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Ember Wilder (#WH: Ember Wilder)
Character Intro | Start Here | Latest
Trigger Warnings
My stories at times contain sex, light drug and alcohol use, grief, and other mature themes. Read at your own risk!
Aside from detailed, consensual sex scenes (which are always labeled "After Dark"), I consider my stories to be on the lighter, more innocent side. However, if you come across a specific, untagged trigger that you want me to start tagging for any reason at all, please message me and I will!
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Original Content (#wilder house original) -> [filters out reblogs]
Episode 8 - Introductions All Around
CW: mild marijuana use
Ember had to admit that the already vibrant attic was even more colorful and alive with so many bodies in it, even if it was a bit overwhelming. She leaned her head against the wall, content to watch the night unfold from where she sat, tucked away as she was.
Her eyes caught on Travis and a pretty girl with short brown hair across the room, standing shoulder to shoulder as they flipped through a crate of records together.
The pretty girl looked up at Travis, all smiles, and said something that must have been funny because he laughed, bumping his shoulder into hers. Ember frowned, fighting the urge to roll her eyes.
“You must be Ember,” someone said, causing her heart to jump into her throat.
She turned, relaxing a tiny bit when she realized that it was Candy standing next to her. At least it was someone whose name she knew. “Guilty as charged,” Ember said, giving her a smile and a shrug.
“So you're new to town, huh?” Candy asked, folding herself onto the floor next to Ember.
“Oh, uh, yeah. I just moved in a week or so ago. This is probably the best thing I've seen in town yet,” Ember said, waving her hand at everything around her.
Candy grinned. “Girl, this is probably the best thing around for like three towns over, if we're being honest.”
“Are you from Willow Creek?”
She shook her head. “Nah, Windenburg. I'm one of the few out-of-towners they let in this joint.”
“So what do you all usually do here?”
“Exactly what you see right now,” Candy said, leaning her head close to Ember’s and scanning the room. Ember leaned in and followed Candy’s gaze, feeling giddy like she was being let in on a secret.
“Liberty is the life of the party, so everywhere she goes a group of at least three will follow.”
Ember zeroed in on the corner Candy was indicating, and sure enough, there was a small group of eager people gathered around Liberty, who was standing beside a ridiculous statue of a butler, lighting the candles held on his tray.
“Travis, bless his heart, always thinks he can get the music going, and flirts while he does it,” Candy continued, nodding toward Travis still rifling through the records with the brown-haired girl. “I can guarantee, however, that someone is going to complain about his music choice within the next three minutes. Never fails.”
Ember was skeptical. The smooth sound of lo-fi music drifting from the record player and several wired speakers around the room was rather pleasant, she thought.
Next Candy turned and pointed through a wide opening into a small room right beside them, which had just enough floor space for two of the newcomers to stand, their heads bent over something. “Those two are always in the Alchemy Room, working on whatever takes their fancy.”
“The Alchemy Room?” Ember asked.
“It's a glorified art studio, but they insist that everything they create in there is pure gold. Plus it has the only access to the rooftop area, so it's like they've conjured a portal to the stars. Or so they say.”
“Fascinating,” Ember said, leaning forward in her seat to better see. “This is amazing. What else?”
“Travis!” someone called from behind a wall of hanging fabric that created the only private space to be found in the attic. "You’re putting us to sleep, man! Change the music!”
Candy gave Ember a look and Ember laughed, silently clapping her hands together in mock applause. “I bow to the master,” she said, dipping her head toward Candy with a grin.
“Hah! Doesn't take a master to be able to see through these fucks. They’re just predictable.”
“You mean fun, I think,” Liberty said, skipping over and reaching down to haul Ember to her feet. “Come on, time to dance!”
“To this?” Ember laughed, nodding her head toward the record player, still spinning out pleasant, low key sounds.
“Well, no,” Liberty admitted, then leaned around Ember to give Candy a look. “Candy, for the love of all who want to have fun, go take over the music selection, please.”
Candy laughed and hopped to her feet. “On it!” She hurried across the room to take over the record crate, which the brown-haired girl relinquished with a somewhat sour look as Candy stepped in next to Travis.
“I don’t know why we even pretend anyone other than Candy is capable of picking music around here,” Liberty said, shaking her head. “So, what do you think so far?” she asked, turning a raised eyebrow on Ember.
“I love it!” Ember said, unable to think of anything more eloquent. “This is better than anything I could have asked for. Thank you.”
“Anytime. Literally. Just call and we’ll hit the place up. Want any?”
Ember blinked at the jarring transition, then looked down at Liberty’s palm where she had a square, sugar coated gummy held out. Ember felt her eyebrows raise into her hairline. That definitely wasn’t allowed on library grounds.
“No, that’s okay,” she said, shaking her head a little too quickly.
“Suit yourself,” Liberty shrugged, pocketing the square. Ember cringed, thinking about all of the sugar crystals that now had to be lining her pocket, not to mention all of the fuzzies that were most likely sticking to the gummy.
“Liberty!”
“What!?” Liberty yelled back, holding up a middle finger to the guy that had called her name.
He laughed, and waved her over. “Stop being rude and introduce us to your friend.”
“Oh, that’s actually fair. I am being rude,” Liberty said, dragging Ember over to the sitting area where people now sat on every available surface, whether it be chair or floor. Even the two ‘alchemists’ had emerged from their studio, and were chatting with Summer, animated expressions on their faces.
“Everyone, this is Ember,” Liberty announced, causing everybody to quiet as they turned to look. Ember hoped with everything she had that they didn’t notice the heat flooding her cheeks.
Liberty pointed a stern finger at the group. “She’s new to town, so be nice,” she warned.
The guy who had called them over snorted. “If she can tolerate you, I think she can handle the rest of us,” he teased, giving Ember a wink. “Hey, Ember, I’m Marc.”
A chorus of hellos and welcomes followed Marc’s introduction, and Ember nodded to each in turn, listening to all of the names and trying to imprint them into her brain. She knew it was a lost cause, there was no way she would ever be able to remember the dozen or so new names that were thrown her way. When had so many people shown up, anyway? If she was lucky, a few of their names would stick. Maybe.
Just then the music scratched to a halt, followed by a moment of glaring silence.
“Hell, yes!” Liberty crowed, grabbing Ember’s hand again.
The record spindle clicked into place, and a song hit the speakers a beat later, kicking the room alive with bass.
Ember laughed in surprise when she and Liberty were swarmed by half a dozen whooping, eager dancers, pressing them backward until they were gathered on a mostly open floor, shoving aside scattered cushions to make room.
It appeared it was time to dance.
