Day 142 Writing Short Stories And Ruminating

Vain

Her hair grew long. She combed it every day, hundreds of times, to make it shine. She smiled at her own image in the mirror. Her green eyes shone brightly and beautifully. This was all she had wanted. To be the talk of the town, to be admired, to be loved by everyone. There was always a suitor under her window. She had a pick of paramours for every mood of hers.

The maid hurried in with the emerald-green dress. She was to make a turn at the city’s new library. She was to look her best.

The maid helped the dress on. She swirled and glimpsed herself in both of the mirrors. She was stunning. They would fawn over her. They would launch fashions based on what she wore. She shone, especially as the plain maid stood next to her. She couldn’t imagine leading a life like hers. It was so dull and exhausting. The maid should have chosen better. She should have chosen a better husband, who didn’t make her work.

The maid’s eyes met hers. Her askance look told it all, how she was jealous of her.

“Be fore ever gone,” the maid said suddenly.

She turned sharply to face the girl, but the room was empty, and the light from the window was distorted. She leaned forward and hit her head into an invisible wall. Soon, the wall bore an enormous picture of the maid leaning to look at her. The woman gasped.

“I’m sorry. Your mother wants you gone. I’m so sorry,” the maid said and ran away, revealing the other mirror. She saw herself in the mirror, standing inside the other mirror.

She screamed.

First Home

The little cottage near the mountains was their dream home. She still couldn’t believe her luck in having gotten it so cheaply. They had worked hard to make it look like a home. The kind they had always wanted. And it was finally time for them to spend their first night there.

Her husband only had to bring in the last load from their storage unit, and all was set.

She had been heating the house to make it warm and cozy for his arrival. The ordered Thai food will arrive soon. She leaned out of the patio door, watching the mountain landscape opening in front of her.

This was truly a dream. The delivery car drove to the yard. She watched the young boy walk in.

“All good, ma’am?” he asked, glancing at the mountains.

It was an odd way of putting it. And she wasn’t a ma’am yet. “Yeah,” she said, confused.

“They said you are new to the town,” the boy continued chatting.

“We are,” she smiled, taking her wallet out. “How much do I owe?” she asked.

“Oh, it’s on the town. We would like you to stay. It gets so boring here sometimes. And don’t worry, they are pretty tame.” He smiled.

“What?” she asked.

“You will get it soon.” He rushed back to his car, having left the food on the patio.

Shivers ran through as she watched the boy hurry away.

She hurried inside to wait for her husband. When he had finally arrived and they had set everything up, the light had already vanished, and they heard it. The roars in the night. She remembered the boy’s words as she peered into the dark to see what they were meant to see.

“It just bears,” her husband said, having explained the boy’s odd behavior away as just kids being kids, but then he fell silent when they saw the aliens roaming their yard. Not your green, big-headed aliens. Aliens that went on four limbs and resembled something straight out of horror movies. Aliens with big teeth.

Room

Sometimes, the quiet creak, the soft light, and the scent of tobacco would take over the room. In the dim light, looking sideways, it was all possible. There was the memory, the love, and the care. There was hope and forgiveness. In those seconds, in that room, everything felt okay; everything felt less scary.

The Prompts are from the book A Year of Creative Writing Prompts.

I’m back. I had a pretty good weekend with my sister, and it was nice to think of other things and just be and enjoy myself.

Good news, the cast is finally off, and my wrist doesn’t need surgery. I had physiotherapy yesterday, and the therapist had an idea of why both of my wrists are broken. Now we are trying to fix the issues.

My wrist is sore, and I leave my writing short. It isn’t yet used to being without the cast.

Also, it was hard to get back into writing the prompts. It feels like I lost my edge and the flow, and I had to really fight through all the prompts to write them.

Thank you for reading! I hope you are having a lovely day and that your mind feels sharp and ready to tackle everything life throws at you. Have a good one ❤