Story A Day Challenge – Day 17 – Visibly Invisible

I watch her every morning as she walks to the coffee shop, careful not to let her see me. I think she might be the one. I hide in the alley until she comes out then walk towards her. Occasionally we make eye contact and she smiles before quickly looking away, but she doesn’t see me today. I don’t understand it. Why doesn’t she notice me every time? Do I make her uncomfortable? I only want to make her happy.

Maybe today will be the day I show her I’m perfect for her. I normally go to the park at the end of the street after our daily encounter but today I turn around and follow her. She walks several blocks before stopping at a store. She’s staring into the window smiling. Curious, I edge closer to see what’s made her so happy.

When I see what it is I growl low in my throat startling her. She backs away, telling me I’m a good dog. I let her go. Clearly she’s not the one for me if she’s smiling at kittens. Damn cat people!

“Hey boy, are you lost?” I hear from behind me. I turn and see the most beautiful, kindest eyes. I feel my tail moving of its own accord. He sits on his knees and pets my head. Maybe he’s the one. Hopefully he doesn’t like cats.

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Prompt: Visibly Invisible

Today’s prompt is about the inner self of your character trying to break out, to be seen, to be heard, to simply be acknowledged.

Think along the lines of being present in a group, yet you’re being discussed as if you were not there.  Now multiply those feelings by 100 for your character who, for reasons you will develop, cannot (at the moment) speak up for themselves.

Tips

• Why is your character ‘invisible’?
• You may want to go down the path of personal knowledge, for instance someone with a severe disability which restricts their line of communication.  Yet they are ‘in there’ and fully aware of what is going on around them.  How do they feel?  What can they do to get attention, and help?
• Perhaps you want to go the fantasy route and your character has had a spell put on them.  What or who will break it?  How does the ‘invisible’ one deal with the situation they are in and what do they do to help themselves?
• Your story should conclude with your character achieving ‘visibility’.

Not too many tips this week – let your imagination, and your emotions run free with this one.

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Whoa! She said: Not. Too. Many. Tips.

I don’t normally post the prompt and the tips but in this case I felt I had to. In all fairness her last prompt had a whopping nine tips so I can see where she thinks this one doesn’t have many. I apologize in advance to the person who made this prompt but WTF woman? My first thought after reading the prompt and tips was ‘is there anything else you’d like to tie me down with?’  So my rebellious/stubborn streak kicked in and I wrote what I wanted. My character is noticed by the woman but not in the way he wants. That is as close to the prompt as I got.

I don’t know about the rest of the writers out there who take these kinds of challenges or use prompts but for me, if someone tells me I should do it a certain way or offers story ideas, you can bet I will NOT go that way. I truly don’t think I’m being rebellious. I simply don’t want to write someone else’s story.

Also, I don’t normally write in present tense so there are many flaws here but I’m glad I challenged myself.

Rough draft 231 words