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Ember immediately recognized where she was when she stepped through the doorway, able to picture the whole second floor in her head despite the darkness. She tiptoed up to the gallery railing that she knew was right in front of her and looked down at the ground floor, feeling a sense of awe at being in this space after dark.
If she had thought it was quiet before, she had been wrong. The midnight silence was overwhelming.
She blinked down at the blotchy black shapes below, which weren’t discernable as anything in particular, then looked across the way, just barely able to make out the wide, sweeping shape of the staircase that led downstairs. If she walked to her right, she could follow the railing around three sides of the gallery, eventually coming to the stairs, which were close to where she had sat with her research the last time she was here.
To her left was the fourth side of the gallery, made up of solid wall rather than railing, and if she were to walk that direction, she knew she would round a corner and find herself in a tight hallway lined with bookshelves on both sides. That was the direction Liberty had gone, so Ember pushed herself away from the railing and followed after, trying to keep her footsteps from being too loud in the profound quiet.
She nearly jumped out of her skin when Summer sneezed behind her, the high pitched sound echoing throughout the entire building.
Ember placed a hand to her chest, trying to calm her heart to a normal pace again.
“Shhhh!” Travis whispered with a quiet laugh, causing Summer to dissolve into hushed giggles. Their laughter was infectious, making the whole place seem more alive, and Ember had to bite her lip to keep herself from laughing with them.
They were all still trying and failing to stay quiet when they rounded the corner into the hallway where Liberty was waiting for them.
“Good thing no one patrols this place,” Liberty scolded in a hushed voice. “Remind me never to take you three anywhere we actually have to be quiet.”
Ember covered her mouth, finding it even harder not to laugh while Travis and Summer continued to shush each other in between bursts of now barely contained laughter.
“Come on, let’s get upstairs before these two get to laughing so hard they can’t walk anymore,” Liberty said, sounding exasperated. She grabbed Ember’s hand and pulled her through a doorway that Ember hadn’t noticed during her daytime visits.
The door led into a tiny stairwell that wasn’t even wide enough for the two of them to walk shoulder to shoulder, the walls nearly brushing their arms as they climbed the creaky, wooden stairs, one right after the other.
It was darker here, with no windows letting in the glow of moonlight or streetlamps, and it smelled a weird mix of dust and age while also having a pleasant spicy aroma, like the faint, lingering smell of burning incense.
A moment later she and Liberty stood on a landing at the top of the stairs, seeming to have emerged into some sort of largish room, though Ember couldn’t see anything other than a dim glow from what must be a mostly obscured window across the way.
“Stay here,” Liberty said, then stepped away, leaving Ember alone on the dark landing.
Miraculously, Travis and Summer had mostly stopped laughing, and were now standing behind her on the stairs, anticipation emanating off of them like an aura. What exactly was in this room that they were all so excited about?
A moment later the sounds of Liberty's movement went still. “Okay, you ready, Ember?”
Ember bit her lip and nodded with excitement, all earlier apprehension forgotten.
It took her a moment to remember that nobody could see her. “Yes, I’m ready,” she said out loud, clasping her hands in front of her and staring with rapt attention in the direction that Liberty’s voice was coming from.
“Here come the lights,” Liberty warned, and then a second later, light filled every inch of the room.
Holy. Shit.
Those were the only words Ember could formulate as she looked around in awe, completely speechless.
Surely Liberty had just wielded magic to teleport them to an alternate reality, because they were not in a library anymore.
Color met her eyes everywhere she looked, and it appeared as if a couple of fairies had collided in midair, splattering an explosion of twinkle lights across the walls and ceiling. The most random assortment of furniture and rugs she had ever seen filled the rest of the room, creating vibrant, hodge podged spaces that, at first glance, looked like they had been thrown together without a thought. But the more Ember looked, the more she began to see purpose behind it all.
She stepped further into the room, doing a slow turn to take it all in. It was glorious.
“Told you you’d like it,” Travis said, a wide smile on his face as he came up to stand beside her.
“What is this place?”
“Liberty started it years ago,” Summer answered, scooting by to flop into a nearby overstuffed chair that looked like it had seen better days. “She would sneak in here after hours and rearrange everything to be cozy, and then one night she brought a friend who later brought a random item to add to the chaos, and another night she’d bring another friend, and so on and so forth. Now it’s the town’s worst kept secret, and we’ve all put a bit of ourselves into it.”
Ember did another sweep of the place, the hodge podge aesthetic taking on a whole new meaning. There were many items that seemed to be relics of the library, squirreled away for later use and now repurposed to create seating and surfaces of all kinds. But there was also a surprising number of items that had obviously been brought in from the outside world, layered throughout the space over time. She couldn't get over how beautiful it was.
The moment was dulled slightly by the sound of her stomach growling, and she flushed, hoping it wasn't loud enough for everyone else to hear. She had forgotten to eat in her rush to get ready.
“Speaking of steak,” Travis said suddenly, like he had just thought of something, then slung the bag he had been tasked with carrying off of his back and to the ground.
“Literally nobody said anything about steak,” Liberty said from where she was sitting on an old card catalogue repurposed as a coffee table, looking at him like he had spoken complete nonsense.
“We brought you dinner,” he continued, pulling a container out of the bag and holding it out to Ember. “In case you were hungry.”
“Did somebody say steak?”
Ember whirled around at the sound of a new and unexpected voice coming from the stairs, and found herself looking at a girl with a bright smile and blonde hair dyed such a vivid pink at the ends that it was practically neon under the blue-toned twinkle lights.
“Candy! You came!” Liberty squealed, rushing over to hug her.
“And I brought a few others with me,” Candy said, nodding down the stairs as she laughed and extracted herself from Liberty's exuberant hug.
The sound of creaking stairs under the weight of multiple sets of feet and a chorus of greetings confirmed her claim to be true. Ember twisted her fingers, suddenly feeling awkward standing in the middle of the room as half a dozen or so new faces started flooding the landing. She hadn't realized others would be joining them.
“God, why’s it so quiet in here?” someone asked through all of the excited chatter and laughter.
Ember thought it was plenty noisy.
She looked around for somewhere to sit, then made a beeline for a cushion on the floor that was tucked up against the wall, out of the way of all of the newcomers that were now happily spreading throughout the attic.
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Ember had never been so happy to be wearing jeans before in her life.
The vines were rough and abrasive against her hands where she grasped the trellis, and she was sure her legs would have been subjected to more of the same if it weren’t for the layer of thick material protecting her skin. Not to mention the fact that Travis was down below, watching her as she reached a hand up to heft herself higher onto the trellis. A skirt would have been a nightmare.
She was relieved to find that the trellis wasn’t particularly hard to climb. The main hindrance was finding good hand- and footholds that felt stable and comfortable between the thick, gnarly vines. But once she found one, it was easy to move herself upward in search of the next.
