Writing Prompt 31: Curling Shadow
Cold Hands, Warm Heart
Or maybe the opposite is true; warm hands, cold heart. This week, explore the opposites within a character. Discover how this makes your character a fully rounded, believable person, someone a reader will care about even if they’re deeply flawed.
Your character could be someone you’ve already created or someone you already know. Is the elderly woman in the apartment above yours grumpy because she’s no longer young or is it because she’s experienced tragedy in her life, a dead child (for example) and she’s lost all joy.
We’re all full of contrasts and can often view the world, and other people, in extremes but sometimes it’s the large bit in the middle that makes us who we are.
As always, you could ignore all of the above and write whatever comes to you from this week’s photograph. The choice is yours. Have fun exploring.
Miss Peterson pulls the brush through Bettina's long hair. The bristles catch in a large matted tangle. Bettina holds her breath. She closes her eyes and pulls her mouth into a silent grimace in preparation.
Several tuts spit out from Miss Peterson's mouth.
"Knots. Knots. Knots. Did you brush your hair AT ALL last night?"
"Miss, please."
Bettina reaches up quickly to hold her hair. Miss Peterson pulls it away as she yanks at the matted hair, tearing at it until the brush runs free.
"There, there," she says in a soft, dangerous way. "No more tears."
Bettina's shoulders lift and fall as tears dribble down her cheeks.
"I SAID. NO. MORE. TEARS."
The words fly out of Miss Peterson's mouth in a rage whipping around Bettina's head, nipping and biting at her face until it bleeds.
"There, there. It's over," says Miss Peterson, her voice returning to gentle danger.
Bettina wipes her face of blood and tears, before wiping her hand again down the front of her pyjamas.
"Breakfast!" says Miss Peterson in a swinging, bright fashion. "Pancakes. Not those awful thick ones. We'll have the thin ones like the French do them. Thin with a crisp edge."
Miss Peterson holds her fingers to her mouth before kissing them. The kiss flies out of her mouth and lands with a loud smack on the kitchen window.
"Bettina. I need eggs. Come on. Your job is to crack the eggs."
Story first posted in December 2020 // Photo: Tanya Clarke 2020
