waved it's arms around, and flame followed, jumping from tree to tree.
The morning news led with a story about the forest fire which had consumed the woods outside town and was now advancing on people's homes, and disbelief about sightings of two people inside the fire seeming to direct the flames.