And so it was that, after only a few involuntary grunts and muttered curses, Ember found herself eye to eye with Liberty, who grinned at her from across the balcony railing.
“Up and over, and you’re all done,” Liberty whispered.
“Is there a trick to it?” Ember whispered back, resisting the urge to look down or think about how far away the ground was.
“Um, go up and over?”
“Real helpful, Liberty,” Summer said, pushing Liberty aside. She leaned over the railing and pointed at an empty spot on the trellis a little higher and further to the right than where Ember was currently perched. “If you can get your foot there, it gets you high enough to swing over the railing without too much effort.”
Ember nodded and resituated herself, getting her feet placed just as Summer had suggested. She was then able to basically sit on the banister and swing her left leg over, leaning until it took her weight so that her right leg was free to follow after.
She breathed a sigh of relief as soon as both feet were solidly on the floor, glad to have the climb over with. There was a rustle of leaves as Travis appeared on the trellis, and then he too was on the balcony, joining their huddle and grinning like he was having the time of his life.
“What now?” Ember asked as she looked around at all of their faces, a shiver running up and down her spine even though the air was far from cold. She wasn’t sure if it was fear or a strong sense of anticipation that was the root of the sensation.
“Now we run,” Summer said, giggling and taking off down the length of the balcony, bent at the waist in an effort to stay hidden.
“Quietly!” Liberty whisper-shouted, then grabbed Ember’s hand and pulled her into a hunched run as well.
When they rounded the corner, Summer whistled to get their attention, waving them over to where she was hunkered in the shadows, waiting. Ember dropped Liberty’s hand and darted through the strange, blotchy light of the streetlamps, her eyes locked on Summer and the shadows that surrounded her.
She came in at full speed, grabbing Summer’s arm and nearly toppling them both in her haste to reach safety.
They had just righted themselves and were still covering their mouths to stifle laughter when Travis skidded in next to them, crashing into Summer and sending them toppling all over again.
In a flurry of limbs and surprised squeaks, they all scrambled to catch themselves, Ember falling against the wall at her back while Travis wrapped an arm around Summer’s waist and latched onto a windowsill, anchoring them both in place.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment, with all of them going perfectly still and listening for any indication that they had been heard.
“Really, people?”
Ember jumped, whirling around to see a shadow lean around the corner, staring at them from only an arm’s length away. With her heart pounding as loudly as it was, it took her a moment to register that, thank god, the shadow was only Liberty.
Summer snorted and Travis clamped a hand over her mouth. No one spoke in the ensuing silence, but Ember was almost positive she saw the whites of Liberty’s eyes roll upward before she disappeared around the corner again.
Fighting a laugh, Ember got to her feet and crept up to the corner, peeking around it to see Liberty’s silhouette standing in front of a pair of french doors, pulling something out of her pocket and leaning over the handles.
“You still stand by that promise?” Ember whispered back to Travis, giving him a look over her shoulder as he unwrapped his arm from around Summer’s waist and shifted into a crouch.
“One hundred percent,” he said, the grin in his voice obvious despite the shadows.
A moment later, Liberty gave a small, quiet crow of victory and Ember peeked around the corner again, just in time to see her disappearing inside.
Giving them one last look, Ember shook her head, hoping that their shenanigans up until now weren’t about to take a turn for the worse. Then, taking a deep breath, she darted forward and slipped through the open door, unable to stop the anticipation welling in her chest.
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Less than fifteen minutes later, they were pulling up to Willow Creek’s library, the huge building rather eerie in the dark with so many black, vacant windows staring down at Ember.
One of her freelance gigs had required enough research that she'd already visited the library a couple times since moving, spending hours scouring the shelves for the material she needed. When the sun was out, the library was warm, welcoming, and full of life—albeit life that was lived very quietly with hushed voices. Ember loved the hushed atmosphere and the collegiate vibes though, and had spent more time there than was strictly necessary.
But at night, the atmosphere was something else entirely. She shot a look at Travis, who sat across from her in the backseat, the shadowy light of a nearby street lamp just enough for her to see the grin on his face.
Apparently he wasn't worried.
Liberty put the car in park and then hopped out, jogging back to the trunk to start pulling out a stuffed bag that looked to be on the brink of bursting.
“We need supplies?” Ember asked, giving Travis a look, which made him laugh.
“She's not completely insane, I promise. I think you'll love it.”
“Okay,” Ember said, lacing her voice with as much skepticism as she could muster.
Even so, she couldn't help but feel a thrill of excitement as she got out of the car, in spite of her exaggerated misgivings. It had been a long time since she had done anything remotely unexpected or impulsive.
“This is for you,” Liberty said, handing Travis the pack. “And you, Ember, get to just follow.”
“Okay,” Ember said, then looked around them. “Where are we going?”
There was nothing in sight but the dark landscape, the even darker library building, and the glow of the tree-obscured building next door, which she thought was the gym. The one place she was sure they weren't going to visit.
“Not far. Let's go,” Liberty said, and headed for the corner of the library.
Travis swept a hand through the air, inviting Ember to go next, so she obliged and fell in step. They were all silent as they walked, the distant thump of workout music and breaking waves floating to them through the warm summer air.
It occurred to her then that a midnight picnic by the bay would be a really lovely thing to do at this time of year. They could sit on the hill overlooking the water, enjoying an incredible view of the lighthouse across the way, all backdropped by the gentle cadence of waves. Not to mention the stars overhead.
She looked up and her breath caught. There wasn't a cloud in sight, and the stars were glorious. Her shoulders relaxed, and she looked back to her path, stepping with a renewed vigor.
A few moments later, Liberty reached the end of the building and made a hard left, disappearing around the corner. Surprised, Ember jogged to catch up, her steps faltering when she scanned the open area between the library and the water. She didn't see Liberty’s silhouette anywhere.
“This way,” Travis said quietly, pushing past her and nodding his head toward the back patio of the library. The small stone haven was surrounded by a half wall jutting out from the building, and a dim light showed that the rustling of leaves she was hearing came from vines clinging to the entire back wall of the library, climbing an old, white trellis.
She saw Liberty, more visible now that she was in the influence of the light, skirting around the tables and chairs that littered the patio, headed toward the back of the building.
Ember looked over her shoulder at the bay, feeling uncertain. Maybe Liberty just needed to get something she had stashed here earlier?
She still felt unsure, but turned and followed Travis through the patio gate anyway. Summer wasn’t far behind as they all threaded through the tables and came together in a cluster at the corner of the patio, just beneath the light. Gathering in the light seemed counterintuitive to Ember, but she wasn’t leading this escapade, so who was she to complain.
