Mid-Week Tease: Putting one foot in front of the other. #MWTease
Hey, it’s the Mid-Week Tease!
It’s Wednesday again and my teasing friends and I have a new set of teases for you.
I’m sticking with my current project. Revisions are progressing and I’m excited about the new tweaks, layers and scenes. 
This scene is one of the originals. It happens fairly early in the story and it depicts the some of Michelle’s internal struggle and challenges. Here she’s leaving the bar where she’s been commissioned to paint a mural. Not realizing it had started raining, she’s forced to walk back to her apartment instead of riding her bike. She refuses to take mass transit because she feels trapped on crowded subways and busses. It’s a feeling we’ve probably all had once in a while but for Michelle it’s magnified because of an event that happened in her past.
Michelle pushed open the door with more force than she intended and winced when it smacked into the outside brick wall. She pressed the button and shook the umbrella as it expanded, providing the needed shield for the soaking rain. Tucking her bag tightly under her arm, she grasped the mace container like it was her lifeline. Averting her eyes to the sidewalk, she dodged puddles as she began her long walk home. If she picked up her speed, she just might make it before dark set over the city. One reason she loved living in New York is it never got really dark. It was the pitch dark that seeped into her head late at night coaxing feelings of terror and helplessness. Just like her studio apartment, there was always a light on in the city. However, the absence of true darkness never gave her a false sense of security. It just helped her feel a little less vulnerable.
She shook her head to rid thoughts of insecurity. She had a long walk ahead of her and couldn’t afford to freak out just because of a little rain. Mentally counting the precious folded bills and few coins squirreled away in the pocket of her handbag, she determined she had enough for cab fare. She’d just need to live on ramen noodles for the next week and a half. Not that she’d be able to summon a cab anyway. It was next to impossible to find a free cab in the rain, and Michelle’s slight frame didn’t help much. She scanned the street at the yellow cabs zooming by, spraying dirty rain water everywhere.
No, cabs were probably not an option. Put one foot in front of the other. Somehow the song from the old Christmas special played through her head during times like that exact one. It propelled her ahead, putting distance in front of where she’d been and got her closer to where she was headed. Raindrops played an eerie staccato on the panels of her umbrella as she focused on her footing along the slick sidewalk. Each step bringing her closer to the only place she felt relatively safe. Gripping the mace canister in her left hand, her heartbeat matched the rhythm of her footfalls.
“Hey! Hey!” A deep voice called over the whoosh of the cabs.
Michelle kicked up her walk to a jog, her heartbeat thumping in her throat. Don’t look. Just keep walking.
“Wait up! Michelle!”
She froze at the sound of her name. Fumbling with the mace cylinder, it slipped form her hands and landed with a “kerplunk” followed by a quick roll over the curb and into the street. “Shit.” She scooted to the edge of the sidewalk and squinted through the driving rain. The metal cylinder, her only defense, was nowhere to be seen.
“Hold on!” The voice came closer.
I hope you enjoyed this peek into my manuscript. It’s a special project to me in many ways and I hope to do the story justice. Please visit my teasing comrades! Comments are not necessary but certainly appreciated. Have a wonderful rest of your week!
If you’d like to join the 2/19 tease, sign up here:
