(FICTION)

She sits at her kitchen table, the clock tick-tick-ticking on the wall, and she stares at the blank sheet of paper before her. Her ballpoint pen poised but unaware of which words she needs to write—why can’t it decide for her, she wonders.

A letter. She knows this much. So begin with …

Dear Ava,

But what can come next?

She stares at the clock. 11:49. Ava will be home for lunch soon. And if the letter isn’t written? She can’t even contemplate that.

She gets up and pours herself the last cup of coffee from the pot and sits again. Picks up the pen. Tick-tick-tick.

She gazes out the window. There’s a cat in the back yard and it’s not her cat. It’s stalking something—probably a mouse. What would Ava say?

Probably, Oh look. A kitty. Let’s keep it!

No, Ava, she said in her imaginary conversation. We cannot keep that cat. And we cannot buy that car or that fancy house.

Dear Ava,

I gambled away all our money. I’m leaving you. It’s for the best.

I love you, though.

Always.

Ava.

The clock strikes 12:00. She prepares her lunch.

(Okay, yeah, that was weird. But what is true for me is that whether I write paranormal, comedy, horror, or anything else, it will almost always have something unexpected in it. Because that’s where my brain goes when I let it loose.)

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