She was dying to ask what they were doing, but didn't want to sound too anxious, so she bit her lip and stayed silent. Even though they were technically loitering on library grounds after hours, it could barely be considered trespassing, right? Once Liberty got what she needed and they left, they would have hardly been there long enough for anyone to notice. It was fine.
“Okay, time to go up,” Liberty whispered from where she had been waiting for them to all gather around her. She turned and tested the trellis, tugging at it before stepping up like a ladder and putting all of her weight on it.
Ember watched in disbelief as she started to scale the wall, climbing higher and higher.
What the hell was she doing? Were they all going to do that? Surely not.
Making it look as if it hardly took any effort at all, Liberty climbed all the way to the second floor and scurried over the railing of what was presumably a balcony. Ember was still staring up in disbelief when Liberty’s head popped out over the railing again, beckoning with a wave of her hand. By all appearances, she was encouraging the rest of them to follow.
Surely not.
“Summer, you go next,” Travis whispered. “Then Ember, and I'll go last in case anyone needs help.”
Her indignation at the implication that she needed help was almost enough to make her forget that their destination was, in fact, the second floor of the library.
Where they would undeniably be trespassing, in the full, legal sense of the word.
Ember gawked as Summer took to the trellis, scaling it just as Liberty had. She moved more slowly, but still with confidence and ease.
Her neighbors were decent people, right? They weren't planning to break windows or graffiti the walls of a cherished public building just for kicks, were they? They seemed really kind and level headed—mostly—but she had literally only spent half a day with them. Did she actually know these people?
She jumped when Travis stepped closer to her shoulder, leaning in to speak quietly. “Don't worry, you’ll love this.”
“Yeah, so you keep saying,” she whispered back, letting her voice tell him just how unconvinced she was. “Just promise me I'm not gonna end up in jail?”
Travis gave a low chuckle and nodded. “Done. I promise you won't go to jail.”
He stepped back and, looking up to where Summer was climbing over the balcony railing, put a hand on the small of Ember's back and gave her a gentle push forward. “Your turn,” he said, looking her in the eye as a wide grin spread across his face.
Ember held his gaze for a long moment, finding it hard not to trust him despite the sketchiness of their current situation.
“Come on!” someone whisper-shouted from above, and Ember looked up to see Summer and Liberty both staring down at her over the railing.
Taking a deep breath and hoping she wasn't going to regret this, she gave one last look at Travis, then stepped up to the trellis and began to climb.
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I feel like every writer has a post or journal entry out there exactly like this, but, friends, it's really difficult to be a writer. An artist in general, really.
I have so many plans, so many things I want to do, but lately I have been really discouraged because it feels like all of my stuff is falling short.
I can feel how amazing and beautiful these things are in my head, but creating what is actually in my head is always just out of reach. It's like I don't have the skill to relay it quite right, which is the most frustrating feeling in the world.
But I've been watching Ted Lasso (I highly recommend), and every time I watch, I walk away with the reminder that we don't have to let our fear, doubt, shame, or any external negativity rule us or our actions.
What if we gave ourselves permission to do it wrong? To fail over and over and over again until we find the beauty we're looking for? To say the wrong thing, to use the wrong words, to bore someone, to shock someone, to let the world see our art at its worst?
Maybe the world watching us get it mostly wrong, but a little bit more right each time, is better, you know? Maybe the masterpiece at the end of the journey will mean just as much to them as it does to us because they've seen the process.
So I am recommitting to writing and doing Sims posts on my own terms because I love it. It's not for you, it's for me. To learn, to grow, and to spend time in the beautiful stories in my head like I'm actually there.
I have this thought that I'm probably not alone in wanting what I want. So I would REALLY love to connect with others that are here to learn (and who have so much they could teach!) to see if we can't help one another grow. Together.
Perhaps we could do a regular discussion post where we can all share our thoughts and experiences on a specific topic. @hannahssimblr shared a post on the things she's learned about writing over the years a while back, and it was fantastic. So maybe something like that, only in smaller bites and with specific topics? Or we could do a regular Discord call to have a live discussion that takes an hour of our time and then we're done? I literally have no idea what the best format would be, but if there's interest, let me know.
If not, that's truly okay. I will learn from all of you either way, just by reading your stories. Thank you for putting your art out there, even if there are days where you feel like it's all crap (it's not). You and your art are appreciated more than you know.
Ember slumped in her chair and let her head fall back until she was staring at the ceiling.
“Gah!” she yelled into the quiet of the house, fresh out of words as she rubbed her hands over her face in frustration. Words were meaningless. Dead to her right now.
If only she knew how to coax them back to some semblance of life, because she and her bank account really needed them to be alive and well, flowing from her hands and onto the page like the lifeline they were.
But no. Nothing she wrote was good enough. Always too bland, or too sparkly, or—her personal favorite—too wordy. Wasn't that the fucking point?
Grabbing the dirty plates and mugs that had accumulated on her desk, she pushed herself to her feet and trudged to the kitchen.
She needed a break, and, somehow, washing dirty dishes seemed like a better time than continuing to stare at that damn computer screen.
Hitting the faucet handle to full blast, she put a stopper in the sink and propped her hip against the counter while she waited for the water to fill. Maybe she needed to get out of the house, get her eyes on something besides tiny black lines on a white page, and oppressive, beige walls. She barely even knew what time it was, other than dark, judging by the lack of light coming through the large, floor to ceiling window just outside the kitchen.
She startled when a train blew past across the way, blasting its horn and flashing bright lights into her eyes for a moment. Well, at least she had proof that the rest of the world was still alive out there.
She guessed that answered the question of 'If a tree falls in the middle of the forest with no one around, does it actually fall?’ Was that even the question? It didn't seem right. God, she couldn't even use other people's words correctly!
Either way, the point was, obviously the world kept spinning, even when she wasn’t looking. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant for her, but she did find it strangely comforting.
Turning the tap off, Ember plunged her hands into the water and began scrubbing, happy for the mindless, methodical work. If only writing were so—
No! No more thoughts about writing. Even though she probably couldn't afford to walk away from her writing right now, she wasn't sure she could afford to stay and keep beating her head against a wall either.
So no more writing, no more thoughts about writing, and absolutely no guilt that she wasn't writing for at least the next three hours. She felt a pang of worry that this was a really irresponsible decision, but then rolled her eyes and grabbed the pan she had burnt a grilled cheese sandwich in earlier that morning, plunging it into the suds.
No guilt. If she needed a break, she was going to take one.
She finished scrubbing the pan and then released the sink stopper and dried her hands on a towel. Done with the task, she folded her arms across her chest and turned to lean against the counter.
