Creative Writing Share Wall (March 1, 2023) by Daniel Sullivan https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30 Post something that you started working on this semester and respond to at least 5 of your classmates' work. Talk about things that stood out to you, words or ideas that you found interesting, what made you laugh, or made you think? Suggest ways you think the piece could be improved (respectfully), share thoughts or memories which the piece stirred within you. en-us 2023-03-02 14:06:13 UTC 2025-11-01 22:41:31 UTC hello@padlet.com daniel_mahoney_23_590 https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242093 What I would do after had always been an afterthought, a quiet voice that I would ignore for time being, something I would deal with later.


That afterthought was now all there was, dust travels through the wind over the ruins of the world, eerily quiet in a way never before achieved.


There’s a saying about how people lose purpose after they’ve achieved their life goals, the world keeps going and there’s nothing left to reach toward. 


I feel I now understand this more deeply than anyone has before me, stranded in a world with nothing to reach for. 


There was nothing left, save for the most durable of insects, and while I knew this is what would happen, it was something different entirely to physically be in this desolate landscape.


In the wake of the end I find it hard to justify what brought me here, it was easy to listen to the logical side of my brain for all these decades, when I didn’t have to be physically present to stare down at the results.


And while I had always been alone, I had never felt truly alone like this, there had been people present all around, just knowledge of them there doing something good for my brain, something I didn’t know I needed.


The debris breaking and falling into the rubble all around me sets the loneliness deeper within my bones, there had been no good to come from allowing the world to continue, there had been nothing worth saving, it was better to put an end to what was already broken.

But selfishly, I want to go back, my hardened exterior breaking now that there is no one left to see, I want to go back and save the broken world that I destroyed.
]]> 2023-03-02 15:00:17 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242093 cole_whelan_23_506 https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242220 You know, its not easy being a garbage can. Sure, people throw their garbage in you, but that’s not really my problem. You see- the issue lies in the fact that I am not just any type of garbage can - I am a car garbage can. A car garbage can is exactly what it sounds like, a garbage can that goes in your car, for convenience. “So whats the difference between a regular garbage can and a car garbage can?” you may be asking; well, as a car garbage can, nobody ever cleans you out. Really. Nobody ever takes out your trash. Usually with a normal garbage can, the trash people come once a week and take the trash out of you and bring it to the dump, but this is not the case for a car garbage can. As a car garbage can, it is on the human that owns the car to move your trash to the regular garbage can, that is then taken out to the garbage truck.
The sole root of the problem is that the human who owns my car is the laziest person known to man. It has been well over a month, and my garbage still has yet to be removed by the human that owns me. Its honestly so pathetic. His lack of initiative to do any small task is so sad. How is this kid going to fare in the real world? The short answer: he isn't. Like, theres no way right? If you cant even take out the trash how could you possibly get a job, buy a house, or have a family? Don't you think that your “future family” would eventually become sick of having trash all over their new house because you were too apathetic to every small chore? He talks and talks about “going to college”, and “getting a new job”, but how could any of these dreams possibly ever be fulfilled if he cant even clean out the small trash can in the back of his car?
I could put all of this behind me. All of it. If he didn't keep putting more trash in me. He knows that I’m full, I know he knows it, but still there is something inside him telling him to continue to put more trash in me. The Dunkin’ Donuts cups are overfilling out of the top of me, and he expects to be able to continue to throw things in the trash, without them spilling out onto the floor. Well spoiler alert, man- there are cups all over your backseat. There are some days that I wish I could just get up, and run away forever, away from all the backseat clutter, but I have no legs. 
I am forever stuck in my garbage purgatory, fated to never see the light of death to detach me from my mortal coil. O, give me thy hand, death! For all that lives must sleep; and to sleep perchance to dream.

