Orange 5, Faded Blue 22: Exhaustion

[bookblather]

Author: Kat
Title: Exhaustion
Story: Shine Like It Does
Colors: Orange 5 (nothing rhymes with orange), faded blue 22 (Each melody recalls a love that used to be)
Supplies and Materials: Brush (de minimis), oils (out of energy), feathers (Your character comes home to a mess.), fabric (this image), chalk (this picture), glitter (If you could have a 'do-over' on any one thing in your life, what would it be and why? How would you do it differently?), glue (It's tricky to step out of your current emotional situation, especially if you're still processing recent events.), novelty beads (I try to see the good in life/But good things in life are hard to find/We'll blow it away, blow it away/Can we make this something good? - "It's Not Over", Daughtry).
Word Count: 300
Rating: PG.
Summary: Charlotte comes home to a mess.
Warnings: depression
Notes: Just a couple of atmospheric pieces for you today.


After the sterile white walls of the hospital and the painfully ordered atmosphere of the ICU, Charlotte's own apartment came as a shock.

She shut the front door behind her, dropped her bags on the floor, and surveyed the mess with a weary apathy. Clothes scattered over the floor where she'd dropped her laundry basket on finding out. Dishes from lunch still sitting in scummed-over soapy water in the sink. Her piano, dusty and unattended.

She stepped over it all and sat down at the piano bench, staring down at the keys.

She didn't like mess. Usually she kept her apartment as neat as she could manage, but she'd had to fly home so quickly she hadn't even... she'd been sitting just here, staring down at her piano keys, waiting for her father to come get here and bring her home. She'd been thinking of her sister bleeding out in the street, of Miranda's wry smile and warm, tight hug, and of Daniel's face, closed off and tight...

What now?

Charlotte picked out a few notes, then a minor chord. She could stay here and keep on teaching. She was a good teacher, everyone knew that. Daniel was a gentleman; he wouldn't make anything of what had ended between them. Or, if she was honest, of what had never really been.

She'd known it would come to this. She'd known he'd find out, someday. She'd known it all would be over when he did.

She closed her fist on the keys, and shut the piano lid. She couldn't handle this now, not with her heart so exhausted, her sister's paper-white face so fresh in her memory.

The mess would be here in the morning. Charlotte left the piano and climbed into bed still clothed.

The morning would come soon enough.

Comments

[isana]

The raw exhaustion and sadness here are vivid, especially with the way Charlotte's apartment is so messy, and yet she can't even bring herself to care. You can feel everything crashing down around her. Good job!

[bookblather]

Thank you very much!

[ce_jour_la]

The centre of a moment of chaos; yes, this is exactly what happens when you drop everything and run. Very vividly evocative piece--the world falling apart around her ears is tangible. Fabulous job.

[bookblather]

Yeah, it... really is.

Thank you.

[dark_kana]

Oh wow. So ... sad and heartbreaking and raw emotions. So vivid.
Wonderful job!

[bookblather]

Thank you.

[kay_brooke]

Oh, this is really sad. Poor Charlotte. So past caring about the state of her home, so willing to leave everything behind.

[bookblather]

She's just done right now. She's out of everything.

Thank you.

[shipwreck_light]

I just love the visual of Charlotte standing all alone in the apartment, absently plucking at the keys. I can see it so clearly (and hear the absent little plucking too).

Atmosphere success: 100%!

[bookblather]

Thank you!

[novel_machinist]

I can almost feel jet lag in this. It's interesting the sort of disjointed way her thoughts came together. In the writing it left me curious for more information while being realistic.

[bookblather]

Wow, thank you so much! That's such a huge compliment.