What was she going to do for three hours?
She stared at the dark void that was her window, thinking through the options. She could take a nap, maybe. But she didn't really feel sleepy, just mentally drained. Watch a movie? There probably wasn't anything interesting on.
What did other people her age do at this time of night when they were bored out of their minds?
Oh. Duh. Did she actually want to do that, though? Go out of her way to bombard herself with flashing lights, too loud music, and socializing with people she didn't know and therefore didn't care about?
She supposed she could go to a gym instead. Snorting, she walked back to her desk and rummaged through all the papers until she found her phone hiding underneath one of them.
Scrolling through her contacts, she flicked past far too few names before she reached ‘Travis (Neighbor)’ toward the end of the list. For some reason the tag-on struck her as funny, and she laughed to herself.
Somehow, despite having a chronically short contact list, she still needed notes to know who was who. It didn't matter that he was the only Travis on the list, there was still every chance that however many weeks from now she would look at the name Travis and be like ‘Travis? Travis who?’
Though maybe not. That lopsided grin of his was kind of hard to forget.
Either way, they had exchanged numbers a week or so ago, and her tag-on made it 100% clear that he was, in fact, her neighbor, the same Travis who had helped her move a million and one boxes around.
Surely she knew him well enough to see if he and his housemates wanted to go out for a few hours, right? He had helped her put her bed together, after all.
Before she even had time to fully think it through, Ember hit the green call button and stared at the phone for a second before she remembered she should be listening for him to answer.
Jerking the phone to her ear, she tapped her foot against the wood floor. Each consecutive ring felt louder than the last, causing her stomach to twist further and further into knots.
“Hey, Ember.”
Ember froze when his voice came over the line, suddenly realizing that she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, hi, I'm here! Hi, Travis, how are you?”
How are you? That's the best she could come up with?
“Doing great, actually. We just got done grilling steaks and potatoes and eating by the pool. I wish you had called two hours earlier, we woulda had you over.”
Ember's stomach growled at the thought of steak and potatoes. When was the last time she had eaten? Surely one of those dirty plates had been from relatively recently.
She sighed. “Bummer,” she said, hoping she hadn't missed her chance to hang out with them. “I am in desperate need of getting out of the house, so I was hoping you or the girls would have some suggestions on what might be fun to do around town at this hour?”
“Who's that?”
Liberty's voice, muffled and faint, came through from the other end of the line.
“It’s Ember,” Travis said, not even bothering to hold his hand over the phone, or whatever it was people did to have a side conversation while talking on the phone these days. “She says— oh man, I'm probably going to regret this, but she says she desperately needs to get out of the house.”
Ember heard Liberty squeal on the other end.
“I take it she likes that idea?” she asked, laughing.
“You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into,” Travis answered, sounding amused.
“Well, I am looking for a distraction, so—”
“Ember?” Liberty's voice came through loud and clear this time
“Yeah, I'm here.”
“Good. Get ready, we’ll be over in thirty minutes.”
“Okay, what shou—” Ember cut off when there was an unnatural silence in her ear, and pulled the phone away to find that Liberty had hung up.
Well, okay then. She would just have to figure out her wardrobe on her own. Lifting an arm, Ember took a whiff of her armpit and immediately turned her head away, wrinkling her nose.
Thank god she had half an hour until they arrived.
When a knock sounded on the door exactly thirty minutes later, Ember was clean, had dry hair, and had even applied some makeup. She had also definitely over-thought her outfit many times over, but eventually settled on something she felt was versatile enough to handle whatever Liberty had planned.
Jogging to the door with her head awkwardly tilted as she attempted to get an earring into place, she swung it open.
“One thing you need to know about this town,” Liberty said, pushing past Ember before she even had time to blink, “is that there is absolutely nothing to do at this hour except go to the gym.”
Ember stopped fighting with her earring and stared at Liberty, her head still tilted. They were going to the gym?
“Also, hi!” Summer chirped, giving her a bright smile as she came through the door. Travis was right behind her.
“But if there's anything you need to know about me,” Liberty continued as if she had never stopped, “it’s that I am nothing if not creative. You look great, by the way.”
The earring finally slid into place and Ember stood up straight, running a hand over her blouse as she glanced down at her outfit.
“Thanks,” she said, pleased that her overthinking had paid off. “I'm ready when you all are. Though I'm a little nervous about what you mean by ‘creative’, exactly.”
“Good instincts,” Travis laughed, crossing his arms.
“Don't worry, we're not doing anything illegal,” Liberty said, then added. “I think.”
She didn't sound very convincing.
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Ember slumped in her chair and let her head fall back until she was staring at the ceiling.
“Gah!” she yelled into the quiet of the house, fresh out of words as she rubbed her hands over her face in frustration. Words were meaningless. Dead to her right now.
If only she knew how to coax them back to some semblance of life, because she and her bank account really needed them to be alive and well, flowing from her hands and onto the page like the lifeline they were.
But no. Nothing she wrote was good enough. Always too bland, or too sparkly, or—her personal favorite—too wordy. Wasn't that the fucking point?
Grabbing the dirty plates and mugs that had accumulated on her desk, she pushed herself to her feet and trudged to the kitchen.
She needed a break, and, somehow, washing dirty dishes seemed like a better time than continuing to stare at that damn computer screen.
Hitting the faucet handle to full blast, she put a stopper in the sink and propped her hip against the counter while she waited for the water to fill. Maybe she needed to get out of the house, get her eyes on something besides tiny black lines on a white page, and oppressive, beige walls. She barely even knew what time it was, other than dark, judging by the lack of light coming through the large, floor to ceiling window just outside the kitchen.
She startled when a train blew past across the way, blasting its horn and flashing bright lights into her eyes for a moment. Well, at least she had proof that the rest of the world was still alive out there.
She guessed that answered the question of 'If a tree falls in the middle of the forest with no one around, does it actually fall?’ Was that even the question? It didn't seem right. God, she couldn't even use other people's words correctly!
Either way, the point was, obviously the world kept spinning, even when she wasn’t looking. She wasn't entirely sure what that meant for her, but she did find it strangely comforting.
Turning the tap off, Ember plunged her hands into the water and began scrubbing, happy for the mindless, methodical work. If only writing were so—
No! No more thoughts about writing. Even though she probably couldn't afford to walk away from her writing right now, she wasn't sure she could afford to stay and keep beating her head against a wall either.
So no more writing, no more thoughts about writing, and absolutely no guilt that she wasn't writing for at least the next three hours. She felt a pang of worry that this was a really irresponsible decision, but then rolled her eyes and grabbed the pan she had burnt a grilled cheese sandwich in earlier that morning, plunging it into the suds.
