Sub-Creation

“Sub-Creation” (250 words)

The sun rises and life begins.

I place a girl in a small ranch house with a close-knit family.

She says no and goes to school.

I cover her dorm room with books and put her fingers on a keyboard.

She changes her major to Math and loses herself in the diagrams she draws across whiteboards under fluorescent lights.

I put a boy with dimples in front of her.

A girl with blond hair piled on top of her head offers her an ink stained mug. “I'm Cait.”

I have her graduate from college with honors and Cait follows a year behind.

They kiss in front of friends and family under willow trees.

An apartment waits for them in the city.

They dance down the busy streets at night, hand in hand.

I have her hair fall out in brown curls.

“Please, not this,” says Cait.

I plan her funeral.

Cait cries in sweaters that start to lose the vanilla scent.

I put down my pen and release a breath. A mix of emotions sit with me: sadness for my character, relief that the journey's over, and worry over publishing. Still, I smile.

Cait walks by the bed they shared with the wrinkled purple sheets to her desk.

She picks up a stuffed bear won at a carnival years ago and holds in in her lap.

On the desk, there's an empty journal.

Cait takes a breath and picks up the pen.

The sun rises and life begins again.