Freshly pressed leaves are being crushed further under the wheels of my speeding Mustang. The clock on the dashboard is blinking ominously, displaying the fact that I should have been at work ten minutes ago. At that point, all that I can hear is the shrill voice of my boss, asking in a nasally annoying tone, “Well, where is Sheila? She should have been here 20 minutes ago? Looks like I’ll have to dock her pay yet again.”
My hands grip the wheel tighter, as I try to mentally throw enough daggers at her, hoping that one of them will find their unerring mark and put a lot of us out of our misery.
In the next second, I sigh and slow down, noticing that the speedometer is hovering near 90 mph. I really don’t need a ticket, not when I’m already late. Up ahead, I see the turn off to the office and start flashing the indicator.
Something snaps inside my head. It’s as if another person takes over the wheel and eases me out of the driver’s seat. Dumbfounded, I watch as my alter ago flips the indicator off and continues past the exit, leaving the office, my boss and my suffering co-workers behind.
Deep breaths of air get sucked into my chest, as does the fragrance of the strong acorn trees, lining the winding road that I am driving on.
Quite instinctively, my foot eases off the pedal and I switch to cruise mode, gulping in grateful breaths of Autumn, the neglected season. People preferred Spring or Summer. I have a special fondness for Autumn. It speaks to me of how the past is now dead and gone and that we must sweep up our memories and file them away. Soon, Winter will be upon us, its coldness covering our lands and hearts, as we huddle closer in warmth towards the hearth.
What was I doing? Is this how I saw my life? Was I meant to be in an Accounting firm, crunching numbers and balancing spreadsheets? Didn’t the world have far more to offer? Why was I stuck in this miserable rut? What was stopping me from throwing it all up in the air and trying something that I loved?
And in the stillness of that September morning, a soft voice whispered from deep within, You need this now. Your mortgage won’t pay itself. The groceries won’t make it to the table and you’ll run out of flea markets to visit, way too soon. Don’t go by a momentary impulse.
As much as I hated to admit it, that was the frightening truth. The voice was right. Every last word of it.
Sighing deeply, I looked for the U-turn, which would guide me back to my life of numerical drudgery. As I drove with the top down, the voice spoke again, Remember, though, Sheila, that this does not have to be the end. Spring is coming and with it, there’s change. If not, there’s always next Autumn.
Listening to that, I couldn’t help but smile.
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Week 40
Prompt: While driving to work one morning, you decide to drive past the office and keep on driving.
Prompt courtesy: 2014 Flash Fiction Challenge by the very talented Thain In Vain
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I am a Write Tribe Pro Blogger– Trying to blog everyday for a year.
Today is Day 64
Also linking this to Day 5 of the October Ultra Blog Challenge
