[ WP ] Unknown to our beloved WP authors , they have a very special fan . One by one , they wake up in an unknown place and a really comfortable lounge chair , shackled , and are made to write the endings of all those cliffhangers and abandoned stories .

I slowly stirred myself awake, feeling the pounding headache that usually accompanies a night of heavy drinking. I reach up to rub my head when my hand stops short and I hear a soft metal clink. “ What the hell, ” I mutter. 
 
 I see movement from across the dark room and a shadowy figure sits in a chair across from me. “ Ah, grenadiere42, you ’ re awake. Good. I was hoping to talk about your resume. ” 
 
 I turn my head and see that I ’ m chained to a, admittedly comfortable, leather chair with a desk and an open laptop in front of me. The laptop screen glows softly and I see that Microsoft Word is open. The cursor blinks at me insistently, longingly almost. “ My resume? Well I graduate— “ 
 
 “ No, no, ” came the soft voice. I couldn ’ t tell if it was male or female. “ Your *writing* resume. ” 
 
 I turned my head in confusion. “ I never took any formal writing class. Wait, no there was that one fiction writing class in college, but that was it. ” 
 
 A sigh of quiet exasperation arose from across the desk and the figure shifted. “ Mr. Gren, can I call you Gren, I am not talking about your college education. I am talking about your writing prompts submissions. ” 
 
 If I had been able to, I would have scratched my beard in confusion. “ My writing prompts submissions? Like, reddit? ” 
 
 I swear I could hear the figure smiling as he pulled up a stack of papers and began sifting through them. “ Of course. First of all, let ’ s discuss the basics. You have a subreddit with 81 followers. ” A short pause, then he ( she? ) continued, “ Not significant, but respectable for only being a month old. ” 
 
 I nodded my head, “ Yes, I started it because people wanted more William and Satan stories. I figured that way they could see them all in one place and know when I did another one. ” 
 
 “ Let ’ s talk about that, shall we? ” They shuffled the papers around before settling on a particular sheet. “ You have written 10 of those stories since their inception. A respectable number, however they have dropped off as of late. ” They shifted the papers around some more, “ Very pulpy, one-off stories, which is respectable. Nice beginning and nice conclusion to each one. Well done. ” 
 
 “ Thank you, I think? I enjoy them— “ 
 
 “ However, ” they interrupted, “ I see a request by a user jckwon2 who wanted more of those, as well as Clarence and the Astronaut stories, yet you have not written more. ” They made a ‘ tisking ’ nose with their mouth and I saw them waggle a finger back and forth at me. 
 
 “ I ’ m sorry, ” I said as I tried to quietly test the strength of the chains. “ The Clarence and the Astronaut stories are really hard to write, and I need the right inspiration for William and Satan. ” 
 
 They shuffled more papers, “ Let ’ s move on. ” The pulled up a particular sheet and examined it carefully. I thought I saw the glint of reading glasses before they looked back up at me. “ Your ‘ The Immortal and the Knight ’ story. You did continue it; however you still left it as a cliff-hanger. Why is that? ” 
 
 “ Look, what is this about? ” I struggled more obviously against the chains, but they held fast. The furthest I could reach was the keyboard of the computer in front of me. 
 
 “ Please answer the question, ” was the only response I got. They looked at me from across the paper and I could almost feel the frown. 
 
 “ I didn ’ t have any more ideas for the story, I ’ m sorry, ” I said. I was really starting to get worried now. Initially I had thought it was just a prank from one of my friends, but it had stopped being even remotely funny. 
 The tisking noise emanated from them again before they turned the page over and began reading the back. “ Let ’ s talk about your Morgan the Breadmaker series next. ” 
 
 I rolled my head around, “ Look, I started writing that as a joke, and then continued it so that I could build a world for a story later. They ’ re just set-ups. ” 
 
 The paper lowered and I could see that they were looking at me hard. “ Set-ups for say, a DnD campaign, or set-ups for a larger story? ” 
 
 I sighed, “ Both? That ’ s all they are. I never meant to continue them for so long. ” 
 
 They nodded, “ Then I suppose that is acceptable. Do you plan on continuing them? ” 
 
 “ Yes, a thousand times yes, ” I coughed to prevent myself from crying in relief. “ They are a happy accident, nothing more. ” I breathed heavily to control myself, “ I even tied other stories into them. ” 
 
 “ Yes, I see that, ” they said as they flipped through their stack of papers. “ Juliet Faircloth, a respectable ending by the way, and the Wizard Duel are both part of it. Very respectable. ” They picked the stack of papers back up, “ Now let us talk about your failures. ” 
 
 Oh Christ, I thought to myself, those were my *successes? * I could barely contain my fear as I thought about all the cliffhangers and half-finished ideas I had spewed out over the past few years. 
 
 “ Let ’ s talk about Ion Mining, and Prelude to War. I believe you said you had other ideas for those, yet I do not see a continuation for either, ” came the soft voice. 
 
 “ Prelude to War was the continuation, ” I said. “ I liked the universe, but not really enough to keep writing in it. ” 
 
 A quiet chuckle, “ The same for The Vault, and Don ’ t Forget Rule # 1? ” 
 
 I rolled my head side to side, “ Look, they were just one-off stories. I never meant to continue them. Why can ’ t you understand that? ” 
 
 I heard a chair shift closer to me and I looked up to see them staring at me hard. The light behind them still kept their face in shadow, but I could tell now that it was definitely a man who was mad at me. “ What about The Once and Future King? I believe you said that you would continue that one. ” 
 
 “ I can ’ t write a book for every story I produce, ” I shouted, frustration trumping my unease. “ I loved that story, but think about how much research I would have to do to finish that one, and others. Fort Knox, the Hide and Seek Apocalypse Edition, and others, they were all just one-off stories. Sure the ending isn ’ t always satisfying, but that was the point. To let the reader fill in the blanks! ” 
 
 He shifted his chair back and looked at me hard. “ All of these worlds you have created, they scream out to me begging for completion. They have stories to be told, and you have denied them that. You don ’ t seem at all concerned with their pain and agony. ” 
 
 “ They ’ re just stories, man, ” I said as I felt the tears coming back. I might die here. My wife is going to be a widow because of some crazed person who hears unwritten stories talking to him. 
 
 “ I want you to finish them. ” 
 
 I felt myself stop cold. “ Finish…all of them? ” 
 
 “ Yes. ” 
 
 I thought back to all the stories I had ever written. One about L.A. being overrun by aliens, another about a sentient race of plants that were dying out, a windego, the ISS during a nuclear apocalypse, more and more flew through my mind as I contemplated the gravity of what he was asking. “ Do they have to be good endings? ” 
 
 He stood up and replaced his stack of papers. “ I can not sleep comfortably until you finish what you have started. Your ideas, your worlds, they speak volumes to me about possibilities, and futures. I want them realized. Do this for me, and you are free to go. ” 
 
 I looked at the computer and slowly nodded my head. As I reached out for the computer he grabbed my hands. 
 
 “ Don ’ t force me to find you again. Finish what you start. ” 
 
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