Friday, February 3, 2012

Write On Edge: Sleep Now In The Fire

Prompt:   let your character be inspired by music. It doesn’t have to be a specific song or genre, it doesn’t even have to exist anywhere outside your mind. Show us how your character reacts to a piece of music. It can advance a story line or provide a character sketch–or both!  Okay, this is a prequel of this piece.


Andy slammed the door as he left for work; I actually sighed in relief.  He was angry at me yet again, and I was glad to see his tiresome ass leave.  The idea of being married to him was becoming less appealing by the second. I shrugged my shoulders and tried to relax.

It was Saturday morning.

I had no place to be.

Just me.

I made my way into the living room, intending to curl up on the sofa and read.  Instead, the stereo caught my eye. How long had it been since I listened to my own stereo?  I turned it on, and automatically turned it up. The bass line filled my blood with a second heartbeat.  


The world is my expense, it's the cost of my desire...

My hips immediately began to sway to the beat, and I bounced on the balls of my feet.




So raise your fists and march around...




I swung my head so that my hair whirled around me. I pumped my fists into the air and skipped around in time to the song.   Nothing like a little Rage Against the Machine, I giggled, remembering days long ago.  I sang at the top of my lungs, my heart finally ready to protest months of silence.  I wasn't really sure what the band was protesting, but I didn't really care.

I am the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Maria...

I danced around madly.  I hadn't felt so electrified by music...well, since...Andy. 


The music stopped without warning, cut off. I spun around, to find Andy had returned unexpectedly.   He shoved my stereo off of the stand onto the floor, and we both watched it break with a shower of sparks.


"For God's sake, Zenna! You're not a child anymore," the scorn in his voice was acid. "Go put some clothes on and clean this mess up!"


I didn't move.  Andy was used to my obedience; I was done with that.






14 comments:

  1. Loved this line: I wasn't really sure what the band was protesting, but I didn't really care. That's the great thing about music - the words don't have to be an exact match, it's the feeling that matters.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Rage is the best

    I play Rage when I;ve had abad day. I play them when I need to sweat. I play them when I just want to hear noise that moves me.

    Your character found her moment to let loose before "normalcy" shut her down. The song, the atmosphere, mostly, the words conveyed everything perfectly.

    anyone who likes Rage Against The Machine is awesome

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good for her! She needs to move on and find true happiness... nobody needs to be told what to do like he does to her.
    Favorite line... "I was done with that."

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love that feeling. The feeling that the music is literally inside of you - brimming to get out.

    And, YOU GO ZENNA! Be done! "I was done with that." showed such insight into the type of determination she'd developed.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Damn him for coming back and ruining the moment, and for taking the music out of her for so long. Good for her for taking a stand and taking it BACK. Well written, I really loved this!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ooooh, any person who takes the music out of someone is a special kind of evil.

    Loved the energy in this! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I think Andy needs to do some growing up too! :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I LOVE IT! not just because Zenna told him in so many words to go F himself..but because I felt her freedom coming back, with the dancing and swaying you told me so much about how she had pushed herself down for too long. She reamerges stronger and likable.

    it was wonderful. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great! I like how she just lets everything go, enough so that when he came back in (and acted like an ass), she was ready to not just take it anymore

    ReplyDelete
  10. If there is any band out there to inspire you to be free, it's Rage Against The Machine.

    Love this peek into what sets her on her path

    ReplyDelete
  11. I love how the music helped propel her into a position to stand up to the jerk. Life's filled with too much crap as it is, no one needs someone like that!

    I like the name Zenna, by the way!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ohhhh. When he slammed the stereo to the floor I wanted to smack him. Seriously. Go Zenna!

    ReplyDelete
  13. i love the music coursing through her and how she had courage because of where her memories took her.. back to the person she used to be. awesome. vivid, and relatable. love it!

    ReplyDelete

I welcome comments, but reserve the right to correct your spelling because I am OCD about it!