Write about a moment when you felt proud of yourself.
“Mr. Bennett is healing remarkably fast. Of course, we’ll still keep him for a few days to monitor his status, but he seems to be making an incredible recovery.” The Westgate doctor had been ecstatic when Midge awoke such a short time after surgery. “Shame his quick healing can’t do anything for that eye of his. Maybe something can be done for it in the city proper.”
Lara smiled politely as she thanked the droopy-eyed man for the update. She wished they had time to get Midge an artificial eye, but they had lost too much time in the hospital as it was. When it was all over, she would buy him a new one for sure.
Then again, knowing Midge, he would likely embrace his new disability. He’d adapt quickly to wearing an eyepatch and proclaim himself a pirate or something. Midge wasn’t intimidated by anything for long. He rolled with the punches and overcame every obstacle. He took pride in everything he did.
Lara stared at her hands as she sat in the tattered chair in his room while he slept. On her left hand, her bare middle finger jumped out at her. The impression left behind by Shane’s ring bore a different sort of weight than the ring had. She was no longer chained to him, and yet there was still something heavy in its absence. She was proud of herself for handling it so well.
Part of that stemmed from her newfound control after the encounter with the Null. She had long wished not to be able to Read, but when it was suddenly taken from her, she realized how much she had taken it for granted. Being Silenced by someone who was not a Reader gave her the insight to finally succeed at Silencing on her own. After she beat the Null and regained her abilities, of course. She took a small measure of pride in that victory as well.
The other part came from the fact that her battle with the Forgotten and subsequent journey carrying a wounded man one hundred miles in three days had exhausted her. She was too tired to dwell on the loss of her greatest crutch and its connection to the man who had protected her when she first manifested. Still, she found herself rubbing the base of the finger where she had used to spin the ring.
She laced her fingers together and put them firmly in her lap. Some habits were hard to break. Maybe she could find another ring to wear until she broke herself of that particular tic. Her jaw cracked with a yawn. That was a problem for Future Lara anyway. For the moment, she just wanted to sleep. She smiled as the only sounds she heard were the machines monitoring Midge’s status. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been this close to a city and been able to sleep unaided.
Notes: I missed getting this out for Thursday due to a minor migraine that kept me away from my computer screen and had hoped to finish it after skiing last night, but apparently I was more tired than I realized. I fell asleep while writing this last night and when I woke up, couldn’t remember where I was going with it. I hope it’s somewhat coherent.
I had decided Lara was a good fit for this prompt, as she’s not very good at taking pride in her abilities, and I had a bunch of different directions I could go with it. I thought about maybe using the first time she succeeded at using one of her many abilities would be good, but then I couldn’t decide which one. I thought about a warm scene with her and Katya working on her Moving, but given her struggles with her Reading abilities I felt that finally being able to Silence the other voices in her head would give her the greatest satisfaction. Unfortunately, it came at a cost.
I wrote a bit before about her letting go of the ring Shane made to help her focus and control her telepathy, although that one was in Midge’s POV. This takes place either just before he wakes up for the first time, or just after, I’m not 100% clear on the timing yet. I’m also not 100% clear on why they were attacked in the first place. Or how she was able to move so far so fast. Adrenaline is a hell of a drug? That’s usually my go-to hand-wavey answer when characters do stuff that shouldn’t be physically possible, lol.
Anyway, hope your weekend is going great! Sorry for the missing Thursday post! I’ll still be back tomorrow with a new list of prompts (and the one carry-over from this week) and probably a recap of the murder mystery party I am going to tonight. Felicity Phillips is going to schmooze with everyone at the casino and maybe even cause a little drama!
Have a great rest of your Saturday!
PS-Like these prompts? Like the short stories I write based on these prompts? Want to show your support? Give the blog a follow! Leave a comment! Buy me a coffee! I put a lot of time and effort into these posts and your support means the world to me! Ok, now go out there and write!
Closet Full of Notebooks 