New Beginnings

*This is a short bit of a story I wrote for a word prompt on Inspiration Monday over at the Be Kind Rewrite blog. *

Carolyn opened the door, walked in, and looked around. The walls were bare, but she loved the peaceful pastel blue walls and the natural light shining in through the sheer lace curtains. The curtains had been the only thing she had put in the house yet.

The small rental house was her house. It was an idea taking quite a bit to get used to and still made her a little nervous. She had never lived on her own, which was scary enough. The part that made her the most nervous was the possibility her ex-husband Tom may find out where she lived.

She pushed the thought aside. She knew where thinking like that would wind up. It’s probably why the house was still empty, even though she had owned it for a month already. Yes, finances were an issue, but the fear was the bigger issue holding her back.

She turned around and strode back out to the truck. She grabbed the white wooden rocking chair out of the truck bed and carried it in. Carefully she placed it in the corner and sat down. The chair was one of the only pieces of furniture she had been able to get out of storage without Tom noticing.

The chair held many memories. It was the chair her mother had fixed up for her as a baby shower present years ago. It was the chair she had rocked her daughter in so many times, when she was younger. Her daughter was now a young woman herself. The chair she had always hung onto despite Tom’s urgings to get rid of it.

Now, she was sitting in her chair in her house. It was a strange feeling, but one she could get used to. She and Tom had been married so many years, but she remembered how often Tom would tell her, “This house is my damn house”. She had been wishing for peace for so long, but it never came. She closed her eyes, rocked back, and thought, “This is how it starts”.