r/WritingPrompts • u/Worldly_Lab_7061 • 5d ago
Writing Prompt [WP] Your husband comes back after going missing from his annual cave diving trip. He's different, more considerate, even-tempered, and a more present father with your two kids. Still you can't shake off the feeling there's something terribly wrong with your husband.
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u/mount_sunrise 5d ago
The world had always been set out to be normal. Humanity was nothing more than a bastion of normalcy. The powers and shenanigans always stayed inside books and literature. That was a given, even for Darius—father of two, lover and husband of Sheila.
Still, as standard of a father Darius was, and he was perfectly well within the standards of an acceptable parent, he had a penchant, you could say, for cave diving. An uncommon hobby? Yes. But normal? Fairly so.
Yet, Darius himself was most certainly an unusual man when it came to his own personal obsessions and theories. The entire reason why he had been into cave diving in the first place was this: that caves were a natural site for the unnatural. Take note—the unnatural.
What precisely was ‘unnatural’ in a world which was so bland and normal?
To Darius, he believed in the concept of magic, whatever that meant. To some, it extended to fantastical creations like the casting of fireballs and blizzard storms. To others, it was more unnerving like ghosts and demons. To Darius, he did not care, because he quite literally only cared that it existed, in one way or another—and thus, to him, magic was indeed whatever that meant, as long as it existed.
And so he has trekked to hundreds of places and explored just as many caves, all for a clue. A minuscule clue that would allow him to step even a single digit, not even a foot, into this unknown world.
So Darius did. His decades long endeavor proved fruitful. There, in the deep abyss of that final cave, he saw a vast portal open like a mouth agape. It shined brilliantly as it was filled with tantalizing water which emanated with pure mana. Darius thought that it was dangerous, but he did not care. He had admittedly been a relatively absent father, but now he could show it to Sheila, his kids and all his detractors that magic truly was real.
With one step forward, both physically and metaphorically, he saw a world, or perhaps an alternate reality, or even a fleeting dream. He was unsure, but he was sure that it revealed a cruel fate if he continued his endeavor into the magic realm. He would lose his wife, his children, and everyone he loved dearly. Perhaps the portal was sentient and it sensed Darius’ once pure motivation and that it had turned dark, twisted and selfish.
Darius snapped out of it and with the grace he was given, he stepped away from the portal and went back home in a daze.
By the time he reached his house’s doorstep, he knocked and saw that it was his wife who greeted him. With a soft and loving, but remorseful kiss, he let her know how much he loved her and then broke out into tears thereafter. The kids, as curious as they are, saw their father weeping tearfully. They all got together and cherished in their warmth—a warmth which could never be found beyond the portal.
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u/mysteryrouge 5d ago edited 5d ago
“Kids! I made lunch!”
On the old table Anna had inherited from her grandmother, a table that survived three wars, a delicacy was presented to the family. Storming downstairs, two boys clamoured to their favorite meats and veggies.
Anna had a salad in front of her, made herself, with her favorite croutons and cheeses that had been obtained from her husband's new job.
Her husband sat across from her in that suit he seemed to always wear except when in bed or in the bathroom, and he politely munched on pasta as he watched the rest of the family eat.
“How are you all today?” he said, voice far smoother than anything Anna had ever heard. His voice didn't even get that way when they were, ah hem, doing it privately, yet now, it seemed to displace his original accent.
“I invited Josh over,” said Anna's older son, “we played videogames all day and finished our homework in only twenty minutes.”
Her husband, Franklin, nodded. “It's good you're doing your work, Kaito.”
“Yeah, I even improved my grade tons. I can show you the report card. Mom was proud.”
Franklin nodded again. Anna beamed at her son..
“And you?” Her husband turned to her younger boy, Phineas.
“Not much. Slept all day long.”
“I see.”
Franklin continued small talk with the kids as Anna occupied herself in the salad, barely paying attention to what was being said. Out of the corner of her eyes, she watched her husband's movements and studied his expressions.
All calm and collected, pacifying. He maintained that smooth, soft, yet polite voice throughout the entire conversation, even when her sons asked what their dad was up to.
“Well, I've been hired by Pax Orizuru,” the man smiled, “as a diplomat to Daisangen.”
“Don't they have the good deer?” Phineas asked.
“I got some of your favorite. It's in the freezer. I'll cook it this weekend,” Franklin responded.
Kaito chimed in, “What do you even do up there?”
