Flash Fiction - Back to Your Path

So how do writers begin? Do they imagine going on a journey? Racing off to some exotic place, with imagined characters so divine or of monsters roaring with huge victorious teeth and skin thick and grey like tree bark. Maybe they think of some enchanted forest where exiled witches roam about boggy swamps while maidens in long white dresses walk listening to birds, awaiting their nights in gleaming armour. Or do they begin with a man hammering at his typewriter, sweating and cursing, with empty coffee cups strewn across his desk.

Emily began writing her story, one cold damp day. She had been curled up in bed for quite some time, bored. She just didn’t want to get up. It was always the same old same. Working every day, finishing at 5pm sharp every Friday and then taking the slow bus ride home to a her small dark apartment.

So today she didn’t want to do her laundry, or go for a walk, or watch an afternoon movie. Today was just different. What had caused her to feel this? And then she remembered of one of the employees at her work who had just come back from his vacation. The guy had just looked so relaxed as he explained his adventure with such veracity and pleasure. His teeth so white against his tanned skin as he beamed and sighed happily.

Even though Emily had worked for this company for many years, she was just an assistant and didn’t make enough money to be able to go too far for her vacation; usually she would just stay at home or visit relatives - a few hours away. And she had never felt the urge to go anywhere particular. She started to imagine where she would go if she had the money, but nothing jumped out at her. And then she had this quick thought, a reminder, of how she had seen someone on the bus reading a book and how engrossed they were. How cool would it be to write a book so well that thousands of people would read it? When she was in high school she had loved to write. Why did she stop? Life...Money...Hopelessness...It’s hard to make it as a writer -she thought, but then she looked over at her old laptop, dragged herself out of bed and reached for it....