Vantage Point

The Prompt: Draft a post with three parts, each unrelated to the another, but create a common thread between them by including the same item — an object, a symbol, a place — in each part.

 

The dock hung out over the water, just barely holding itself up. The boards were rotting and falling apart. Angela didn’t care. She walked out across the aging wood hoping that it might cave in and take her down with it. She had had enough. Everyone had left her and she was tired of being alone. She new that if the dock caved, the freezing water would sap her strength and breath. Drowning may not be the best way to go, but then again, neither was any other way.

 

The waves crashed against the white sand of the beach, lulling Devin into sleep. He had taken a long needed vacation from the office. This beach was the perfect place. His beach house was farther down the shore. It was built on stilts with glass windows in the floor so you could watch the fish swim in the crystal clear water. Ahhh, this was the life.

 

It’s just water, Michelle thought, looking out over the lake. The same lake that had pulled her brother down to it’s depths. Since that day she was barely able to take a bath without having a panic attack. Water didn’t have a mind of it’s own, but Michelle knew just how deadly it could be, which made the fear of water all to real. Her shrink had said that she needed to face this head on. Michelle knew that would never happen. She sighed, and turned away from the lake.

The Elavator

The Prompt: You’re stuck in an elevator with an intriguing stranger. Write this scene.

 

It was a dark, rainy morning. Everyone that stepped on the elevator was soaking wet. I was no exception. But that morning, there was something ominous in the air. Something that didn’t seem quite right. The doors opened and in stepped a figure in a long, black trench coat. Their head was ducked down behind a high, upturned collar. Soon, it was just me and the figure alone in the cramped space. Water dripped from the coat, forming a puddle around their feet.

It’s the Hash Slinging Slasher. I know it! I thought, getting more afraid by the second. I’m going to die. This person is going to whip out a hook and slice me in half and no one is going to hear me scream! I started shaking in my four inch heels. The elevator door dinged. I can’t even run in these…I will fall and break my ankle and it will be every chase scene in a horror movie come to life! Scenario after scenario started playing through my head. I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scream, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

The figure slowly started turning towards me as I got ready to dart out the doors, praying I was faster. The figure faced me and slowly lifted their head. A scream built in the back of my throat. I started to open my mouth when I realized I knew the face looking at me. It was one of the guys a few cubicles down from mine.

“Hey, you getting off here?” he asked. My mouth snapped shut and I stomped out of the elevator. I turned black and glared at him. “Thanks for scaring the bajeesus out of me.” I continued to stomp to my desk as he snickered behind me.

The Beginning

The Prompt: When you started your blog, did you set any goals? Have you achieved them? Have they changed at all?

When I started my blog, I was going to document my time a a stay at home mom. It was basically just going to be a way for me to complain about my kids and how stressed I was. But, then I thought about it. My husband doesn’t even want to hear me complain about my kids and how stressed I am, so why would anyone else? I would be called names and people would think I was the most selfish person in the world. (I thank the wonderful ladies at this site for doing that. There is a lot of sarcastic emphasis on the word wonderful, by the way…) So I stopped writing and regrouped. I also got a job. I have a LOT of free time on my hands at my job, as a receptionist. I started going through Freshly Pressed to find something to read. I began finding some lovely people to follow. I also changed my goals of my blog and started writing again.

When I started writing again, I’ve strived to be as amazing as the people that were Freshly Pressed. I thought up some categories to write about. I began writing posts at work and typing them up when I got home. And yet, they weren’t getting any attention and I wasn’t getting Pressed. And then, I found the absolutely lovely people (no sarcasm here) at YeahWrite. I began writing for the Speakeasy and the Challenge grids. I thought I was a shoe in to win. But, alas, I have not won. Yet. 

My goals went from relieving stress, to being Freshly Pressed, to winning a YeahWrite gird, and now, to entertaining people. I love the people that follow my blog. They keep me laughing and touch my heart. I try to return the favor with everything I write. I’ve made some amazing new friends! So. I want to say thank you to everyone who reads. Thank you for reading and thank you for giving me such wonderful things to read!! You guys are amazing!! Keep it up!!

Memories For Sale

The Prompt: On a weekend road trip, far away from home, you stumble upon a garage sale in a neighborhood you’re passing through. Astonished, you find an object among the belongings for sale that you recognize. Tell us about it. 

“Oh, look! A yard sale thing!” I exclaimed. I shook my mom awake and pointed at the signs. “Wanna go?” I asked. She mumbled an agreement and we followed the signs. We were, after all, exploring a quiet town on the border of Mexico. The yard sale was actually a multi-family street sale. There were homemade things along with old TVs and the like. Things the families didn’t have a use for, or things they made for a living.

After finding a parking place, we wondered through the mayhem looking at things. Somehow my mom and I got separated. There was a multitude of people, stuff, and animals roaming around. It was bound to happen. Glancing down, a glint caught my attention. I leaned down and rummaged through a box until I found what I was looking for. My fingers connected with something cool and solid. I knew what it was immediately. It was small. Small enough to fit in the palm of my hand. The transparent glass was a dark blue. The little glass bird struck a nerve deep. Standing there, under the hot sun, I was transported to a cool room.

Bacon was sizzling in the frying pan. Saturday mornings at Mamaw and Papaw’s where always my favorite. It meant going through old cards, playing with the glass blue birds and shoes, and Granny making breakfast. Mamaw and I were already in the den going through the random things she had around the room. I was asking her questions, trying to get as much information as possible before she slipped away, back inside her mind wherever it was she went when an episode hit. Suddenly, Mom was there. Dragging me into the kitchen to eat. She squeezed into the chair in between the table and the window and I sat across from her. Mamaw sat on the right, Papaw sat on the left, and Granny squeezed in wherever she could. Buster, the dog, came and sat down next to me, waiting for bacon or a vanilla cookie, whichever he got first. I glanced at the window above the sink. The little blue glass bird caught my eye. 

I was brought back to the street to the sound of my mom calling my name. “Look what I found, Mom.” I held up the bird for her to see. As expected, her eyes misted over, just like mine were. “I wonder if they have anymore.” We scoured through a few more boxes looking for anymore birds. Just the one was found. We paid for it and left. When we got back to the car, I tucked the bird into my suitcase, in between about a million soft t-shirts. “Mamaw would love that,” my mom said, watching me.
“I know,” I replied. “That’s why I don’t want it to break. I don’t have any thing else of hers. This one might of been hers. She’s probably the reason we stopped. You know how she loved yard sales.” We climbed into the car and continued on through the town, looking for a place to stay.  The street sale was a memory I would cherish for ever.

This is what the actual bird I’m talking about looks like. There is a factory near my home town called “Terra Studios” where the actually make birds like this.