Morning all. I hope you are having a fabulous week. Mine is chugging along I think I am finally caught up from being gone, which is why the July Novella release just came out a week late yesterday. But I am more or less back on track so woo hoo for me. Let’s jump into the morning prompt and see what comes out shall we? Timers set for fifteen minutes and we are off.
Oh, I am going to have to spend some time with this one.
Thursday, August 6th: It was time to go.
It was time to go. I had been here long enough. Too long in fact. I shook my head as I folded the last of the clothes and put them in the suitcase. I never intended to stay, I certainly hadn;’t planned to stay this long.
“What was I thinking?” I told myself.
I snorted as I pressed down the clothing and then closed the suitcase, zipping it up the sides. I knew what I was thinking. I was thinking it was love. Admittedly I might have been susceptible when I met Charlie. I was exhausted when I rolled into town and the both airstream I called home and the truck that hauled it needed repairs.
More repairs than I thought when I first rolled into town.
I decided, since I had the money saved and the town looked decent enough and far enough away from the normal course of things that I might as well stay and get all the repairs done at once. I was thinking it repairs now meant less of a chance of breaking down when it wasn’t a good idea to stop.
So I took a job as a waitress in the local diner as they were hiring. I rented a small efficiency apartment. It wasn’t much of an apartment, It had a bed, a kitchenette and a bathroom with a shower that was only marginally bigger than the one in the airstream.
But it gave me the space to haul my personal gear out of the airstream while repairs and upgrades were made and my truck was repaired. It was a clear out I desperately needed as more things were unearthed then I cared to admit I held on to.
I settled into a routine and checked on the progress. Then I met Charlie. I was reluctant to get involved because I knew the fate of anyone who got involved with me, but as time went on, parts were delayed and his persistence continued, my resistance weakened.
It was good, for a while, to be a part of something again. I told myself it was love, even though I was sure it probably wasn’t. I never told him my secrets, why I ran or who I was running from. As far as he knew I was just looking for the place I belonged, momentarily untethered. The fact that I never felt I ought to tell him differently should have been a clue.
For his part I believe he might have been temporarily infatuated. However, he was one of those people always looking for the next new thing. Once I succumbed to his charms, he was only content for so long before he needed to seek out new conquests.
The fact that he sought them out before ending them with me stung more than the fact that he moved on. Rejection I was comfortable with, betrayal, I couldn’t tolerate. Before I would have conjured up something in retribution to repay him for the betrayal. But those sorts of spells would put me back on the radar of those I was hiding from. And in the grand scheme of things a cheating boyfriend was far less of a betrayal than others I had to live with. The only reason to enact retribution would be to show others that I hadn’t gone soft so they would not try to take advantage of me.
But there was no one here I needed to impress with those sorts of displays.
It was best to let Charlie go.
About the time I realized this the last of my repairs and upgrades were done. I gave in my notice at the diner, working my last shift yesterday and spending to day packing and moving back into my airstream. This was the last of my belongings. I took advantage of the buildings washer and dryer to make certain everything I had was fresh and clean as I headed off into wherever came next.
‘It’s about time too,’ I thought as I hauled the suitcase to the door. ‘I was starting to get attached.’
Ten til Midnight 