It feels like forever since i have posted! but i recently found my copy of 642 Things to Write About by The San Francisco Writers' Grotto and thought what a challenge!
Here is my first challenge. Enjoy!
What Can Happen In a Single Second
What happens in a single second depends on the person. In a single second a love could be found or a love could be lost. In a single second someone could steal away everything good in your life and make living much more difficult. In a single second you could be stolen and held in a unbelievable situation.
A young girl, starting her first year of college far away from her small, dirty, remote town. She is new to the area. She is new to her life away from her family. Her father was always overprotective and never let her leave, she was a captive in her own home.She walks into her co-ed dorm not believing that she was finally away. Good looking guys with perfect abs peeking through their overly tight t-shirts and jeans that fit just right, and tall gorgeous girls with their hair perfectly curled all walked past her. She envied the perfect nature of their beauty. She wanted to be like them. In a single second she became a shell of her former self.
An older man, sitting alone in his house. Where his family once sat around the kitchen table, now lies a pile of burnt paper and rotted wood. Where the bedroom used to have clothes and beds now lies a pile of rubble. In a single second, a forgotten cigarette, and a dropped glass of beer he lost his entire family.
An elderly lady lays in her hospital bed connected to countless wires and tubes. She remembers her life. Her first dance where the cutest boy in school danced with her and her first sleepover. She remembers her father's rough hands after hours of hard work and his tight hugs that she missed dearly. She remembers her mother's corn bread, the recipe written on an old, ripped and yellowed sheet of paper. She remembers her children, each one with a distinct personality, now with children of their own. She misses her life away from the hospital. Her husband, once with dark hair, the color of the old bark on the willow tree beside the river, where they had their first date, is now greyed with age, sits beside her holding her hand for dear life. Her family stands around her smiling with tears in their eyes. In a single second all of the pain and suffering is gone.
A little girl, shy and nervous for her first day of school. She anxiously tugs at her mothers arm,not wanting her to leave. She reluctantly leaves and walks into her classroom. Fast forward 18 years and she tugs at her mother's arm, nervous for the big day. She is nervous but grateful because if it wasn't for that first day of school all those years ago, she would have never met the love of her life. As a lifetime ends, as children, as teenagers, now as an adult, they begin a brand new life. in a single second she becomes his.
A single second can make or break anyone. Whether it is good or bad we must learn to accept what we can't change and move forward.
Toodles xoxox
Jess
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