How To Write A Short Story: Susan Mallard's Seattle Home

Rain had begun to fall again. Thick drops of water fell slowly and then all at once, hitting the tin roof of Susan Mallard's Seattle home. Once again, she was sitting in her armchair reading whatever book she had plucked from her shelf without looking, turning the pages absently as the rain poured harder around her. Despite, this being a nightly routine, she never actually read the books, she would sit for hours looking at what might as well have been empty pages. Written words contained no essence for her anymore, she had pondered over them for years and had bled them dry of any meaning they had. Presently, they were only empty carapaces, open outlets for Susan to exist inside her own head. Consequently, this was always difficult on nights

like these, the sound of the rain took her out of her thoughts and pulled her back into her unassuming studio apartment.
The living space was peculiar place, small and dark with few windows, the space was clean, not a single element was out of place in the entire apartment. The cold tile was swept and mopped daily and the tables and counters were dusted and scrubbed until she saw the reflection of her pale face in them. Even with all this work, the apartment was cold, there was no warmth or life within it, the walls were coated in muted colors, no photographs or personal trinkets were anywhere to be found, and then, of course, there was Susan herself. There appear to be people in the world who can light up a room with just their presence, Susan is not one of them; Her alien way of blending into her environment, makes her unique, not adding anything or taking anything away. She just exists, leaving no footprint or evidence to prove it to be the truth.
A fire crackled in her fireplace as the rain continued its fierce assault against her roof, still sitting motionless in the armchair was Susan; book still in her hands and a cup of Chai tea at her side. Suddenly, a loud crash splits across the sky and Susan is jolted back into reality once more. Being already very tired, she decides it is best if she just accepted defeat and went to bed. Her arms shook as she pushed herself slowly from the chair and walked to the small bookshelf next to the fire. As she walked she looked at the title of the book, The Singularity is Near, by Ray Kurzweil.
“Hmm,” she said.
“I did not realize I even owned a copy of this.”
Susan pushed away the thought of it, placed the book back on the shelf and walked to the small bed in the corner of the back room and laid down. Her sky-blue eyes stared blankly at the sickly gray ceiling. Thoughts about the book title crept into her mind. What was the meaning of the title? Did it even have a meaning? Were there secrets hidden in the meaningless words? Ordinarily, sleep never came easily for Susan, she would lay there for hours, listening to the rain until it finally pulled her into dreamless unconsciousness.
Susan returned from sleep to the sounds of morning. Keeping her eyes closed, she listened to the world waking up, birds chirped in the trees and the cars rushed down the busy street outside. At this point she decided to get out of bed. Once she was out of her bed, she accordingly pulled on a pair of jeans and a blouse from her small closet and walked down her front steps into the brisk air. Water cascaded down the sidewalk and the parked cars glittered with crystal drops. The aftermath of the rain was always the best part for Susan, everything was fresh and crisp, even the people seemed to sparkle with water on mornings like these. Around the corner, Susan saw her destination, the local coffee shop, it was small, but always very welcoming for loners like her. Moreover, the shop was filled with the aroma of crushed beans and cigarette smoke, patrons chattered quietly as the Batista spooned dollops of white cream onto full cups of rich coffee. Susan crept around the customers over to a small table in the corner with a single protruding straight-back chair. This spot was her own little hideaway, a place where she could sit in public and not draw any attention. Across the way, another table was set up. This table longer, and had two chairs facing each other. In those two chairs sat a young man and a young woman. Clearly, the two were deeply in love, the man was holding the woman's hand in his and she was looking at him with sparkling, hopeful eyes. There was something otherworldly about them, they seemed to radiate light and energy from the place where their hands met. Susan was instantly entranced by the couple, the simple purity of them made her intrigued, this was something new to her, she had never seen two people interact like this before, no words were spoken between them and yet Susan could tell they were in the middle of a deep conversation. Susan studied them for a long time, coffee had come and gone from her table as the hours passed. She could not help but be fascinated by them, she had never experienced these feelings herself before and she wanted desperately to understand them. The couple spoke in short bursts, quick meaningless sentences that would have no possible meaning for Susan, but she still took in every word. After what seemed like days, the man and woman stood from their seats.
“I think it’s time to leave, Mary,” said the man.
The woman nodded in response to him.
As they began to walk away, Susan began to feel a sense of panic. She could not explain why, not even to herself, but she just knew that she could not let them go. The man and woman approached the door and the panic in Susan grew more intense. She felt her feet begin to move without her consent and before she could stop herself, she was following the couple.
“What are you doing?” asked Susan in her own mind.
“What do you gain from this?”
No answer came to her, she just knew in her heart or maybe, in her soul that she needed to do this.

Staying behind the couple by about ten feet, Susan walked with them, making sure that she would not be perceived as suspicious. Susan and the couple walked on, together, though not all of them realized it. Suddenly they turned and entered the disenfranchised neighborhood, broken glass and chipped paint surrounded them as they walked into a throng of pedestrians. The couple seemed to float through the crowded street, untouched by the garbage and grime that littered the path in front of them. Susan blended right in, no one gave her a second look. The couple, however, drew the attention straight to them. The two seemed to absorb the light around them and making the rest of the world look black and white comparatively. The woman, now identified as Mary, had long chestnut locks and eyes that shone like brilliant emeralds. The man had his arm around her shoulder the whole time, protecting her from the dangers that lurked in the

neighborhood.
Though she didn't want to, she continued to stalk the couple at a distance until they reached the entrance of a gated community.

Susan quickly hid behind a wall as the man turned around and fumbled for his keys.

“Here Jon, I think I have my key” said Mary.

“Thanks honey” Replied the man.

As Mary reached over and handed the key to the man, when she did this. Susan made a new discovery; Mary had an engagement ring.

“This couple is going to be married,” said Susan to herself.

Sadness overcame Susan as she watched the two walk through the gate and lock it behind them, as she watched the two silhouettes enter the darkness and vanish, she finally came back to her senses. Looking up, she saw the sun begin to set in the sky. Had she really wasted the whole day following two people she did not even know?

Susan slowly turned around and began the long walk home. Realizing did not even know where she was. Susan's obsession with these two people that she had completely removed herself from reality. One foot in front of the other, she said to herself, this is how you move forward. Thoughts about her actions began to seep through the cracks in her mind and she began to hear her own voice in her mind.

“Why did you do this Susan?”

“I don't know”

“Did you need something from

them?”
“No”
“Did you want to speak with them? Make friends?”
“I don't think so”
“Then why?”
“I don't know!”
“...Did you want to hurt them, Susan?”
She halted and the voice in her head vanished. The wind whipped her hair around her face as she stood, unblinking, in the fading sunlight
“I don't know…”