Free Write Excerpt: Water Rings

The water ring was engraved into her desk like a grunge tattoo on a biker, ready to greet its favorite mug promptly at 7:16 a.m. Steam escaped the mug and crept up the window, creating undesirable dusty drops of rain. Her daze carried her through the window, out to the Autumn Sage wilting in the sun. Although the beautiful flowers were on their way out of this world, her favorite hummingbird still found hope and reprieve among them, waving its brilliant translucent wings in the wind, expectedly flittering from branch to branch as it searched for a morning snack.

She could feel it. Change was coming quicker than the hummingbird could fly off into the distance. She craved the stability offered by the ring on her desk and the wilting flowers she had been too busy to water. Even though she felt the pressure of change lurking, creating the dreaded sensation of someone sneaking up behind her waiting to pounce, she sat silently, counting the limited blades of grass in her front weed patch.

“Alright, I’ll see you later,” he said. “I should be home by lunch.”

“Sounds good. Love you.” She called out to him without breaking her stupor.

7:37 a.m. The dictating slip of florescent pink paper strapped to her planner screamed that it was seven minutes past the daily packing time. Without hesitation, she pulled herself over to the boxes and started meticulously placing each item into the endless void. She spent an hour packing each day, and it seemed as if new possessions were materializing to fill space quicker than she could clear it.

If only I could be a hummingbird, she thought. I could live as effortlessly as the wind blew upon my wings.

She tried to embrace the lurking stranger by scrubbing as hard as she could, but the weight of the water ring simply would not lift.