As Anna walked up her driveway, the gravel ground cover crunched underneath her feet. She lived in a mediocre house. It lacked superiority, and it had minimal essence of life in it. But somehow she was afraid to leave it. She knew it and she accepted it - she was a coward. Her dreams might have seemed big once, but now she could barely recall what they were.
Unlocking the massive metal door, Anna entered the corridor. To her left there was a small velvet bench with a shoe rack underneath it. Mounted on the wall to her right was pair of coat hooks and a digital alarm pad.
After slipping off her shoes and retiring her sweater, Anna took a few steps before opening the door that led into the living room. Inside there was two piece gray sectional with a matching ottoman, a pair of identical white lounge chairs, a flatscreen TV, and some randomly placed wall mounted shelves.
Anna decided to turn around and head to the end of the corridor where there was a carpeted staircase in the right corner. The second story consisted of two bedrooms and one of the two bathrooms. She entered the room that she shared with August where she had her book laying on the neatly cleaned bedspread.
Picking it up, she hurried back down the stairs, entering the door across from the living room that opened into a spacious kitchen. Rarely used for anything except coffeee and breakfast, the white and black flecked marble countertops kept up a pristine sheen. Through the kitchen, there was yet another door that presented her with a neat and orderly office.
The office was meant moreso for leisure than work, with a small chaise l ounge that sat beside one of her ginormous crystal clear picture windows. The view beyond the room was of a spectacular green space with redwood trees lining a fence that seemed to supply them with a bountiful lush yard. But it was not theirs. It belonged to the community that they lived in, teasing her everyday with what could be a private oasis. A pale green rug underneath her feet covered the entire floor, cut perfectly to shape against the walls avoid the swing of the door.
A desk was placed in the corner to the left of the door which had small tan office chair to go with it. Nothing except a laptop and a yet to be used notepad rested on the smooth surface of the workspace. A small door that slid open with a mounted bookshelf on the front of it hid a small private bathroom. It was an overall small room that August found to be useless, but Anna took comfort in it as much as a highschool girl would find peace in her own space. It wasn't just based around privacy, however. It was almost as if she was living her own life as she stepped through the door every morning. When August wasn't home - which was typically everyday - Anna would find a way to take part in her daily rituals while remaining in her comfortable space.
As she settled herself into the cushions of the lounger, Anna flipped her book, quickly finding her dog ear from the day before as she allowed herself into the Curtis Sittenfeld novel, her reality and troubles temporarily faded away.
