I know you're prompt was meant to probably inspire something happy, but the flower gif itself prompted this out of me instead.

“You have one new message.’

[Click. A shaky breath. A pause too long. Then—his voice, low and uneven, like he’s trying not to slur.]

"Hey… I don’t even know why I’m calling… That’s not true. I do. It’s you. It’s always you."

[Another pause. You can hear traffic in the background. A muffled exhale, like a cigarette.]

"I saw this stupid flower today, out of nowhere, right? One of those pink and bright orange ones you like. And I just... I don’t know. Thought of you. Or maybe I was always thinking of you, and the flower was just an excuse."

[Soft chuckle. Then silence again. Voice lowers like he’s turning his back to the street.]

"I miss you, Si. That’s what this is. I miss the way you looked at me like I wasn’t broken. I keep waiting to be better. Like if I just sleep enough, or drink less, or try harder... you know something’ll click. But I’m tired, man. I’m so fucking tired. And I don’t want to drag you back into the mess again. You were always the light. I just... I just I couldn’t hold on to you without burning it out."

[A long breath. One more beat of silence.]

"If this is the last time you hear from me, I hope you know… I really do love you. Even when I didn’t know how to show it. Even when I was running. Especially then.”

[Another long breath, followed by a sniff..]

And I just wanted to tell you, I’m sorry I wasn’t the person you needed me to be.

[Click.]

"End of messages. To save this message press two. To delete this message press seven."

So your prompt generated the above prompt for something I'm working on now.  Something I couldn't get out of me until now.

8 hours ago, Jeff Burton said:

I know you're prompt was meant to probably inspire something happy, but the flower gif itself prompted this out of me instead.

I'm always happy when my prompts prompt/inspire something, whatever it is. So, thank you for making me feel as if I'd accomplished something.

Love your vignette. 

11 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

Prompts are meant to inspire, so I would say this did its job.  Sometimes they take us in different directions than we might otherwise think.  Thank you for sharing.  I'm intrigued to read the longer work. 

9 hours ago, Aditus said:

I'm always happy when my prompts prompt/inspire something, whatever it is. So, thank you for making me feel as if I'd accomplished something.

Love your vignette. 

I've always looked at the prompts both old and new to see if it could get something out of me.  I went ahead and created the actual story in the system along with chapter 1.  The way the story is setup is a little odd so I have to write some of the later bits before I can write the earlier bits if that makes sense.  Even though right now it's unpublished just the fact I got it in the system was a huge step in making sure this got told.  I'll make sure to post the actual thing here when it's ready to be read.

On 6/14/2025 at 1:25 AM, Jeff Burton said:

I know you're prompt was meant to probably inspire something happy, but the flower gif itself prompted this out of me instead.

“You have one new message.’

[Click. A shaky breath. A pause too long. Then—his voice, low and uneven, like he’s trying not to slur.]

"Hey… I don’t even know why I’m calling… That’s not true. I do. It’s you. It’s always you."

[Another pause. You can hear traffic in the background. A muffled exhale, like a cigarette.]

"I saw this stupid flower today, out of nowhere, right? One of those pink and bright orange ones you like. And I just... I don’t know. Thought of you. Or maybe I was always thinking of you, and the flower was just an excuse."

[Soft chuckle. Then silence again. Voice lowers like he’s turning his back to the street.]

"I miss you, Si. That’s what this is. I miss the way you looked at me like I wasn’t broken. I keep waiting to be better. Like if I just sleep enough, or drink less, or try harder... you know something’ll click. But I’m tired, man. I’m so fucking tired. And I don’t want to drag you back into the mess again. You were always the light. I just... I just I couldn’t hold on to you without burning it out."

[A long breath. One more beat of silence.]

"If this is the last time you hear from me, I hope you know… I really do love you. Even when I didn’t know how to show it. Even when I was running. Especially then.”

[Another long breath, followed by a sniff..]

And I just wanted to tell you, I’m sorry I wasn’t the person you needed me to be.

[Click.]

"End of messages. To save this message press two. To delete this message press seven."

So your prompt generated the above prompt for something I'm working on now.  Something I couldn't get out of me until now.

I'm finally going live with this one. Sorry it took so long.