WRITING PROMPT
What Comfort Zone?
Flash fiction
It was a typical day in January. A chilled wind blew through my drafty windows, as I moved the bed closer to the warmth of the electric heater. It was surprising to hear birds chirping outside the ledge. Where were those headphones when I needed them?
Bonjour Marie, comment allez vous?
Très bien, merci, et vous?
Très bien.
I repeated each phrase coming from the Rosetta Stone. Learning French was not going to be easy for me, but the mere thought of it sounded so adventurous and romantique. And definitely out of my comfort zone. Besides, it was one of the post-its stuck on my wall. Five post-its. Five resolutions. To spend less time lounging and binge-watching Riverdale and the true-crime channels and spend more time exercising and learning a different skill set.
As if putting it in writing on a little sticky square would cure me of my lack of enthusiasm. My résistance to change. Sometimes, I think I must enjoy my rut. My personal rabbit hole.
Thud. Followed by a scraping sound.
The wind howled and slammed against the shutters. I was sure all the windows downstairs were locked. No one was supposed to be home until tonight. But there was that noise, like a rustling, creaking, followed by the sound of careful footsteps. My heart started to race. Adrenaline pumping, I turned off the volume to my computer and listened at the doorway.
Why didn’t I have a dog, like my sister kept hounding me? Were there intruders in the house?
I continued to listen. But all I could hear was my heart thumping through my chest.
Picking up my cell to call 911, I pressed the speed dial connected to my roommate, instead. Almost instantly, I heard the ringtone downstairs.
“Please tell me you’re home,” I whispered, having lost at least ten percent of my mind.
“Yep, they’re cutting back on hours,” my roommate answered. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, I’ll be right down. ”
I sighed a big one in relief.
Then went back to my comfort zone.
© Connie Song 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Gratitude: Thank you to the editor, Galit Birk, PhD for her Medium publication, Being Known and the January writing prompt, What Comfort Zone (below).
From Connie Song: My usual writing genre jam is poetry. It’s what comes easiest for me and flows like rain. So writing short fiction with dialogue is a bit of a departure, something out of my comfort zone. And the pressure of writing from a prompt inexplicably scares me and causes my mind to go blank.
This was fun and liberating, including conceptualizing the image to use!
I’d like to invite everyone to take off the gloves and give this prompt a try.