No guilt. If she needed a break, she was going to take one.
She finished scrubbing the pan and then released the sink stopper and dried her hands on a towel. Done with the task, she folded her arms across her chest and turned to lean against the counter.
What was she going to do for three hours?
She stared at the dark void that was her window, thinking through the options. She could take a nap, maybe. But she didn't really feel sleepy, just mentally drained. Watch a movie? There probably wasn't anything interesting on.
What did other people her age do at this time of night when they were bored out of their minds?
Oh. Duh. Did she actually want to do that, though? Go out of her way to bombard herself with flashing lights, too loud music, and socializing with people she didn't know and therefore didn't care about?
She supposed she could go to a gym instead. Snorting, she walked back to her desk and rummaged through all the papers until she found her phone hiding underneath one of them.
Scrolling through her contacts, she flicked past far too few names before she reached ‘Travis (Neighbor)’ toward the end of the list. For some reason the tag-on struck her as funny, and she laughed to herself.
Somehow, despite having a chronically short contact list, she still needed notes to know who was who. It didn't matter that he was the only Travis on the list, there was still every chance that however many weeks from now she would look at the name Travis and be like ‘Travis? Travis who?’
Though maybe not. That lopsided grin of his was kind of hard to forget.
Either way, they had exchanged numbers a week or so ago, and her tag-on made it 100% clear that he was, in fact, her neighbor, the same Travis who had helped her move a million and one boxes around.
Surely she knew him well enough to see if he and his housemates wanted to go out for a few hours, right? He had helped her put her bed together, after all.
Before she even had time to fully think it through, Ember hit the green call button and stared at the phone for a second before she remembered she should be listening for him to answer.
Jerking the phone to her ear, she tapped her foot against the wood floor. Each consecutive ring felt louder than the last, causing her stomach to twist further and further into knots.
“Hey, Ember.”
Ember froze when his voice came over the line, suddenly realizing that she had absolutely no idea what she was going to say.
“Hello?”
“Yeah, hi, I'm here! Hi, Travis, how are you?”
How are you? That's the best she could come up with?
“Doing great, actually. We just got done grilling steaks and potatoes and eating by the pool. I wish you had called two hours earlier, we woulda had you over.”
Ember's stomach growled at the thought of steak and potatoes. When was the last time she had eaten? Surely one of those dirty plates had been from relatively recently.
She sighed. “Bummer,” she said, hoping she hadn't missed her chance to hang out with them. “I am in desperate need of getting out of the house, so I was hoping you or the girls would have some suggestions on what might be fun to do around town at this hour?”
“Who's that?”
Liberty's voice, muffled and faint, came through from the other end of the line.
“It’s Ember,” Travis said, not even bothering to hold his hand over the phone, or whatever it was people did to have a side conversation while talking on the phone these days. “She says— oh man, I'm probably going to regret this, but she says she desperately needs to get out of the house.”
Ember heard Liberty squeal on the other end.
“I take it she likes that idea?” she asked, laughing.
“You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into,” Travis answered, sounding amused.
“Well, I am looking for a distraction, so—”
“Ember?” Liberty's voice came through loud and clear this time
“Yeah, I'm here.”
“Good. Get ready, we’ll be over in thirty minutes.”
“Okay, what shou—” Ember cut off when there was an unnatural silence in her ear, and pulled the phone away to find that Liberty had hung up.
Well, okay then. She would just have to figure out her wardrobe on her own. Lifting an arm, Ember took a whiff of her armpit and immediately turned her head away, wrinkling her nose.
Thank god she had half an hour until they arrived.
When a knock sounded on the door exactly thirty minutes later, Ember was clean, had dry hair, and had even applied some makeup. She had also definitely over-thought her outfit many times over, but eventually settled on something she felt was versatile enough to handle whatever Liberty had planned.
Jogging to the door with her head awkwardly tilted as she attempted to get an earring into place, she swung it open.
“One thing you need to know about this town,” Liberty said, pushing past Ember before she even had time to blink, “is that there is absolutely nothing to do at this hour except go to the gym.”
Ember stopped fighting with her earring and stared at Liberty, her head still tilted. They were going to the gym?
“Also, hi!” Summer chirped, giving her a bright smile as she came through the door. Travis was right behind her.
“But if there's anything you need to know about me,” Liberty continued as if she had never stopped, “it’s that I am nothing if not creative. You look great, by the way.”
The earring finally slid into place and Ember stood up straight, running a hand over her blouse as she glanced down at her outfit.
“Thanks,” she said, pleased that her overthinking had paid off. “I'm ready when you all are. Though I'm a little nervous about what you mean by ‘creative’, exactly.”
“Good instincts,” Travis laughed, crossing his arms.
“Don't worry, we're not doing anything illegal,” Liberty said, then added. “I think.”
She didn't sound very convincing.
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Nimzy told me I should introduce myself. So.... Hi. Here I am.
My name is Ember Wilder and, if I'm being honest... I'm just as ordinary as this day has been. Which is to say, pretty damn ordinary. Sorry to disappoint.
It’s kind of ironic, actually. I spent a lot of time as a kid lost in daydreams about the extraordinary future that awaited me, and I always imagined that stepping into independence for the first time would feel like the beginning of an epic adventure—wind in my hair, destiny calling my name, magic everywhere I looked, yada, yada, yada. Instead, I tripped over an unpacked box and realized I had no one to talk to but you. Close enough, right? No offense.
It's not exactly the grand, cinematic entrance I used to envision, but hey, a girl’s gotta start somewhere, I suppose.
So here I am, finally living life on my own terms in my own home. It’s been…fine. I used to long to venture beyond the small town where I grew up so that I could chase inspiration around every corner. I thought, there's got to be so much more out there to discover, right!? The desire to create and experience beautiful things had my mind constantly brimming with dreams and ideas.
Turns out inspiration, passion, and ideas don’t protect you from reality. Or pay the bills.
Freelancing, however, does. Pay the bills, I mean. Sort of. I'm a writer by trade, though my paycheck to paycheck lifestyle disagrees that what I do can actually be labeled as a 'trade'. One day, though, the words in my head might just find their way onto the page in a way that actually does them justice. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll pay for a coffee or two. Until then, I’ll do what I can to keep the lights on (and try not to eat instant noodles for every meal).
Anyway, speaking of food, I should probably go spend some time solving the hard problem of how to keep it on the table. If all else fails, I’ll just charm my way into a dinner invitation from my new neighbors that came by earlier—kidding! (Mostly.)
Here’s to new beginnings, not getting trounced by reality, and, hopefully, eating edible meals. Wish me luck!
—Ember
Find a third person account of my story on the @nimzywilder blog!
