Morning all. Time for another writing prompt. So lets get those brains moving with fifteen minutes on the timer. Remember the goal is to take the sentence and run with it. Don’t stop and don’t let that inner editor open it’s mouth. You have permission to write the worst drivel that has ever come out of anyone’s brain. Just don’t stop writing for the fifteeen minutes.
I like the idea of the first person to separate from the herd kind of feel. It gives you room to play with a lot of complex and overlapping emptions. Especially when something unexpected happens. Not sure what Elliot’s story is, but I fidn the idea of him interesting. I might have to work on finding him a story.
Tuesday, April 28th: It was the perfect opportunity.
It was the perfect opportunity. He knew if he didn’t take advantage of it, he would regret it for the rest of his life. There was of course a catch. Elliot sighed. ‘Always a catch,’ he thought.
He looked over the group. No one ever left Halston Falls. They might go to University in the City, but generally they commuted by train. A few lived in student housing, but the last train of the night was always packed with students coming home for the night. There was practically a student car on the train when school was in session.
As a lot of people worked in the city and commuted back at night there were always a lot of Halston Falls residents on the train. He too had done his time. He grew up in Halston Falls and went to university in the city, commuting with the other students. He then got a job in the city and commuted to and from for work. When he graduated his parents let him move into their guest house.
As grand as the name suggested it was a single bedroom and bath with a small kitchenette. He tended to eat with the family when he could and raid their fridge when he couldn’t. His laundry too was done in the main house. It did give him some separation and a place to study that was all his own. It was fine when in University as it gave him the feeling of independence even if he didn’t have the full package.
As he worked, it allowed him to put the bulk of his pay into savings. It was a bit confining the longer he was away from university life. He appreciated not having to care for a place of his own but there was the unspoken expectation that he would live there until he found someone he wanted to marry. Then he would marry, buy a house of his own, ideally in Halston Falls and then he would raise the next generation doing the same for them that was done for him.e
He had been out of university long enough to see the patten start to replicate. ‘Admittedly they are less buying the house and more inheriting it from their grandparents,’ he thought. Elliot shook off the thought. His parents were living in the house they inherited from his grandparents and he didn’t expect them to shuffle off the mortal coil any time soon.
‘I also don’t have anyone I am serious about enough to contemplate marriage.’
What Elliot did have was a job offer. From a company on the other side of the country. It was a good offer, working with a company he admired. It was, in all ways, his dream job. And after consideration, he accepted it.
He just had to tell everyone here that he accepted it. Elliot paced as he tried to think of a way to break the news. He was leaving Halston Falls. And he was leaving in such a way that he would not be able to return for the weekends.
He tried to picture how the conversation would go and found he couldn’t.
‘Best to bite the bullet.’ He decided. Elliot looked at the clock and realized dinner was soon. It was Sunday afternoon and they were about to gather. He knew most of the talk would revolve around his younger siblings but he thought he could slip his announcement in between sports events and musical lesson related conversations.
Ten til Midnight 