One Shots

Death Tattoo

Ready...Steady...Jump!
I stare down at the swirling ink along my wrist; the last words that will be said to me before I die. Most people are born with heartfelt words etched along their skin. I am not that lucky. I can only imagine how painful my death will be.
"Knock knock." I take a deep breath and look to my bedroom door to find my mom standing with her hand on the doorknob.
"Hey! You're home." I stand to give her a hug.
"I bought coffee." She says, returning my embrace.
"Music to my ears. Okay. I'll be down in a second. I'm just going to finish this up." I gesture to my laptop where my essay sits untouched.
"Sounds good. I'll start making coffee, and put in..." She fades off waiting for me to choose a movie.
"Umm. Serendipity?" I request.
"Sounds good to me." My mom walks out of the room and I walk across the cold hard wood floor to reach my laptop. Sitting down in my chair, I stare blankly at my screen.
My professor assigned a 5 page essay on ethics over winter break. So far I have half a page...all of it's kind of jumbled somewhere in the back of my mind. I save the file and slowly close my laptop resolving to finish tomorrow.
I make my way down the stairs after slipping on my giraffe slippers and cuddling with a fuzzy blanket.
"Ready Mum?" I snuggle down on the living room couch.
"Just one second. Hey, which mug do you want?" She yells back from the kitchen, which is the next room over.
"The biggest one you can find." I grab the remote from the coffee table.
My mom hands me a steaming mug before sitting down next to me.
"It's not that I'm not grateful...but, this seems to be a very small mug." I stare down at the desperately tiny cup.
"It's late."
"That is not a valid reason to deprive me of my coffee." I roll my eyes teasingly.
"Coffee is coffee. Just drink it." She takes the remote out of my hand as I stare down at my mug. I take a deep breath through my nose, smelling the wonderful aroma that is coffee.
The movie starts playing and I am instantly enveloped in one of my favorite movies.
~~~~
Back to the university. The holidays went to fast. A new year, another christmas, and guess what. Nothing's changed. My roommate is still in her bedroom making out with some guy she met at a party last night. My plant is still dead in the corner. And my essay is still not written. I can already tell it's going to be a great year.
Lying in bed, I can hear the clanking of metal coming from the floor below. I cover my ears with my pillow hoping it will go away soon. After what feels like an infinity, I look at the clock. 3:38 AM. I throw my blankets off of my legs before storming out of my bedroom and eventually, out of my dorm.
I reach the bottom floor and head for the communal kitchen. I storm through the doors ready to tell this guy to piss off.
"It's three o'clock in the freaking morning! What are you doing cooking in a public place at three in the morning!?" I start. The guy turns to face me but that doesn't phase me and I continue on with my rant. "Some people may actually value this wonderful thing called sleep. I'm not sure you've heard of it. Maybe if you stopped cooking at three in the morning, you'd see just how amazing the concept really is." I finish, quite proud of myself with my arms folded over my chest.
He smiles at me, one side of his mouth tilted higher than the other.
"Cookie?" I look back and forth between him and the pan of chocolate chip cookies he's holding. Finally I grab a cookie and take a bite.
"This doesn't change anything. I'm still mad." I sit down on a barstool next to the kitchen island.
"Joe." He states.
"What?"
"My name, it's Joe."
"Okay...nice to meet you Joe..." An awkward silence fills the room. "Wow! These are really good cookies!"
"Really?"
"No." I laugh. "They're really terrible cookies."
"You ate two!"
"Don't judge my life choices." A smile creeps its way onto my face.
"No judgment here. I'm the idiot who has to eat the rest of them." We both start laughing hysterically, me because his face is just priceless and him because he actually thinks he's funny.
"Good luck with that. I'm going to sleep." I stand and head for the doors, only now realizing that I am wearing my giraffe slippers. Great.
"Wait! I didn't catch your name."
"Nope." I reply and continue walking without turning back.