Quiet

Two swings at a writing prompt challenge-the word that week was ‘Quiet.’

Below are two versions of what I wrote for a writing prompt challenge that I participated in September of last year.

1st Attempt at ‘Quiet’

Desolation.

The street light flickered and I knew another wave was coming. Of what I wasn’t quite sure and in the window seat I slid down a little further and clutched Knubby a bit closer. I did it as if to shield her or attempt to protect myself, I am still unsure of which.

2nd Attempt at ‘Quiet’

The fridge buzzed as if letting me know it was doing its job. It made a show of keeping everything cold. The humming picked up as I turned and eyed the appliance. She was defiant letting me know that she wouldn’t be bullied into being quiet-silent.

Silent.

That word rattled around in my head long after I had lain down in my twin bed for the night.

She wasn’t like me at a loss for words always grasping at syllables and frantically attempting to string them together.

Words. Little things that conveyed thoughts and emotions. I was desperate to let someone know mine and yet I was at a loss.

The Dark

What is about the darkness that inspires men to put words to paper, invoke fear in children and cause the imagination to run rampant?

I thought of these questions each time I walked the stairs.

As I performed an hourly equipment check, I glimpsed out the window at the dark and wondered.

I let the fear of walking around a desolate building, alone, as a woman, in the middle of the night unnerve and inspire me.

Why am I afraid of the Dark?

Why are you?