Tree Trunk
Dorkiss
She wakes up every morning at 6:30. She takes a shower, always using hot water, and never blow-dries her short red hair. It dries straight anyways. Her breakfast consists of toast and orange juice. Sometimes a muffin, when the mood strikes, or the price is cheap. Work starts at eight, and it takes her ten minutes to walk there. She always leaves at 7:45.
The streets of Odabia are busy, constantly full of different people everyday. She walks swiftly, making sure she never bumps into anybody. She's always been safe and cautious. Never trouble causing, and never attracting any. This is her life day in and day out.
She arrives at Starbucks exactly five to eight. She ties the green apron tightly around her waist and takes her place behind the counter. The place is still packed, even though most of the business workers have gotten their usual coffee and almond muffins. It's never usually this packed, but she feels as though she can handle the crowd. Those coffee junkies can get a little crazy, believe it or not.
It seems as though the line in font of her is never ending. The people all look the same, blending and mixing into one big blob that ironically looks like a an angry coffee bean with thick glasses and a tie. She sighs heavily. 'Nothing ever changes around here' she thinks.
An angry customer begins yelling at the girl working next to her. He wants an almond muffin, but they're all out. The girl tries telling him this, but his temper continues to grow. The manager comes out and talks to the customer, who is now gnashing his teeth together. She no longer pays any attention to him, and gives the next person in line a hot caramel apple cider, to go.
When it comes time for her break, she walks to the nearby park and sits alone on a poorly painted bench. She sits here with an effortless familiarity that reveals that she always sits there. It's under a big oak tree. This tree has a heart carved into the trunk, but the initials of the two lovers are obscured. But she pays no attention to the heart while she eats her cheese sandwich that is always made with whole wheat bread, no exceptions.
She watched the joggers run passed. She acknowledges the presence of a couple running. They wave to each other everyday, even though they have never met. The couple never stops to talk with her and get to know her, and she doesn't mind that, not really. She never craves the attention of anybody, because never likes to be a bother. Or maybe she's scared of companionship. She never looks at the heart on the tree.
When she finds herself back in her small apartment in the evening, she finds an eviction notice on her door. She shows no emotion when she slowly rips it off the door. Holding the paper loosely in her hand, she walks inside only to emerge a few minutes later with a polka dotted bag on her right shoulder, and a green messenger bag on her left. She is leaving her home, but by the calm look on her face, maybe it was never her home to begin with.
Less than a half hour later, she is sitting on the park bench again, underneath the oak tree. The park is quieter at this time a day and the runners are few if any. She looks around, taking in her surroundings. Her place of familiarity looks different to her, but there is one thing that remains recognizable. She looks behind her at the heart carved in the tree. She read the letters carefully and traces them with her fingers. She turns quickly when she hears footsteps coming toward her. A young man with spiky brown hair sits down next to her, and they begin to talk. After five short minutes, he takes her bags, and holds her hand, as they walk out of the park, never looking back at the faded letters inside the heart on the trunk of the oak tree.
~Did you like it? I know it's short, but it's something for you to read while I try to think of a new story. R&R!~