]]> 2023-03-02 15:00:22 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242220 https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242555 For what felt like millenia, I was entombed in a prison of cardboard and plastic, and though these materials are weak, I was incapable of piercing my way out of my cell. My prison hung on a wall, surrounded by an array of others who were caged like I was. Eventually, though, I was purchased. A woman and a man, both pale and in dark clothing, carried me to their vehicle, and would deliver me to their living space. The man set me on his desk, next to an electronic contraption with a bright screen. For a time I sat there, untouched and uncared for. Though the change of scenery was nice, my entrapment agitated me still, and my desire to cut myself free from my bonds was emboldened. After a significantly shorter period of time, the pale man would shove me into a fabric holding device of his, and carry me off. When he released me and my prison from the contraption, my holding area and I were placed into the hands of another man, this one pudgy and with unkempt hair, and I would be placed into his own fabric contraption. This feeling, of being so close to freedom and having it taken away, stabbed deep into me, and enraged me even more. After some time within the fabric, the cardboard cell and I would be released somewhere new, into a location not too unlike the quarters the pale man inhabited. This time, though, when set on the desk, something changed. I heard the sounds of cardboard breaking, and felt something new. Air. I was overjoyed to be out of my confinement, finally able to carve my way through life. The man set me down on his desk for a moment, and fetched pieces of plastic. This plastic would have chunks cut out with another device, a red plying tool, and I would cut away excess on it. Though this work was a bit more dull than I imagined, I was still elated to be put to my purpose. After a while of scalping and accidentally jabbing the man’s hand a couple of times, I would be set down. Initially, I was content, but then the days went by, and I was not used again. I sat there, on his desk, next to other things he owned. Now, only once a week do I see use. I would feel contempt for the man for his lack of using me, but I cannot bring myself to. It seems he wishes to use me much more often, and his other devices, such as his coloration tools, but he can’t find the drive within himself to do such things. For this, I feel only pity. I cannot help the man cut away this problem, but I hope that it is one he may resolve soon, so he may do what he enjoys, and what gives me purpose.]]> 2023-03-02 15:00:34 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501242555 The plug eyed the outlet, trying to surreptitiously discern how it could manage to fit its prongs into the hollow eye sockets of the outlet. The outlet perpetually gaped at the plug silently, aghast at its inherent stupidity. Why the hell couldn’t it just do what it’d literally been meticulously manufactured to do? The plug stared petulantly at the outlet, aimlessly trying over and over to insert its metal legs into that plastic hole in the wall, but to no avail. The outlet nearly implored of the plug, How thickheaded do you have to be to be a plug who can’t even fulfill its sole purpose??? But instead, the outlet just gazed wondrously at its acquaintance, its frozen eyes and mouth preventing any betrayal of emotion or word exchange. It was silent. Silent, aside from the repetitious firing and recoiling of the plug, its cord forming a tail that trailed and wavered behind it with each passing merciless blow to the outlet, scuffs and scratches branding it like a hot iron. https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501245309 2023-03-02 15:02:27 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501245309 jodyhowes23_924 https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501247520 It’s a warm day for a quiet neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona. Birds are squawking over a roof, which extends over a garage. The garage is not inhabited by a car, but rather a colony of feral cats. The human who lives there has worked hard over the years to get every cat fixed through a TNR program. Trap, neuter, release, and every cat who has been fixed is sporting a missing ear tip. On this particular day, a flame point cat is laying peacefully on the roof of the garage. His orange fur is so light it more resembles a creamy white. His once skeletal frame is blanketed with a thick layer of fur. Some may even describe him as fat. His eyes are gently closed as he basks in the sunlight, and a regal aura seems to surround him. Next to him is his also feral partner. She is much younger than him, but she’s tougher than she looks. She is larger than him around the middle, and her green eyes are always on the lookout. Her brown tabby fur is healthy. This bonded pair has survived in the wild much longer than they should’ve had to. She had his kittens soon after the human moved in, but they didn’t survive more than a week. Still, these cats are as safe as a feral cat can be. The garage below is stocked with wet and dry food each night, and of course clean water. There are heated beds and hundreds of cat toys strewn across the floor. But the bonded pair prefers to rest on the roof, where they can keep a watchful eye over their neighborhood. This moment could last forever- until there is a disruption. A calico jumps to the roof and pursues the flame point. Every fur on his partner’s body seems to be standing. Both of their tails puff out like marshmallows, but the calico is calm. She rubs against the flamepoint, challenging his partner with her eyes. The tabby crouches down as if preparing to pounce. The flamepoint warningly growls at the calico, but she seems oblivious. She lays next to him, ready to cuddle until she falls asleep. The tabby swats, scratching her with conviction. She and her partner hiss in sync, and the calico finally gets the message. She growls softly as she retreats from the roof they call their castle. ]]> 2023-03-02 15:03:49 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501247520 Two cousins, best friends. The older cousin who is a year older, does not have a relationship with her parents, as much as she tries to, she doesn't. Her cousin who is a year younger, has a relationship with her parents, her mom isn't a strong one but the one she has with her dad is. Christmas, the older cousin always goes to her grandparents with her family for christmas, her younger cousin, flies down from Florida a couple weeks before christmas so her family can also come to our grandparents. The younger and older cousins have one of the best friendships you could ever ask for, they are always there for eachother, they do everything together, they have the most fun when they are together and they are at their happiest when together. Except when they are with each other their parents always think they're up to no good. I mean sometimes but there kids, they're having fun and when they are up to no good there not hurting anyone or anything they are just having fun. Every time her cousin goes back to Florida after vacation they drift, they don't talk as much as they know they want to. The older cousin has a lot going on with her family but doesn't have the guts to reach out to her cousin, she doesn't have the guts to reach out to anyone. She ends up just bottling everything up. She gets a text, her cousin got her phone taken, how are they supposed to talk at all now? https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501249506 2023-03-02 15:05:03 UTC https://padlet.com/d_sullivan4_282/4oi6clyxd0f4sv30/wish/2501249506