WOW 555 – This Week: Colors!

Happy Friday!

This week seemed to really drag for me, but it’s finally the end! For a bit I thought I might not get a chance to participate in the contest again this week, but lo and behold I have found some time to sit down and write. Missing last week might actually have been for the best – I don’t think anyone wants to read how frustrated/annoyed I was at my NaNo progress…

Anyway, I digress.

This week’s #WOW555 prompt: Describe a day as your favorite color.

That can go in a million directions, and I’m excited to see what everyone else comes up with! As for my response, I’m taking the opportunity to relax from Withered Legacy for a bit and choosing to stretch my writing muscles elsewhere. So I’m not sure if my response to the prompt actually misses or hits its mark(I’m taking full advantage of “up for interpretation”), but that’s for you guys to decide. My favorite color changes from time to time, but I’m currently a really big fan of the color grey.

So, here it is.

~~~

Ash

Maybe it was the breeze from the drafty window, or nerves tightening my chest as I sat with the computer screen staring back at me, but everything around me seemed to have lost its spark – its color. It wasn’t the first time it happened, but it had never lasted this long. Usually, I was able to calm myself down in minutes, to dispel the anxiety with a few words of self-comfort. This time, though, not matter how thoroughly I wrapped myself in the snuggie I wore as a robe, that chill persisted. None of my usual mantras were working, and I could feel the panic threatening to bubble to the surface.

Rather than sit still – that would only make it worse – I stood, abandoning the threat of the blank computer screen and walking to the window. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t leave the apartment that had become little more than a cell in solitary confinement. Outside, everything was covered in three feet of snow, the small tufts still falling with gusto against the backdrop of an ash-colored sky. The palette of the world outside my window did little to brighten my mood. It was still technically light out, but all that light did was flood my apartment with various shades of grey.

I was distracted from my thoughts when my cat jumped up onto the windowsill, very clearly excited by the falling snow. My lips stretched into an involuntary smile as I watched him bat at the window, unaware that he wouldn’t be able to hit the flakes.

“Come here, silly.” I stretched out my hand, not really expecting him to listen, but hoping.

He surprised me when he stopped what he was doing and, rather than simply making me the new target of his semi-aggression against the snowflakes, the cat simply rubbed his head against my hand. Closing the distance between us, he actually let me pick him up as he purred in approval of the attention. I retreated to the couch, where I sat with him on my lap and my eyes closed, enjoying the sound of his purring, letting the sound lull me into relaxing. Slowly the anxiety seemed to seep out of me, and, although not entirely gone, it was suppressed.

Between the weight of the cat in my lap and my state of mind I was pinned to the couch, unable and unwilling to return to the assignment at hand. Rather than fight the need to relax, I gave into it, my eyelids heavy as I leaned into the couch.

When I woke up again, it was darker, a couple of hours having gone by. The cat no longer sat on my lap, and I could hear him – or his collar – in the kitchen somewhere. As my eyes re-adjusted to being awake, everything blurred together. When my vision focused, every color grew deeper and the vice in my chest loosened. With new resolve, I got back to work.

~~~

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the entries on Saturday and vote for your favorite! Or, if you’re a writer, you have until 5PM CST to enter a response!

As always, think happy thoughts!

Image credit: Found image via Google Image Search on photobucket.com.

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