Prompt: 084. invitation
1. The invitation was waiting in the mailbox.
A. The invitation was waiting in the mailbox. It was a deceptively innocent white greeting card envelope with the addresses written on the front in a flowing black script that took her memories straight back in time to Before.
“What’s wrong?” His hand came to rest on her shoulder as he peered at the invitation she held. “You got some bad mail?”
“The worst,” she said hoarsely. Her throat felt tight and dry. “It’s an invitation. It’s time for the Reunion. I knew this day would come, I just didn’t think it would be so soon.”
2. They’d told him he had an open invitation to drop by, but he made sure to call first.
A. They’d told him he had an open invitation to drop by, but he made sure to call first. He didn’t want to show up and find out they hadn’t really meant it. Or worse, he didn’t want to show up and find them mid-coitus, their faces passion flushed as they tried to pretend he hadn’t interrupted them.
Sometimes he looked at them together, the two people he loved the best in the world, and he hated them. For being happy. For having each other. For not realizing how they were killing him a bit at a time.
3. The whole afternoon was spent soothing her upset child. It seemed the entire class had received a birthday invitation–except her kid.
A. The whole afternoon was spent soothing her upset child. It seemed the entire class had received a birthday invitation—except her kid. She wasn’t sure who she should be angry at: the spoiled birthday brat or the brat’s parents.
All she knew was that she was angry and had to hide it. Because her kid was counting on her to be an example of a better person—a role she already struggled to perform.
Being nice was always something she had to put extra work into. Given her druthers, she was sour like wine left to vinegar; traces of sweetness and kindness spoiled by bad storage and time.
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