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The Word

Aureate

Sunlight filled the room, bathing everything in its golden glow. The brightness forced him to open his eyes. He did so squinting, the light painful. His body felt heavy and sluggish, a typical occurrence in the morning; yet, after another few moments of adjusting to the sunlight, and being awake in general, he realized that the heaviness was more specific. 

Welcome to The Word! Either a story beginning, a story ending, a piece of flash fiction, a poem, painting, dance move—inspired by the word, aureate, where does it take me? Where does it take you?

[ OR-ee-eit ]

Adjective

  1. Denoting, made of, or having the color of gold.
  2. (of language) Highly ornamented or elaborate.

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** Either a story beginning, a story ending, a piece of flash fiction, a poem, painting, dance move—inspired by the word, aureate, where does it take me? Where does it take you? Learn more about “The Word” here.


Sunlight filled the room, bathing everything in its golden glow. The brightness forced him to open his eyes. He did so squinting, the light painful. His body felt heavy and sluggish, a typical occurrence in the morning; yet, after another few moments of adjusting to the sunlight, and being awake in general, he realized that the heaviness was more specific. 

Tyler reached outwards in his mind, assessing his body. It was just his hands and his feet. They felt really heavy, abnormally heavy. He pulled his hands out from under the covers and screamed. Instantly, Tyler was sitting up in his bed, hands rested in his lap. 

“What the…” 

Tyler’s hands were golden, or rather they were gold. He could move them as he normally would, but they were smooth, shiny, and dense. There was no extra strength in his arms, and it felt like he was carrying dumbells. 

Then, he threw off the covers completely to see that his feet looked the same—gold up to his ankles. 

“Mom!” he yelled, still staring down at his hands and feet. 

If there was anyone who would know what to do, it was her. She came into the room looking worried, ready to protect her son. She held her lab coat in one hand and keys in the other.

He watched as his mother’s eyes fell from his face down to his hands and feet. 

“Oh!” she said. She dropped the lab coat and keys on the floor and moved to the bed. “When did this happen?” 

“I woke up like this!” 

“Ok, ok, stay calm. We can fix this…” 

Tyler tried to slow his hyperventilating breaths. His mother’s assurance helping in that arena slightly. She studied his hands and feet, turned them over, rubbed them, and asked him all sorts of questions—collecting as much information as possible. 

“I’ll be right back… I think I have something here we can start with. If that doesn’t work, I’ll have to sneak you into the lab to run some tests.” She looked at him in the eyes, and he nodded. “Good. I’ll be right back.” 

Five minutes later, his mom returned, holding a glass of water and a dropper bottle. She emptied three full squirts of the liquid into the glass and handed it to him. 

“Drink up,” she said, and he did. 

After he finished, he studied the dregs in the glass, then looked at his mother. 

“What is this stuff?”

“Just something I’ve been developing on the side.” 

Panic suddenly filled Tyler as one question dawned on him. How did I get like this?

“Did you do something to me?” his heart was fluttering worse than it was this morning.

His mother cocked her head and smiled. “Honey, I’m just helping you make all your dreams come true. You always wanted to be a superhero.”


Notes/Thoughts/Ideas

Be careful what you wish for because you might wake up with aureate hands… A devoted mother wanting only to give her son everything he ever wanted. We could certainly turn this into a full-on horror story or thriller. He’s the product of her experimentation gone wrong. 

Then, perhaps she does actually make it work, and he becomes the one with superhero-like powers. How does he take to them? Would he be up for such a challenge, or would he realize that this internal desire to be powerful and grand is also something he fears?

I mean, does having superpowers sound cool? Hell yea! But, what about the saving people, and risking your life to do so? Eh, maybe not as cool. All the best superheroes have that core desire to make the world better, and then they become powerful. 

This would be a twist on that. Someone who wants the power, but doesn’t have the core desire. How would that person’s journey develop? An interesting story here!

What do you think of Aureate?

How do you think you would fair if great power was thrust upon yourself? Would you rise to Peter Parker heights? 

Leave your thoughts, your own story beginning/ending, flash-fiction, or whatever in the comments! Where did aureate or my story take you?

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