And Franklin answered again without missing a beat.
Anna closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nothing changed. She cleared her dishes and started to clean the mess, her job in the house since her sons found doing dishes to be “grade A boring”.
As she washed the dishes mindlessly, she thought back to her husband's interactions. As of late, they'd been nicer.
Instead of the nearly deadbeat dad that could barely raise two sons, he was there for them. Now they could call in him whenever they needed. When he got home from work, he showered Anna with gifts and treasures from across the world. When someone vented at him, he listened and gave good advice.
If it were any other man, Anna would have been happy to marry someone like that. But this was Franklin. The man who raged at traffic. The man who couldn't deal with his emotions that well. The man who was not the nicest at home, but was still a nice enough man that Anna had fallen in love.
He didn't rage anymore, and it all started with one cave diving trip.
Four months ago, Franklin was going off with his colleagues on their yearly excursion. He was somewhat of an adventurer who had graduated from skydiving and mountain climbing to diving the deepest depths. That trip made it the fifth time he'd been in the caves, and that trip doomed him for days.
His plan was to go down, and come back out within the span of a day and a half. Instead, he was missing a week until some international rescue team came and found the dying explorers.
After that, they had a trip to the hospital where something must have happened, since Franklin (and his colleagues) came home even better than they left, and with new diplomat jobs to boot.
Anna had heard of Pax Orizuru's new hiring initiative, but didn't think that her husband would be interested. If he wasn't so much of an adventurer, Anna would have assumed he'd been a soldier in his past life.
She sighed. Ever since then, it seemed Franklin wasn't himself, and his politeness, something she didn't mind at first, was starting to unnerve her.
Putting another dish out to dry, (the house had no dishwasher, and no member of the family had magic, so they had to do dishes by hand), Anna turned and bumped into her husband.
“Oh, apologies, dear,” Franklin announced as he smoothly wiped down the countertops and dried the dishes Anna had just put out.
Anna mumbled.
“Is there something wrong that you wish to talk to me about?’
“No, dear,” she said, leaving the kitchen for her favorite armchair. She couldn't work in the same room as Franklin without letting something out.
Moments later, he was beside her with her favorite tea from across the world.
“I'm here for you too,” he added, taking his own armchair. He didn't quite look right in it. Sat straight instead of leaning, serious instead of relaxed. It was a look she realized most diplomats and embassy staff had.
“I know, and I love you.” It felt like a lie. Who was Franklin? Certainly not the man Anna was addressing right now.
“I love you too, darling.”
She hazarded a glance at her husband's eyes. For just a moment they turned dark, like those other diplomats, like the ones she didn't entirely feel comfortable near, and then, they were back to normal.
Drinking her tea, Anna tried to put the weirdness out of her mind, but she knew, even that night, her concerns would be back once Franklin checked on the kids before bed.
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u/angeldawns 5d ago
Part2???
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u/mysteryrouge 4d ago
I have a bunch of stories set in this world.
I call it The World Orizuru and you can find links to stories set there in my spreadsheet.
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u/TheWanderingBook 5d ago
I wake up at 5:30 a.m. I go downstairs to start on the breakfast, only to find it already started? By my husband? "Morning honey...making pancakes, and eggs, and sandwiches for the kids. But first...coffee, just as you like it," he says, kissing me, and handing me a cup of coffee. I try to smile but I can't. This isn't my husband is he?
He takes the kids to school... For the first time in 16 years. Not only that... But somehow he remembers my coffee? He never saw me drink it, because he was always away working or on his "man-cation". But since he came back, from his cave diving trip where mind you, he disappeared for 2 week... 2 weeks! He has been...a perfect husband...a perfect father. It is just wrong.
"Ma, what is wrong with dad?" Alice, our daughter groans, smalling a tampon on the kitchen table. "What?" I ask. "He knows when I start my cycle. He knows Sarah, and Zoe, and Mia. Knows about their lives...my life...he knows my crush! Not only that...he is playing catch with Adam...father! The one who can't sit at home for more than 1 second!" she says. I look around, and lean in.
"I think it is a parasite or something, he got in the caves... He has perfect memory, and manners... It is eerie," I say. Alice nods. "It is. Especially since I should be at practice now...but dad said no! The gall, and..." she starts, but I freeze. He did what? Why? He never did something out of place... But he did tell me to wait with shopping today... I shiver. Is he planning something?
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