20-Minute Stories Assignment

Write THREE stories in the course of an hour, spending exactly 20 minutes on each, without taking a break between them. AND DON'T CHEAT.

One:

My body hurt. I couldn’t remember why. It was just sore all over. There was something different about this soreness, though. I felt as if I’d just been walking for too long. I needed to sit down…and then not move again.

That seemed nice.

I was tired. I’m not sure from what, though. I always feel like I don’t have enough time in the day anymore. Is it weird that when I’m less busy, I’m worse at managing my time? That didn’t seem right.

I was slipping. I kept forgetting things and I let things slip all the time. How is this happening?

There’s a leaf blower blowing leaves (or something) outside of my window. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. It’s giving me a headache. How many leaves are there to possibly blow? It’s making me want to close my eyes and curl under the covers. I don’t even know where the sound is coming from anymore. It’s coming at me from all angles. It’s consuming. I don’t understand how one thing could be so obnoxious.

Silence. Finally. Peace.

Today is Halloween. I hate Halloween. Someone just scared someone else outside my window. This is why I hate Halloween. I hate to be scared. The only reason I used to like it when I was little was because I got the candy. Obviously. I never even had a good costume. I’m so bad at picking out costumes.

I’m creative but not in an artsy way. That’s weird, artsy didn’t even autocorrect. Does that make it a real word? I guess so.

I feel like I’m floating through life. I’m not sure. This post resembles my life. See how floaty it is? Ah, float-y autocorrected…that means it’s not a real world (sorry float-y). Anyway, read back through this. I dare you. Okay, not really. But look how inconsistent I am. I don’t have a real direction to go with here. I think the same goes for my life.

Actually, that’s not accurate. I have plenty of direction. I’m just scared (see how I’m tying this back to Halloween all of a sudden?). Okay, let me explain. Have you ever been a college senior before? Well if you haven’t, you’re in for a rude awakening because eventually you have to get something known as a job. Finding a job is scary because you have no idea what you’re doing.

Looking for a job is weird. You’re supposed to have learned all of these amazing things over the last four years but then you go to read these job descriptions and it looks like you should’ve graduated from Princeton (which is now ranked the top college in the United States) with a degree in being a mega-smart person.

I don’t know. I’m sort of exaggerating (but not really). I think the anxiety is getting to me…either that or my third cup of coffee is finally kicking in. Either or. I’m sure there are other people who know what I’m talking about…but I just feel so alone in the process.

I’ve been to career services and I’ve been talking to companies and I’ve been contacting my assets…but I just feel as if I’m going no where fast.

It’s only been 15 minutes. Well, 15:50 if you wanted me to be exact. I’m just so tired. I’m always tired.

I can’t tell if I’m tired or if my body is tired. It’s a little bit of both. I think it’s more my body. It’s definitely my body actually. It’s been taking a beat. Literally. The boxing is taking its toll.

Two:

            There was something strange about him. I definitely caught my eye. I wasn’t sure what it was, though. He wasn’t someone I’d usually give a second look and he wasn’t someone I’d bring home to my parents, that’s for sure. I never had anything intelligent to say to him. He made me tongue-tied and I always felt like a fool.

            I was a fool. It was silly for me to think of him. I didn’t even want to think of him. It just happened. I didn’t want it to happen, that’s for damn sure.

            I grabbed my jacket and slammed the door behind me. My shoes were laced tight today. It was going to be a long one. I pushed my headphone’s ear-buds into my ears and cranked the volume up as high as I could stand it. As soon as my feet hit the pavement, I felt a jolt go up my knee. I ignored it. It was nothing. It was my nerves trying to get the best of me.            

            I wasn’t fast anymore but today I wanted to be. I didn’t want to think anymore, especially not about him. I pushed myself forward. I turned up Treemonth, the steepest hill. I didn’t think, actually I knew, I wouldn’t make it all the way up the hill but I didn’t care. I just needed to push. Keep distracted.

            Halfway up Treemonth, there was another street, Dillard. I turned right onto it. I ran farther and farther away from my apartment, from him and from my thoughts. At the end of Dillard, I made a left onto Ashton.

            I wasn’t even sure where I was going at this point. The point was to just go. Ashton was done. Left onto Barth. Barth was short. Left onto Croton.

            I’m not sure where I am anymore to be honest. Good. Mission accomplished. Now I have to think to get home. Good, more thinking. My legs ached. They hadn’t done this in a long time. I wasn’t sure what was going to give out first: my lungs or my legs. They both seemed fine right now.

            I turned around to make my way back to my apartment. He was gone from my mind. I had cleared it all and wiped the slate clean. I shook my head, just for good measure.

            What was I thinking? I was being so silly. I’m okay now.

Three:

            Perfection didn’t exist. She knew that now. She also figured out that there was more to life than your reputation. Her pride got in the way most of the time. She wasn’t proud of that.

            There were plenty of things that she wished she had done differently…but she never regretted anything she did. She had a strict “everything happens for a reason” policy. That might sound contradictory to some, but to her, it made perfect sense.

            Despite her reservations, people seemed drawn to her. There was no specific reason for it: she wasn’t prettier or nicer or more popular or better at sports. She was just unapologetically herself.

            When she was little, someone she looked up to once told her that phrase: always be unapologetically yourself. She wasn’t sure what that meant at that time but she was starting to figure it out.

            In her 21 years of age, she had faced more obstacles that a normal 21 year old would face. She would never go into specifics for you, though, because she didn’t want your sympathy. Like I said, her pride usually got in the way of most things.

            She was relatively good at most things. She enjoyed excelling at things. It frustrated her not to be good at something, even if she was trying it for the first time. Like I said, she was a perfectionist.

            It was until after she graduated college, and the real world finally hit, that she realized everything wasn’t so cookie-cutter. She never expected it to be but she was raised that hard work got you far…but then again, so did politics.

            She learned both sides of the trade: when things went for her and went they didn’t. You can imagine how she felt when things didn’t go her way. When they did, although she was overjoyed, she was also confused. She didn’t understand why those things worked the way that they did. She knew it wasn’t personal but she also knew it wasn’t fair.

            She had picked the right profession: defending those who had been wrongly accused. She wanted to make things as fair as possible. Once in a while she had cases where her defendant was rightly accused, but for the most part, she was defending innocents.

            She enjoyed her work and she put her heart and soul into it…but she knew perfection didn’t exist.