Good morning all and welcome to Monday. Ready to stretch your brains after a weekend of hibernation? Or at least no writing prompts. well no writing prompts for me, you very well could have done them over the weekend. I alas did not. My brain was occupied elsewhere. but now we get back to it. So timers ready, fingers poised over keyboards, or gripping pens? Excellent. Begin the word domination.
I like this one actually. I wasn’t certain where I would take it and I still don’t know where it is going after fifteen minutes, but I think it might be fun to find out. Not bad for a monday. Let’s hope it is the beginning of an auspicious week.
Monday, November 16th: It felt like the end of everything.
It felt like the end of everything. Kyle was already gone. His move started three days ago. Christy and Steve left the morning before and John would be leaving the next day. She helped them all pack and sort their belongings, just as they helped her. They even held a joint moving sale. The sale of her items was more than enough to cover the rental of her van and almost enough to pay for the gas needed to drive her to her new destination.
At the moment she tried not to think about her new destination. She had a lot of road to get through before then. She looked at John as he stood beside the open door to her rented moving van. His hands were in his pockets and he looked uncomfortable. The day before Christy burst into tears and hugged them all. John was never much for emotional displays. They made him uncomfortable. She knew he was terrified that as the last one left standing he would he be her sole focus.
Alice smiled. ‘Do you have anyone to help you load up in the morning?” she asked. Alice moved to the mail box by the side of the rental office for her apartment building. It was too early for the office to be open so she was instructed to drop her keys in an envelope in the box before she left. She slipped the key filled envelope into the slot and heard it thump on top of whatever else was left in the letter box inside the door.
Inside she felt one more tie loosen. One more strap holding her to this place tear free. It was a painful wrench. She had been happy here. But that too was over now. She turned back to John and the waiting van.
“There’s not much left,” John told her as she walked over, answering her question. “I sold the furniture and most of the heavy stuff. The rest is small enough for me to manage.”
Alice nodded. While everyone else needed a moving van, John was just filling his car. When it came time for him to move, he sold nearly everything he owned. His fresh start would carry little baggage from before. She tried not to feel as though she was being erased.
“I’ll miss you,” she couldn’t help saying.
He smiled. “I’ll miss you too,” he told her. He shrugged. “Of course now that everyone is leaving, this place won’t be so hard to let go.”
“No I suppose it won’t.” Alice moved to climb into the van and was surprised and pleased when John reached out and gave her a brief hug. He let her go and stepped away, looking embarrassed by his display of emotion.
“You drive safe,” he told her.
“I will,” she promised. “You do the same.”
He nodded and backed away towards his car as she climbed into the van and pulled the door shut. As she checked to make certain she had everything where it needed to be, he moved off to his car. By the time she made certain her sunglasses, water bottle, wallet, snacks, maps and cell phone were in place, he was already driving towards the parking lot exit. Alice fastened her seatbelt and started the engine of the moving van. Inside she felt the last of the ties snap free as she watched John drive off and began to drive her own van to the end of the parking lot.
After that first painful snap, she felt light and free, empty and clean. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She decided it wasn’t a bad feeling. Just a strange one. She took another deep breath and turned on the radio as she piloted her moving van towards the interstate. She had several really long days of driving to get through. Her time here was ended. What was coming had yet to begin. She could take the clean empty feeling of the between and let the moving van eat some miles.
Ten til Midnight 