The section in italics is what I had to start off with for this creative writing contest. More about this at the end.
Jessica woke up screaming three minutes
before her alarm clock was set to go off. She rolled over and slammed
her fist down on the clock to turn it off while kicking the blankets
off of herself. She leaped out of her bed as if it were on fire and
thought to herself, shower, I need to get into the shower.
After she got out of the shower, she
raced downstairs to grab a quick breakfast before brushing her teeth.
Today was going to be a big day. Today she would finally learn the
identity of her biological parents.
She grabbed her keys and a bottle of
Pepto before heading out to the car. Sometime in the night her
stomach had tied itself in a million knots. She fought the urge to go
back inside, crawl into bed, and forget everything. The cellphone
rang before she had a chance to turn the key in the ignition.
“Just checking in,” her mother
said, voice quivering. “Are you alright?”
Jessica sighed and rubbed at the
headache starting in her right temple. “Yes, Ma. I'm perfectly
fine.”
“It's okay if you're not, you know.”
“I can't do this right now, Ma. I
really can't.” Jessica ended the call and pulled out of the
driveway. She'd feel bad about it later, but it had to be done.
They'd chosen a hotel for the meeting
place, the parents that she'd never known. It seemed too cold and
unwelcoming to be used as a stage for unleashing years of emotion.
Perhaps there would be a bar. The thought made her feel better,
giving her the boost she needed to leave the safety of the car.
“Wexsley,” she said to the desk
clerk.
After a brief glance at his computer,
he took a key from the rack on the wall. “Second floor. Room 46.”
When Jessica failed to take the key, he
slid it across the counter to her. “Is everything alright, ma'am?”
“Did you see them?” she blurted.
“When they checked in, were you here?”
“Uh.” She'd caught him off guard.
“I think so. Older man and a middle aged lady?”
“What do you mean...older man?”
He shrugged. “Her dad maybe?”
Jessica felt dizzy. She stumbled to a
nearby armchair and dropped into it. I have to calm down, she
told herself. So her dad was older than she'd expected, so what? And
yet, there was something about it that just gave her the creeps.
She'd always imagined her parents as teenagers that couldn't take
care of her. They didn't want to give her away; they had no choice.
They were just children themselves.
“Did I say something wrong?” The
clerk had come around the counter and now stood beside her. “I
mean, maybe he's not her dad. Maybe he has that early gray syndrome
like Steve Martin. Maybe he's spent too much time in the sun or
really likes tanning beds. Who am I to judge?”
She shook her head. “It's okay. I'm a
little on edge today.” She rolled her head in a circular motion,
trying to ease the tension in her neck. “I can do this. I really
can.”
“Okay, well, I'll be at the desk if
you need anything,” he told her, performing an awkward sort of bow.
Jessica laughed and got to her feet.
“Thanks, I guess.”
She opted out of the elevator, deciding
the climb would do her some good. Or taking the stairs allowed her to
prolong the inevitable. Meeting them felt less and less opportune the
closer it came. Why in the world were they in a hotel? Why not a
restaurant or a park or even a mall? She'd been so gung-ho about the
whole thing; she probably would have agreed to jump out of side by
side airplanes.
The door to number 46 looked identical
to every other door. She'd half expected to see streamers over the
door frame and a handwritten sign announcing their presence within.
It was turning out to be so anticlimactic. If she turned around now,
walked out of the building, and drove back home, there could be no
disappointment. Her hopes would remain intact.
“What am I saying?” she asked to
the empty hallway. “Don't be a chicken shit, Jessica. Do this
thing.”
She shook off her misgivings and
knocked.
I had no idea where I was headed when I started writing this, but it wove around to a strange ending that included Jessica's family doctor and a dirty secret which was the reason for her being adopted. This occasionally happens to me, the out of nowhere, how did this come out of my brain, freak sort of writing. As you can see above, I removed it and backtracked to a safer place. *nervous laugh* It's not left with much, but yeah, there it is anyway. Perhaps next time I will write something fun and happy. Go Go Writing Therapy.
