PostsChallengesPortalsAuthorsBooks
Sign Up
Log In
Posts
Challenges
Portals
Authors
Books
beta
Sign Up
Search
Challenge
Challenge of the Week #55: Write a story of 200 words or more about a stranger. The most masterfully written piece, as voted and determined by the Prose team, will be crowned winner and receive $200. Quality beats quantity, always, but numbers make things easier for our judges, so share, share, share with friends, family, and connections. #ProseChallenge #getlit #itslit
Profile avatar image for eamarwen
eamarwen

People-watching

I see a woman walking down the street. 

She proudly states that she is turning twenty-five for the forth time in May. She gets a steady paycheck every month from a job she's too qualified for and has no one to spend it on but herself. 

She drinks wine she believes is fancy because it costs more than the crap she drank as a teenager. She drinks it with her girlfriends talking about getting married, having kids someday and how the world turns little pink baby girls and little blue baby boys against each other and about dirty jokes told by old men at the office. They laugh. 

As they go out onto her balcony, each person sucking on a cigarette, they praise each other for not ever using any drugs. They have another sip of wine. 

Her apartment is far from the screeching sound of cop cars and glass breaking during drunken brawls yet she believes that the street violence is increasing. She learns about it from biased articles on her phone at lunch and one time she saw a brown kid in a hood walking down HER street. It's getting out of hand. She does not get the promotion because they need someone who is dependable. She might want to start a family soon. 

I know nothing about her.