Fiction Prompt:
“A Small Glowing Object”
Write a short scene (100–200 words) where:
You find a small object on your desk — something that wasn’t there before.
It glows faintly, but not in a magical or dramatic way — more like a quiet pulse, as if it’s alive or aware.
Nothing supernatural needs to happen.
Response:
It was an ordinary Thursday afternoon. I took a sip of coffee and set the mug down on my desk. I was on a coding spree with music thumping through the laptop speakers. My fingers tapped across the keyboard—all instinct.
That’s when I noticed it.
A smooth pebble sat on my desk that absolutely hadn’t been there before. It glowed in a slow, steady purple pulse.
Was this real? Sometimes when you’re so deep into coding, you start seeing things that aren’t there. I had to make sure the pebble wasn’t a hallucination.
The air felt colder. A thin river of dread slid through my stomach.
My first thought was that it was some kind of alien technology that materialized from another dimension. That’s where my mind went—probably from reading too many sci-fi books.
I picked it up and checked for seams or buttons. There were none. It looked like a smooth river stone, cool to the touch.
I didn’t have time to think about it. I had to finish my code.
Deadline first. Alien threats second.
I set the pebble back on the desk and went back to work, keeping one eye on it just in case.
MY DIGITAL HOME 