Summer disappeared into the kitchen while Travis pushed himself off the back of the couch and strode to the box tower. He reached for a box labeled ‘BEDROOM’ in neat, blocky letters, and hefted it into his arms.
“Wanna give me a tour?” he asked, giving her a lopsided grin.
“Well, you've already seen half of it,” Ember laughed, tucking her hair behind her ear and indicating the wide open room around them. “Liberty's holding down the fort in the living room, we’re practically standing in the dining room, and over in that corner will be my writing space,” she said, pointing to each area in turn. “Kitchen’s around that corner, and the bathroom is through this door.”
Ember led the way, flipping on a light as she entered the surprisingly spacious bathroom. The claw foot tub by the wall, along with the amazing landscaping outside, had been the selling point for her buying this house in particular, though the rest of the space was quite lacking in charm.
“And here’s the bedroom,” she announced, emerging into her room which held nothing but an empty dresser with drawers stacked on top and a disassembled bedframe lying on the floor beside the box spring and mattress. “You can put that over there by the dresser.”
“It’s a good thing we're here to help, I think,” Travis chuckled as he walked across the empty room, his footsteps sounding loud and echoey. He put the box down, then grabbed a drawer from the top of the dresser and began sliding it into place.
Ember jumped to help, grabbing the other drawer.
“So, Ember, tell me more about yourself.”
“Oh, uh…I don't know that there's much to tell,” Ember shrugged. “I wanted a fresh start to life, something that was all my own, so I moved here.”
“And what do you plan to do with this new life of yours?”
“I'm a writer, or at least pretend to be. I plan to do freelance writing to pay the bills. It's not always fun, but it's something. At least I'm writing, which I love.”
“Sounds nerdy.”
Ember’s eyes snapped to his in shock, until she saw that he was teasing her. She let out a relieved laugh. He grinned and leaned against the dresser now that all of the drawers were in place.
“Sorry, I'm just messing with you. Besides, I actually kind of have a thing for nerds,” he said, giving her a wink.
“Oh my God, Travis,” Liberty groaned, rolling her eyes as she stalked into the room, startling Ember. “Don't listen to him, he flirts with anything that moves. No offense to you or anything, you're obviously really pretty. But still, don't listen to him.”
Ember laughed, deciding that she liked Liberty a lot. It was refreshing to be around someone who had little to no filter. “Too bad,” she said, giving Travis a shrug. “You’re gonna have to get yourself a better wingman next time, I suppose.”
Travis snorted, and Liberty laughed. “I'm not sure if you're slamming him or slamming me, but either way, I respect it.”
Ember tried not to look as pleased as she felt at the compliment. Travis and Liberty started to argue over who would be the better wingman, and Ember watched, feeling a small burble of hope squeeze out around the sadness that had settled in her chest a long time ago.
At one time she had dreamed of this. Of moving into her own house and making friends like it was easy. Of laughing and talking and enjoying life as the sun streamed through the windows. Of making a whole new life for herself with her writing, maybe even becoming a published author.
All of that had been the dream until it wasn't anymore. Until laughter and sunshine had lost their appeal because her parents were dead, and all she had left was a chunk of cash from their little homestead that had once held so much love but now felt empty. It had felt so wrong to sell the farm and use the money to start a new life without her parents, but she hadn't been able to bear the thought of staying with the ghosts of their memories any longer than she had to.
So she had looked to the sky to beg their forgiveness, sold the farm, and found a place of her own. Every happiness she felt at finally stepping out into the world was shadowed by the reminder that she was only there because her parents were dead.
She had been beginning to think that driving hours and hours away from home had done nothing to keep their ghosts from haunting her, but for the first time in a long time, she thought that maybe—
“Helloooo,” Liberty called, breaking into Ember’s thoughts. “Earth to Ember—wait, that would be a dope band name.”
Ember blushed and gave a nervous laugh, hoping she hadn't ruined the moment by getting lost in her head for what was apparently a noticeable amount of time.
Travis laughed and nudged Ember with his elbow. “If you ever decide to audition for a band, turns out you've got an automatic selling point.”
“So, do you know where the rest of the TV cords are?” Liberty asked, sounding a little impatient. She must have asked at least once before.
“Yeah, sorry, there's a small box under the table.”
“Cool.” Liberty disappeared through the doorway, leaving Travis and Ember alone again.
“Well, I better get the rest of those boxes moved,” Travis said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.
“Yeah, okay,” Ember agreed, still feeling flustered. “I think I'll stay here and try to get this bed put together so that I can actually sleep tonight.”
“Do you want help?”
“With sleeping?” she asked, her brow tightening in confusion. Why would he ask that, and how could he even help with something like that?
“No,” he chuckled, “with putting the bed together.”
“Oh,” she said, embarrassment flooding her cheeks again. She was going to permanently turn into a tomato at this rate. “Of course. Sorry, I take things super literally sometimes.”
“Don’t worry, it's cute. So, where do we start with this bedframe?” he asked, giving her another lopsided grin.
Ember couldn't help but smile in return, finding him to be very disarming. Maybe the claw foot tub wasn't the best thing about this place after all.
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Smoothing a hand over her hair, Ember put on a smile and opened the door, finding herself face to face with a peppy looking blonde girl. She still had one hand raised as if she was about to knock again. The other hand clenched a plate of suspiciously glossy-looking fruit cake.
Behind her stood a young man with dirty blonde hair and a red and blue diamond sweater, as well as a bored looking girl with dark, chestnut pigtails that hung over a colorful t-shirt.
“Oh, hi!” the blonde girl chirped, giving a little wave with her hovering hand before lowering it to grasp the other side of the plate. “My name is Summer, and this is Travis and Liberty,” she said, pointing to each in turn. “We live next door and thought we’d come say hi, maybe bring over a questionable baked good?”
Summer held up the cake and gave Ember a hopeful smile. Travis grinned from behind her, nudging Liberty with his elbow until she rolled her eyes and gave a wave as well.
“For the record,” Liberty said, leaning around Summer. “I told them you were probably busy unpacking and didn't need us bothering you, so we can go if you want.”
“Oh, uh—” Ember stammered, taken aback. “No, please, come in,” she said, moving aside so they could enter. “I was just, uh, unintentionally bonding with the floor, but bonding with you all sounds way more fun,” she laughed, then blushed when Travis raised an eyebrow at her, his eyes twinkling.
“I wouldn't be so sure,” he said as he stepped into the house behind Summer. “Liberty, here, can be pretty hard headed and abrasive, so perhaps the floor would be better.”
“Hey!” Liberty said defensively, grinning. Ember found it interesting that insults were what put a smile on her face. “I am more fun than both of my housemates combined, uh—what's your name, again?”
