Writing Prompt 6: Staircase

Ten Thousand Steps

If you look closely, you can see the shape of a dog in the deep shadow at the bottom of the steps. Look up and the light of the sky contrasts sharply with the graphic line of the handrail that leads you up to the bridge.

What do you think where you look at this picture? Is there a story there?

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In…two…three…out…two…three…

Ellen breathed in through her nose…two...three…and out through her mouth…two…three. The steps seemed higher than usual and her muscles ached with the exertion. The marathon was less than two months away. Richard was going to run with her. They'd been training together for over a year.

In…two…three...out…two…three…

Her phone vibrated in the pocket against her thigh. She stopped at the top of the steps and grappled with it just as the caller hung up.

"Mum," she said to herself.

The screen lit up as the phone vibrated again.

"Mum," she said, switching it to speakerphone. "I'm out at the moment. Training."

"I know you are. I saw you on, what's that thing called...finding your friends?"

Ellen sighed.

"When are you going to stop?"

"Stop what?"

"Punishing yourself. It wasn't your fault." Ellen stepped aside to let a dog walker pass. "Up at five, out running, going up and down those bloody steps. And for what?"

"I'm doing it for charity."

"Since when?"

"Since now." Ellen scratched at a patch of eczema in the crook of her arm. The skin was red, inflamed and weeping. "I have to go," she said.

"Meet me for coffee. Tomorrow at The Winter House. 10 o'clock. My treat."

"Mum," said Ellen, rolling her eyes. "I can't."

"10 o'clock it is. See you then."

The phone went dead. Ellen looked at the screen for a minute, frowning, before sliding it back into the pocket against her thigh.

In…two…three...out…two…three…

In…two…three…out…two…three…

Story first posted March 2020 // Photo: Tanya Clarke - North Vancouver 2019