Amren Ortega - Writer

Prompt: As a fire watch, far from civilization, your only form of socialization is your colleague, who works in a watchtower a few miles away. One late night you get a call from your colleague. He is whispering. You hear him say “Don't let it see you,” then there is only static. _____ “Jake? Jake, come in.” Nothing. “Come on, man, this isn’t funny. Halloween is in like three months.” Still, the radio transmits nothing but static. “Fine. Play your stupid prank. I’ll be here, doing my job.” I let the radio fall on its lanyard against my chest and roll my eyes. Stupid Jake. Maybe if I were a fifteen-year-old, I’d be creeped out by what Jake said, but I’m a full-grown man. Being a fire watch is already long periods of boredom punctuated by shots of adrenaline; there’s no need to add ghost stories into the mix. Even as I tell myself this, though, the hair on the back of my neck stands up. A breeze rustles the dry forest below, the sound strangely sounding...

Prompt: You are a food critic that can immediately identify all the ingredients used in the food after just one bite. Because of your negative reviews, many people dislike you. You are tasting a famous restaurant's steak. But after a bite, you identify that one of the ingredients is cyanide. _____ I chewed delicately, parsing out the flavors. Filet mignon, medium rare. Ancho chile, paprika, brown sugar, espresso – ah, a coffee rub. Interesting. The mustard was overpowering, unfortunately, and it didn’t quite go with… I tilted my head as I swallowed. Who in their right mind would pair bitter almond with –? Oh. For a moment, I just sat there with my hand on my wineglass, thoughts spiraling through my mind. Cyanide. Someone was trying to poison me. And with how aggressive that flavor cut through the rest, I knew I didn’t have long. So I may as well make things easy for the police, when they arrived. I quietly summoned my waiter and explained that I would p...