Ink Well Prompt Link
Ink Well Prompt Phrase: To Create
A jagged bolt of lightning made its way down in the dark, distant sky. It quickly branched into smaller bolts that spread out laterally and formed their own branches. Those branches then divided into their own tiny jagged branches within an instant. The squiggly line pattern progressed, scaling itself down and lighting up the night sky. It was followed by a subdued rumble of faraway thunder.
Nicole stared at her phone screen in bed. One hand scrolled the touch-screen while her other hand brought her cigarette up to her mouth. She inhaled, still focused on the screen. The smoke went down into her lungs which had the same jagged fractal pattern as the lightning in the sky. The recursive nature of the tiny lightning bolts that continue to spread out in the sky was also the same recursive nature of the nerve synapses moving nicotine through her system. Of course, she was oblivious to this connection of patterns created within the universe. She was also oblivious to the recursive nature of her self-sabotaging behavior as she blew smoke out of her mouth and turned her head, looking out of the open window at the lightning. She could hear the television faintly in the other room as she pined over her ex on social media and took a sip of wine. She heard footsteps, someone wearing socks, coming down the hallway. There was a knock on her bedroom door. Nicole knew exactly who it was.
“Yea?” Nicole called from the bed.
“Are you smoking in there?” Layla asked, in an accusatory tone that suggested this had been discussed before.
“It’s thunderstorming out there,” Nicole said in a dull tone.
“It’s going to stink up the carpet,” Layla reminded her. “Then we won’t get the security deposit back.” She stood outside the closed door waiting for a response.
“I have the window open,” said Nicole.
At first, Nicole could hear Layla outside her room, trying to come up with a rebuttal. After some lingering silence, she heard an exasperated sigh; most likely followed by a head shake. This was followed by footsteps making their way back to the couch in the living room.
She took another drag of her cigarette, then glanced over to the bedside table for the ashtray. A half-empty mug of coffee, from earlier this morning, created a ring on the table top. Next to it sat a ceramic container of spare change and random jewelry and hair clips she threw in; when she was too lazy to get up and put it away. A stained glass Tiffany style lamp, that clashed with the modern table, sat on the corner collecting dust on its bronze base. Among these objects was a lighter and a folded piece of paper that had been carelessly set down and avoided; details of a midterm project assigned weeks ago. It had yet to be started. She got up off the bed and stubbed her toe on a five-pound dumbbell sitting right under the bed; another object that had been collecting dust.
“Fff--!” She began to curse as she lifted her knee and grabbed her foot with a contorted expression of pain on her face.
She glanced around while walking over to the messy window sill. Then she lifted up a picture frame that had fallen over on top of the hidden ashtray. In the frame was a photo of herself, friends, and her ex. The back of the frame was dirty with soot after falling on top of the filthy ashtray. A bolt of lightning struck down in the sky with a loud clap of thunder. The storm was getting closer. Right as the lightning struck, it was as though Nicole was struck with a jolt of self-awareness. She looked at the picture in the frame, then turned it over. She lifted the cheap fasteners to take the backing out of the frame. Then, she took the photo out, and looked at it one more time. She gently tore it into long thin shreds, clasping each shred in her hand. Then she unclenched her hand over the trash, and let the pieces slowly fall. As she put out her cigarette, she looked down at the ashtray and realized something: the accumulated ash on the ashtray resembled her downward life spiral. It collected so gradually on a daily basis, that she didn’t notice how big the pile had become. She grabbed a tissue and scraped the ashes into the trash. Little did she realize, this was the creation of a positive feedback cycle she had started. It was as though the fractal patterns created by the universe were also incorporated into human behavior. The symbolic energy of the picture shredding and cleaning the ashtray, though small acts, propelled her into a new vigor. This energy bred more energy. She grabbed the half-full coffee mug and brought it out to the kitchen and put it in the sink. She even washed it out with soap, and put it on the drying mat.
As she walked back through the living room, she stopped and said to Layla, “I’ll rent a steam cleaner for the carpet this week.”
“Okay,” said Layla, curled up in a blanket on the couch. Her eyes followed Nicole out of the room as she was caught off-guard by her polite demeanor.
Nicole walked back into her room and grabbed the folded midterm assignment that sat on the bedside table. Then she grabbed her backpack and set it on her bed, so that she could at least begin the assignment. She knew that, oftentimes, the hardest part is getting started.