The Prompt
“It hurts,” she points yet again to her foot. Her heel. The very back of her heel to be precise. “Why does it hurt?”
I’m a doctor who has run every test I know, prescribed every exercise I know. Yet the pain persists.
I ask her again, hoping for a different answer, “Why Does it hurt? Are you sure you didn’t just bang it somewhere, against something?”
She shakes her head
I lean on my desk looking her in the eyes, “All the blood-work is fine. The results are actually neat, the way the values line up. It’s almost too good to be true. So why Does it hurt?”
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Neha Mediratta
Neha Mediratta Chaudhuri is an independent writer, editor and consultant based in Mumbai. Recently, her award-winning sci-fi story Body Count was encoded in a Nickel and Gold Nano-fiche and sent to the moon (See Lunar Codex Project).
You can find her latest short story collection Death Chips and Love Fries at Amazon.
Meet her here: www.nehamediratta.com.
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Prefer paper crafts? Here’s the cut & paste version
I pulled this one together quite late, and I’m super tired. I embraced the “It’s ok to write badly, just make sure you write!” I did the warmup and brainstorming this morning which solidified an idea in my head. It made it easy to pull the story together, no matter how bad it is!
Way to go!!! Bad drafts capture the story! All of my first drafts are bad and my first drafts in May? Really bad. 🙃 The goal is “done” and revising and editing can wait.
This prompt met and exceeded expectations. On first read, it called to mind Neha’s masterclass, Writing in the Body, with the discussion about yin and yang. So, I looked at pain through different lenses: Eastern, Western, Mythologically, Symbolically, Culturally, and I wrote about a woman frustrated with Western Medicine, and serendipitously referred to Eastern Medicine, which leads her to dive further into approaches to find a solution to her pain. I’m happy with the twisty ending. It needs spit, shine, and polish, but it was fun to have to pick at it and look at it in order for the story to emerge. Thanks, Neha! And thank you, Julie, for the encouragement that you include with the warmups. =)
Nice, Melanie!
Thanks, Elizabeth! 😊
Great prompt, Neha!!
I had some fun with this one. It turns out that the patient is Achilles.
The patient, giving her family medical history, describes her mother’s profession. Achilles’s mother was a Nereid:
“When I was little, she used to do those mermaid shows at Weeki Wachee Springs. She still fills in from time to time – she looks as young as any of the girls who do the shows. And she does some synchronized swimming performances. Mostly now, though, she teaches swimming and lifesaving at the Y.”
I went with an Achilles-centric response to this prompt as well, Walter! I wrote a drabble about what it feels like to have one vulnerable part.
I love your modern Thetis!
Elizabeth, your take is amazing!
Fun, Walter!
I’m not sure what prompt I’d put this one against, maybe a fanfic. I’ve listened to Rachel Maddow do a monologue at the start of her show over the years, so I thought I’d give one a bash: https://afstoryaday.blogspot.com/2026/05/maddow-monologue.html
Now, I’ve played catch-up today, doing my Day26 story early this morning, now this is my day 27 this evening, I feel I’m technically good for 27 of 27, so happy.
And up my sleeve I’ve got heaps of prompts, the ‘Song’ one I am thinking for tomorrow, as my family and I watched the stage performance ‘Anastasia’ this evening. Of course, we got onto Rasputin, and then Ra Ra Rasputin the song. So I might sleep on that and see what I come up with.
Have a good day, everyone.
Andrew,
Love your story. About 20 years ago I wrote a short story called “A Horse’s Ass”. It’s a story on how the saying got started. You brought back memories of that story and how it made people laugh. Thank you for the memory.
Lisa, I’d love to read that. Dare I ask if it’s still around? I’ve heard something of how the term came about, but I cannot recall.
Thank you for reading it, and the comment.
Andrew,
If I find it I’ll post a link. I think I have it saved on a flash drive somewhere.
Another early morning wake up. I sat up in bed looking at today’s prompt. I wasn’t sure if it was a takeover but that’s what I started.
When the doctor finds there are several patients all with the same pain things become more of a mystery. Not exactly sure how it’s going to end. But after 200 words (including the almost 100 in the prompt) I pleased with the way it’s going.