Flash Fic Month — July 8, 2022

Day 8 of 31 :)

“This morning the sun rose.” He sighed and scribbled the written line from his paper. “The sun rose this morning.” He looked up from his desk, squinted at the chalkboard, and nodded to himself.

Ms. Ramlall’s twelfth grade English class has always been considered a breeze. Seniors who wanted an easy A could come to this class to slack off, but Marlowe was different. He wanted to get the best grade, but also wanted to prove he was worthwhile — prove he could express himself on paper as easily as he did on the piano. He could perform, he could speak to a crowd, but he stumbled putting one word after the other on paper.

The daily warm-up prompt on the board read: “Write about your favorite part of the day as if it were currently happening.”

Ms. Ramlall interrupted his contemplation of the prompt, “Okay, class, I’ll give you five more minutes to finish up before anyone volunteers to share theirs.”

He chewed his lip, suddenly aware he’d only written one sentence. The pen slipped out of his sweaty palms and rolled off the table. He reached over to grab it from the floor. His hand brushed against his desk neighbor’s, he had also reached to pick the pen up.

Marlowe’s eyes went wide; he felt his ears begin to burn. The other boy smiled wide and said, “Can’t lose this now can we?” Marlowe took the pen back and stammered a thanks before turning back to his page.

Suddenly, he felt as though he were sitting at his keyboard at home — ready to play the same melody that kept running through his heart.

“I’m sitting here in the early afternoon light. I would probably be distracted by whatever is outside the window, but here you are sitting just barely a few feet away….”

Thanks for reading!