End the Cycle

Nicole is on the verge of a breakdown. She packs boxes 50 hours a week, barely making minimum wage. She also works weekend shifts taking food orders from bratty teenagers. Her debt is higher than she cares to think about, and the only money she has to her name is the $1,217 hidden in the trunk of her 1997 Civic. She rents a room from a nasty lady who reprimands her daily about something. Her boyfriend is, well, not much. He works some days, he drinks every day. He will crash at her place when convenient; sometimes she doesn't hear from him for a week.

Nicole is 26, but feels 56. Gone is the sparkle in her eye that she had at 18. At 18, she was carefree and college bound. At 20, she was a dropout who drank too much and had run up huge debts with nothing to show for it. Six years later, now sober and drug-free she was still paying for her mistakes.

As Nicole ate dinner, she wondered what happened to her life. The white-picket fence, the rewarding job, and the doting husband had all eluded her. At this point, she would settle for her own kitchen where she wasn't admonished for every dish she left out. She was stuck in an endless cycle. She thought aloud, "I have to get out of this place."

And she did just that. She went home and packed her car with her few precious possessions. She left a note for her landlord and jumped in the car. She began driving south, for no known reason. She was going as far at $1217 would take her. She figured life had more to offer. As she looked in the rearview mirror, she thought she saw a glimmer after all.
Word count 300