First Day

Jitters, or something more? This month’s Walk the Plank flash fiction challenge over at the YA Buccaneers website is all about New Voyages. The idea is to write something in 250 words with the starting line of  “It was the first day of…” and end it with “I feel________ about the next day.”

Flash fiction is always a challenge, but we have some great prizes up for grabs each month, and if you post your work, it’ll earn you another entry (or two or three) into the chance at winning the Treasure Chest! If you post about it on Twitter, don’t forget to use the hashtag #YABWalkThePlank so we’ll see it! You can find ALL of the rules right here.

Here’s my take on this month’s theme of “New Voyages”:

It was the first day of my life as a blonde, and I was tired of all the fake smiles and insincere compliments. It wasn’t even my idea to make such a drastic change. That’d been Margaret’s doing. I never should’ve brought her along to the salon.

 

 

 

 

If you asked me, if anyone had cared to ask me, I would’ve said I’d had enough changes in the last eight months to span a lifetime. When Frank decided not to come home one night after fourteen years together, I adjusted to being alone. I learned to make meals for one, pretended to watch “our” shows, paid the bills like he’d just gone to Boston on business for a few days.

 

 

 

 

No one knew how the surface cracks on my heart suddenly forged into deep, cavernous rifts. To everyone else, I was holding up, bearing well under the weight of the loss. Some said I was better off without him, like it was lucky for me that he’d decided to call it quits and search out a younger model. But I was a liar.

 

 

 

 

To keep up the act, I agreed to this surface change, hoping it would proclaim my adjustment once and for all. The hair wouldn’t make me different, but it would be easier to keep up the charade. Inside, I was still Frank’s wife, still mousy and invisible. Outside, I was platinum, hiding in plain sight.

 

 

 

To say I feel anxious about the next day is an understatement.

Can’t wait for next month’s challenge!