Red Bitter

Note: This blog serves to help you in coming up with ideas to write as a short story/novel/script/whatever. Please note that some of the ideas in the blog are downright silly and not meant to be taken as is. You can get the gist of the entry and alter it any way you want, for any purpose whatsoever.

The Plot:

High School never brings good memories to Red. For one, High School was where his most embarrassing failures happened. Two, it was also where things he wanted to forget happened, such as the death of his father, thus the resulting domino of being broke, being forced to work while studying in the university, and working an unsatisfying job. Three, and perhaps the biggest reason, this was where he met the girl that broke his heart and left him disillusioned in himself, resulting in a belief that he will never be happy.

Today, 15 years later, he is a Graphic Designer and working hard towards being rich. One day, he receives a text message from a former classmate inviting him to a High School reunion.  He learns that the girl who broke his heart will also be there after studying and working abroad. He goes to the reunion and meets the person who made him bitter all this time.

The Hanger:

From here, you can take the story and steer it anyway you want. One option is to give Red closure, not in the reunion necessarily, but in the subsequent events after re-meeting the girl. You can also make Red fall in love all over again, and be rejected again, the same way. If you go this route, maybe you can make Red realize that some things never change, except that this time, he had learned not to let rejection make him bitter. He lets go of the past and moves on with his life. The girl returns abroad, and everybody is happy.

The Twist:

But the most ambitious route might be to give the girl a disease that would kill her in less than a year, and one of the reasons she came back from working abroad is to make amends with Red, knowing that she was one of the reasons he could not move on. Of course, Red does not know this at first, and finds the girl’s sudden affection as a sign that she is falling for her.

When he learns of the girl’s disease, he has mixed emotions and reflects for a bit, but finally gives in to the good intention of the girl. Here, the girl could explain why she rejected him in the past and Red learns to move on.

In the final scene, perhaps they would be under a tree on a hill overlooking the City, while Red holds the girl’s hands as she takes her last breath.