I hope everyone enjoyed their three day weekend. I know I did. But it is back for a short week and I will no doubt feel the week has evaporated on me come Friday. For now let’s jump into this shortened week with a new writing prompt. Fifteen minutes on the timer if you are joining in.
Not sure what the situation is, but I like the response of anger as well as something lost. I may use the reaction somewhere else actually…
Tuesday, January 20th: They walked away slowly.
They walked away slowly. Kiera knew what they wanted. They wanted her to call them back. To ask for their forgiveness. To beg to be forgiven. She watched them go and felt something solidify inside her. It was as though all of the hurt and anger she felt swimming through her was somehow compressed into a small dense ball of matter.
She turned away and walked back inside the building. If they turned around when they reached their car, she had no desire to be there for them to see. She moved past the elevator, more in need of motion than a passive ride to her floor. She entered the stairwell and began climbing. She hoped the three flights would burn off some of this rampaging energy she felt spilling through her. It swirled around the solidified ball of emptions inside her, somehow apart from the hurt and pain.
Instead of burning off it seemed to grow and by the time she let herself into her apartment she felt like she was crackling with it. She looked at the living room as she shut the front door behind her. She saw the three mugs of teal on the coffee table, all stone cold, none of them touched. She picked them up, emptied them into the sink and scrubbed them out. She rinsed them clean and even dried them so she could put them in the cabinets instead of leaving them in the dish rack. She wanted them out of her sight.
She closed the cabinet drawers and moved around the apartment straightening and adjusting. It was less like she was cleaning and more as though she was erasing the imprint their last conversation left.
The energy still crackled through her and she knew she had to get it out. She changed into her work out clothes and once again left the apartment. The small gym in the basement of her apartment building was empty at this time of day. Since the mirrored wall reflected the hard look of her face, she considered it a blessing. She did not want to make polite conversation or explain what the matter was.
She moved to the treadmill. She started at a walk and each time her thoughts circled, she bumped up the speed. After a time she was running full out, sweat pouring from her body and her thoughts mercifully silent. She ran until there was no more energy in her. The hard ball was still there inside her but it migrated from her throat to her belly.
Kiera slowed the treadmill trying to cool down before she stopped. She landed on a walk and slowly her heartrate slowed to something approaching normal. She took several deep slow breaths. Her sweat cooled making her feel slimy and in need of a shower. The crackling energy did not return.
Careful to keep her thoughts neutral, Kiera left the gym and went back upstairs. She glanced at the parking lot and saw their car was gone. She felt the hard ball inside her soften and start to break up. Tears suddenly sprang to her eyes. Grief threatened to swamp her and she hurried to her apartment.
She locked the door behind her, tears already streaming. She let them fall as she moved to the bedroom and gathered fresh clothes. She sobbed in the shower. The hard ball of emptions disintegrated, escaping with her tears as she rinsed the sweat away.
Kiera turned the shower off and felt scrubbed raw both inside and out. She toweled off and dressed, tying her hair into a knot on the top of her head. Inside she felt the aching sense of loss, but there was no feeling of regret. There was no desire to apologize, to call them back or to take back a single one of the words she spoke.
Ten til Midnight 