She prowled around the sweltering apartment, pausing to inspect knick knacks lining the faux fireplace. She knew each one intimately. Right now the details of the winter snowglobe was a distraction from looking at the beast humming in the corner. It’s unrelenting stare attempting to drag her back to its embrace.
Water, she needed a glass of water. Maybe some scotch to add to it. Maybe just pour the scotch, forget the water. If she only had some. The water took her into the kitchen away from the humming beast. Maybe it would tire of her while she was out of sight.
Nope, there it was, relentlessly humming away. Bright pulsating screen displaying that damn blinking cursor, commanding her return.
A long reluctant sigh carried her to the screen. Settling fingers on the keyboard she set her mind toward writing mode. For the next hour a tug-of-war ensued. Words appeared on the screen, words erased. Sentences advanced and retreated. Back and forth the struggle went as sentences turned into paragraphs.
She was pushing more than flowing. It’s always so much easier when the words tumble from the brain to the fingers into the humming beast. She wasn’t yielding easily to it tonight.
Thousands of words had been typed into the beast over the years. Those who survived editing became stories and articles. Looking at the shelf above her head she could see the stacks of printed pages holding those stories. Their exclusive solo editions attesting to her unbroken streak of writing and not publishing. The someday pile.
Groaning, she rose from the chair. So intent on the tug-of-war between her brain and the beast, she didn’t notice the level of tension gripping her muscles. Stretching against the tension she gradually forced it to release her so she could walk around the apartment.
Street sounds drew her to the open window. The festering humidity made every sound feel like an effort to be heard. She was on the fifth floor, able to look out across most of the town of mostly smaller buildings. A faint breeze caressed her hand. Not strong enough to move the curtain. She wondered if it was her imagination.
She liked this time of night. The blended traffic sounds of the day gave way to each passing vehicle having its own space in her hearing. Between each was a silence of sorts, more like a soft hum of the town. Human sounds like the yell of a child, the murmur of adults, the barking of a dog and occasionally the caterwaul of a cat seeking its pleasures.
Glancing back toward the humming beast, she shook her head. Not yet. Her eyes returned to lazily explore details of her little town. Her mind wandered back….
NOTE: Part 2 of the DreemPort challenge will be published August 12th
Shadowspub is a writer from Ontario, Canada. She writes on a variety of subjects as she pursues her passion for learning. She also writes on other platforms and enjoys creating books you use like journals, notebooks, coloring books etc.
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