“Oh, sorry!” Ember said, her cheeks flushing even hotter. “I'm Ember. I just moved in last night.”
“This your first time in Willow Creek?” Travis asked, leaning against the back of her couch. The couch sat at a weird angle where the movers had plopped it the day before, and she itched to straighten it. Why hadn't she done so earlier?
“Yeah,” she said instead, looking away from the couch. “Seemed like a good place to start, so here I am,” she shrugged, then blurted out, “Sorry it's such a mess in here. I guess I'm not very organized.”
“You should see Travis’ room,” Liberty snorted. “And he doesn't even have the excuse of just moving in.”
Summer walked over to slide the cake onto the dining table, pushing aside the box of dishes, then turned and crossed her arms over her chest.
She looked at Ember with raised eyebrows. “So, how can we help?”
“Oh, uh, what do you mean?” Ember asked, taken by surprise. Surely they hadn't come over to help her unpack.
“Yeah, Summer, what do you mean?” Liberty asked from where she had plopped onto the couch.
“I mean,” Summer said, drawing out the word and giving Liberty a look before turning back to Ember, “what can we do to help get you unpacked and settled?”
Liberty groaned and flopped back on the couch, clearly not a fan of the idea. Travis rolled his eyes and reached over the back of the couch to poke her.
“Don't mind her,” he said as Liberty swatted his hand away. “She thinks she's allergic to anything remotely adult.”
“That’s because I am.” Liberty retorted.
Ember laughed, then looked around at the mess of boxes shoved in every corner of the room.
“Well, I have most of the boxes labeled by what room they belong in, but the movers decided that this room was as far as they were gonna go. So maybe we start by moving them to where they belong?”
“I see that this box is labeled dishes, maybe I can go work on putting these away in the kitchen while Travis moves boxes around?”
“Sure, that sounds great!” Ember said, relieved that Summer was taking initiative.
“Great. Liberty, you can watch TV once you get the TV hooked up and the couch straightened,” Summer threw over her shoulder as she grabbed the box of dishes from the table.
“Fine,” Liberty conceded, rolling off the couch with dramatic flair.
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Levi: Guess who I just saw making out?! Alex n’ Robin.
Wren: Oh my god, finally.
Levi: Right? And we didn’t even have to meddle.
Wren: Hopefully Robin doesn’t get mom n’ dad’s sickening love of PDA though-.. are yours as bad?
Levi: I don’t give a shit about what my parents do, okay? Don’t try and go all sneaky therapist on me.
Wren: What the fu-.. I barely said anything! You’re so fucking touchy, jesus.
Levi: Whatever.
Byrd: What’s going on, why’s everyone still awake?
Wren: Why’re you up so early?
Byrd: Dad tried to light a smoke on the hotplate thing n’ burnt his beard, it stinks in there.
Wren: Lol, should’ve pitched a tent.
Byrd: What were you talking about?
Wren: Robin n’ Alex were smoochin’ by the lake.
Byrd: Awh.. I didn’t know they liked each other that way.
Wren: Sometimes I don’t know how you manage to get dressed in the morning, bird-brain.
So I've been working on a fantasy/romance novel manuscript for a little over a year now, right? And I have written (to some capacity) everything from the start of the book to a major reveal, which has resulted in a 200 page Google Doc.
It still needs to be heavily edited, etc., etc., but this arc is otherwise complete in its imperfectness.
I have always envisioned that the full novel would be a typical fantasy novel length, so around 450 pages. Therefore I was thinking I would need to write the next arc to complete the other 250 pages.
But guess what? I was doing some research today and discovered, somehow surprisingly, that 200 pages in a Google Doc is quite different than the number of pages in a printed book of the same text. Turns out 130k words, which is where I'm at, translates to 450+ pages in a printed book.
WHAT!?!
Needless to say, today felt super productive because I went from having nearly half a book written to having nearly a whole book written.
Episode 1 - Fresh Starts Are Always Bumpy, Sweetpea
Ember stared up at the ceiling from where she lay flat on her back in the middle of the living room, wondering why the stain that was there reminded her so much of her best friend in second grade. It didn't even look like Gina. How could it? It was a brown blob with edges that were crisp and dark, like all the dirt and unseemly things caught in its circumference had been pushed as far away from the center as possible.
Gina, on the other hand, had been soft and pretty with shiny, blonde hair, which was always pulled into two perfect ponytails hanging over her petite shoulders. It used to make Ember so jealous, watching those ponytails bounce around while Gina ran off to chase whichever boy had threatened to kiss her that day. Gina was always running off, chasing someone else. Perhaps that was why their friendship had barely survived half the second grade.
Most days in second grade, Ember remembered being left to swing all by herself, hoping that it looked like she was having fun, alone, by choice. To be fair, she had really loved swinging. The thrill of wooshing through the air and then leaning way back to watch her toes touch the blue sky, like she might just fall right into it and never come back—she had lived for that feeling some days.
But now, here she was all these years later, falling on the floor instead of into the sky. If only someone had told her that being an adult was so much harder, she might have enjoyed her swinging days a little more while she’d still had them.
Ember sat up with a sigh and poked at the new hole in her favorite leggings, courtesy of the box at her feet that she had tripped on just minutes ago.
With a frustrated groan, she kicked the offending box away from her, immediately regretting it when it rocketed toward a precarious tower of boxes that she hadn't had a chance to put away yet.
“No!” she yelped, flinching away as the box crashed into the base of the tower, causing the top to wobble dangerously.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for the sound of tumbling boxes and shattering plates to break the silence. When silence remained, she peeked one eye open, afraid that even the slightest movement might change her luck.
Miraculously, all of the boxes had stayed put. Puffing air out of her cheeks, she flopped back onto the hardwood floor, wondering how what had seemed like a brand new start just hours ago now felt like a grungy, one bedroom house that had nothing but nasty stains and hard floors to offer.
She could just imagine what her mom would say, if she were here. “Fresh starts are always bumpy, Sweetpea, don't worry about it,” or maybe, “don't let it get you down!” Ember used to roll her eyes when her mom said things like that, annoyed that she only ever saw the bright side. But now she wished more than anything that her mom was here, helping her find all the silver linings.
Ember jumped when a knock sounded on the door, sending her darkening thoughts scattering to the shadows. She scrambled to her feet, looking at the mess around her with blind panic until a second knock sounded, snapping her out of it. With a groan, she scooped up a wayward throw pillow and tossed it on the couch before heading toward the door.
Pausing to carefully remove the box of dishes from the top of the precarious tower, she slid it onto the table as she walked by, and then, much too soon, she was standing in front of her door, staring at it.
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