Karla’s Sketches
Prompt: Write a story with characters but no pronouns.
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Chris looked anxiously towards the door. “Has Dianne left?”
Karla opened the door and looked out the hallway to see Dianne angrily stomping towards the exit. The red-haired girl nodded.
The quarterback breathed a sigh of relief. “Great. That lady,” the boy said with a painful smile, “has been chasing this dude all day.” With a sigh, Chris overturned a bucket and sat down. “Well, the C&D story is a well-known comedy. But what about Karla’s story? Why is the quiet girl in class hiding away in the janitor closet?”
Karla smiled and held out a worn-looking sketchpad. With a raised eyebrow, Chris took the book and flipped to a random page. A swirl of stars against a dark night sky spilled from the pages, while the outline of a galactic battleship peeked through the corners. Another page showed a ring of fairies dancing in the middle of a forest. Other wondrous images popped out from the humble sketchpad and Chris was awestruck by each hand-drawn scene.
After a while, Karla’s quiet voice filled the small room. “The janitor’s closet is quiet and undisturbed, the best place to imagine possibilities.”
“Amazing. The art is simple amazing.” Chris flipped through the sketchpad one more time. “Really good. Any plans on going big?”
Karla was about to answer when the door opened and an angry woman stared inside. The two immediately got up and moved to the corners of the room.
“CHRIS. OUT. NOW.” Dianne’s voice rang through the hall, filling it with a chill.
“Coming, mom,” came the response. Chris turned to Karla with a shrug and a smile. “Looking forward to seeing more. Keep it up, all right?” With a wave, the teen left.
The girl looked over the two parting figures and watched as the door closed. With trembling fingers, the redhead flipped the sketchpad to the last page and ran a finger over several sketches of the boy who just left.
Karla smiled.
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Image source: deviantart.com/jerrycai/art/Life-Sketching-Classmate-121361806
First written November 28, 2017.
#59