Fiction Friday: [Upgrade]

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[This week's Fiction Friday is my submission for Scene Stealers #18. Scene Stealers is a fun writing prompt from Write to Done where they provide the first two sentences and limit your word count to 350. Enjoy!]

It was the first day of January. He decided he wanted a new ear.

No, Dax didn’t want a new ear—he deserved it. Not only that, Dr. Hexton promised him an upgrade months ago.

The last thing he deserved was to be treated as second rate while the 5th Gens were treated like gods.

He pushed the button for sub-level 12. The doors opened and he headed straight toward Hexton. The doctor didn’t notice him approaching and Dax paused a moment to marvel as the doctor worked on a tiny green chip.

“You’ve been avoiding my calls,” he finally said.

Hexton’s eyes flicked up briefly at Dax before returning his attention to the chip.

“Not avoiding, just busy.” Hexton said.

“I was supposed to have an upgrade months ago. The way I see it my time has come. New year, new ear, I’d say.”

The doctor finally lowered the chip and took a calming breath before looking up at him. Dax could hear Hexton’s heartbeat quicken.

“Look, Dax, after our last meeting orders came down…”

“If they were about reneging on promises, I don’t want to hear it.”

Hexton removed his glasses as he walked over to him and Dax could see his steely veneer softening.

“You had to know this day was coming,” he said quietly so no one else could hear. “And you know that I hate what I’m about to tell you as much as you do.”

Dax said nothing, but gave Hexton a doubtful look.

“You’re not only Gen 1, you were the first. The improvements since then have increased Auditron recording based arrests by two hundred percent. Eighty-nine percent since the introduction of the Gen 5’s. Their range is incredible and it would be impossible to upgrade you to their level without risk.” His look had grown sympathetic and Dax not only knew what he was about to say, but that he meant it. “I’m sorry.”

Dax stood in silence absorbing what he had already known. His time had come.

“Oh well,” he said glumly. “New year, new career, I guess.”

Moxie Monday: Get There

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Kick start your week with a lil' moxie!

Fiction Friday: [The Night]

Remy opened her eyes and was as surprised as she was relieved that no one was standing over her.

The excitement of moving into her own place had waned over the past couple of weeks. Her nightly routine grew to consist of jumping at every little sound and feeling as though she were being watched.

Her mom insisted that she just wasn’t used to being alone. There was truth to that considering she grew up with three sisters and had roommates all through college.

Her best friend went further comparing her to an amputee—her family and roommates were her phantom limbs.

As she lay in bed Remy desperately wanted to believe they were right. That she was being paranoid and just needed to adjust to the newness of it all.

Keep your eyes closed and breathe, she told herself. Just breathe.

As her eyelids kissed, she committed herself to focusing on her breathing. Deep inhales and exhales softened her muscles and slowed her heartbeat. Her mind quieted and grew less muddled.

It was working.

Her body was enveloped in a lightness that made her feel as if she were floating. Her fearful thoughts became too weak to push through her drowsiness. She was on a cloud drifting blissfully toward sleep.

tsch…tsch…tsch…

A faint scraping sound overhead instinctively threw her into panic mode and her eyes flew open before she could stop herself.

Goosebumps riddled her body as the hairs stood on end. Her breathing grew shallow and her heart pounded so violently against her rib cage that the pulse radiated all the way down to her toes. The pulsing rushed blood to her ears drowning her in white noise.

Frozen in terror, she couldn’t tear her eyes away.

Shafts of light rained down from two small holes in the ceiling.

From the attic.

She felt a tear escape her eye and roll down her cheek toward the pillow as the first hole disappeared.

It wasn’t until the second hole darkened that she finally screamed.

Moxie Monday: Challenge Yourself

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Kick start your week with a lil' moxie!

Fiction Friday: [Chasing Frogs]

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He ran around the creek with reckless abandon.

She watched his bare little feet kick up the water darkening the denim that she had rolled up to his knees. Frogs hopped all around him making tiny splashes of their own. She worried he would fall down as his head darted back and forth trying to take them all in. He had no worries at all.

She had shown him how he could use the net to catch them. Despite the lesson, he was holding it with both hands waving it in the air like a flag and squealing along the way.

She knew he didn’t want to catch them anyway. He was just enjoying the moment.

Jealousy gripped her chest with each splashy footfall.

It was his laughter that she envied the most. Real, from the gut, tears in your eyes laughter. It was so powerful that he would throw his head back and the sun would wash over his tiny features bathing him in an angelic glow.     

She felt the corners of her mouth turn down before she felt the tears mark their path down her cheeks. More powerful than the jealousy was the overwhelming feeling of sadness that had slowly crept over her.

Years from now life would wash away this moment from his memory. He would forget what it meant to truly laugh with abandon. He would forget that running around the creek was more fun than actually catching the frogs.

That was when she sat back and allowed herself to take it all in. The way the sun caused the water to sparkle at its peaks, the sound of the running creek interrupted by the rhythmic splashing and laughter, the look of absolute joy on his face.

She finally allowed herself to live in the moment because she now understood that it was her job to never let him forget.

Welcome 2014!

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It's a brand new year y'al!

Now, I'm not a big fan of making New Year's resolutions because I have failed at way too many.  Instead I have replaced resolutions with wishes. So, following are my wishes for 2014 and I wish them for all of you as well:

I wish that each day is filled with love, kindness, beauty, hope, creativity and unlimited possibilities. I also wish for the wisdom to see and appreciate each one.

Happy New Year everyone!

Are you making any New Year's resolutions? Wishes? What are your goals for the new year? Please let me know in the comments below!

Moxie Monday: Do Something

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Kick start your week with a lil' moxie!

Fiction Friday: [Directions]

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She looked up from the map in time to see a garland of plastic flags in blues, yellows and reds flapping in the wind. They were hung between structures of metal and wood rising from the barren landscape.

“Gas station!” She pointed just in case he missed the only man-made structure they’d seen in miles.

“We don’t need a gas station. I know where we’re going.” He said with a confidence that only served to annoy her.

“Considering the fact that we were supposed to be there twenty minutes ago, I beg to differ. And, by the way, speeding isn’t going to get us there any faster if we’re heading in the wrong direction.”

He reached over placing a comforting hand on her knee.

“It’s fine. I have this under control. You just sit back and relax.”

He truly had no idea what he had gotten himself into. She’d told him he didn’t have to attend the event, but he insisted. Poor guy actually wanted to meet her mother.

It’s not like I didn’t warn him, she thought. Repeatedly.

Her mother had a way of picking her boyfriends’ apart without having to say a disparaging word. It both fascinated and angered her. The last boyfriend she’d met, a struggling artist, caused her mother’s face to tighten to levels she had never seen before. She couldn’t deny that she took a little pleasure in it.

“You don’t like him, huh?” she had asked.

“Only you can choose the direction your life takes, dear.”

It was the same tight lipped response her mother had given for every boyfriend she found the courage to introduce her to.

Words always dripped so condescendingly from her mother’s lips—yet she craved her opinion. She hated that part of herself. The part that needed warmth from a mother who was cold as ice.

The blare of a siren and red lights strobing the interior of the car drew her out of her thoughts. She sighed as he slowed the vehicle and pulled off to the side of the road.

At least I can ask if we’re heading in the right direction, she thought.