Task
This is Lee. He was reported missing at the age of fifteen. He has been missing for more than thirty years.
Lee has been found and he is going to meet his parents for the first time in thirty years. Your story is going to be about their reunion. Think about the setting and how you could describe it to convey how Lee or his parents are feeling. Try to include some dialogue that tells us a little about the characters of Lee, his mum, and his dad.
Make a few notes about the story arc - we have three characters. Do they want to see each other? Is it a long time apart from an obstacle or is there another obstacle for one of the characters? How will you use the reunion to resolve the conflict created by the obstacle?
As this is a fast and furious writing practice exercise and there isn't much time, you may want to concentrate on one aspect of storytelling - perhaps only revealing character through dialogue, or describing the setting, or developing your writing voice.
Perhaps someone has given you an idea or some feedback in the comments on one of your posts and you want to explore that, or you might want to try out a new technique - use that for your story about Lee and his parents.
When you have finished writing your story about Lee, you might want to include a few sentences about how you found the task and anything that you noticed or learned through completing it.
The Reunion
Lee a now tall handsome young man sat on the sofa puzzled, with his hands locked to his jaws. He was dressed in a corporate blue suit and black shoes. "Son, a part of me is happy to finally meet with my parents after 30 years and the other part of me a feeling of guilt, " Lee said after some moments of silence.
Joe, Lee's Son held his hands lightly " It'll be fine Dad, the feeling is mutual, I know they also miss you ".
Lee gazes consistently at the enlargement picture of himself and his parents hanging on the wall, the woody frame now looks old with dust-covered around it, his items neatly packed at a corner. He looked around the familiar living room and smiled, a sigh of relief to notice his parents have not changed much, they still kept the clock on top of their television, a discipline to monitor how long they engage in watching movies.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams now looking older with gray, came out, their faces lightened as they saw Lee, tears of joy filled her eyes, their eyes filled with unbelieve remain stuck in their position. Lee stood and embraced them, no one made move to free up the embrace with none of them uttering a word. After some moment, his mum freed herself from the embrace looking in joe's direction. "Who's this? He looks like You when you were 10" she asked.
"That's my son, Joe"
" Come, come closer"
Joe came closer to her and she embraced him. " You're such a handsome young man," she said patting his hair.
"Please let's go to the dining room" Mr. Williams, urged them.
Lee was amazed, On the table was his childhood favorite meal. His parents have not forgotten about him despite these years, he thought.
"This was your dad's favorite meal when he was your age," Mr. Williams said pointing at joe who smiled.
" So son, what happened, how did you cope, myself and your mum kept searching for you"? Williams said breaking the silence.
" It's a long story" Lee started, " After the camp conference, I had gone to get something in the woods, on returning, everyone has gone. Lost in the thick forest I was helped by some investor who came for a survey"
"We never stopped looking for you"
" I'm sorry, I should have found my way home"
" It's ok, you're here now and very successful, so when will you introduced us to your family".
" Next week, I'm here and not going anyway, you wouldn't need to miss me again for long," he said and they embraced each other once again.
It took me an hour to write down this story. I had tried to imagine the reaction I will put on if I was Lee and my parents and the possible conversation that may be engaged. I learned it's not completely easy to describe writers feeling if we don't place ourselves in that condition or is at the moment.