Hey, so this is a short story that I wrote last semester for school. Please comment and tell me what you think?
I woke up with a stretch, running my fingers through my hair and finding them stuck in my curls that were matted from a restless night’s sleep. Somehow, I know my day is behind schedule without needing to see the red blinking numbers of my alarm clock. Last night came flashing back to me, and I remember feeling a tug against my ankle as I dived into bed. Reaching for the night stand, I turn my phone on to see I am an hour late for my job and had only gotten four hours of sleep. Jolting up, my arms prickled with a chill as I hurried to get dressed.
The dark blue curtains covering my windows were waving as a breeze came through. Tugging on my black slacks, I hobbled to the window before slamming it shut, only for the sound to be followed by a wail.
Through the apartment the scream was heard and I realized the loud thud of the window closing had woken Buddy. My adorable five year old was more mature that he should have been for his age. Sometimes he reminds me of my first love, Amanda. She was everything I wanted in life, well everything my eighteen year old self wanted in life. We planned for the future, white picket fence and all, right out of high school. Then, it happened. She ripped my heart out the same day she told me the best, most frightening, news of my life. She found another man, twice my senior, and was going to live with him, but she did not want the baby growing inside her.
Of course, I could not let any harm come to the baby, my baby, and I was not going to let her take him away with her, since I knew she would love him once she saw him, so I compromised. I let her go without a fight, but I took Buddy the second he was placed into the hospital’s nursery, before Amanda could see him. She had agreed to allow me to take the baby without her seeing him.
The cry sounded again and I rushed into the next room to cradle my little man in a warm embrace.
He giggled as I blew a raspberry on his stomach before pulling his pajamas off and replacing them with denim jeans and his favorite shirt, a bright orange with a dump truck on the front. As I was cookie a quick breakfast, a familiar sound came through the open window; following the sound was the patter of little feet on the floor, and the sound of the front door opening. A street sweeper was coming down the street and Caleb loved to watch. Locking the door at the top, I left Caleb to watch the sweeper while I finished breakfast.
Chapter 2
Frustration! After dropping Caleb off at school, I headed to the office. My boss just gave me a new assignment, to write a five page article for some magazine about the highest ranked Nobel Prize winning book. Working for a article publishing company was hard and demanding, but when you’re best friend’s dad owns the company and offered you a job right out of college, you learn to take it. Settling into my leather chair behind my mahogany desk, I prepare to start my research for the article. A tapping started on the windows of my office, the sound coming from the interns that are placed around the corner office for observation.
They tapped beats on my windows with their pens or pencils, in the fashion most do when they are trying to brainstorm. My leg started bouncing with the frustration from the incessant tapping. Having enough of the racket and not being able to focus after half an hour of staring at the blank screen, I grabbed my suit jacket and left the office without turning off my computer.
My boss, Mr. Clint, boomed from his office. He was a chubby man with a double chin and sunk in eyes, from sitting in front of a computer all day, and a scowl that permanently marred his face.
Rebecca Clint thought of me like a son. She always brought me cookies and made sure I ate. When Caleb was born, William told his mom immediately and soon enough she was treating Caleb like a grandchild. It was nice though since my parents did not talk to me anymore and had rejected my son. She babysat him to give me nights off to go out and meet a ‘spunky lady.’ I never did. I always, always, stayed in and cleaned the house of the toys and clothes that became normal decorations. William’s birthday was coming and even though he invited me to his parents’ house, we had planned a small party for him, thanks to his wife coming up with the idea.
When I arrived back at the office building, I felt refreshed. Spending my lunch in the park down the street had to be the best idea all day, well besides the brilliant ideas I had for my article. The elevator music made the two minute ride up to my floor take forever like being stuck in a room listening to It’s a Small World After All. Finally, in my office, tuning out the young people still tapping on my windows occasionally, I turned on my favorite band and put my fingers to the keys, letting the words flow onto the empty document.
Yes, it is short, but that is because it is a SHORT Story!
