Prompt First Sentence: Richard loved to surprise her, she was learning…
but she didn’t like surprises. This was going to be a roadblock in their relationship. She wanted to like Richard, but if he kept insisting on jumping out from behind objects and scaring her she would have to stop seeing him. It was triggering her anxiety, and he found it extremely funny to witness her panic. Screw it, she thought. No man is worth all that. He is a jerk who is taking pleasure in her extreme discomfort. Monique thought she was lucky to have it manifest so early, so she could take action now instead of wasting another minute on this loser. She logged on to Facebook, unfriended Richard, and blocked him from contacting her. He deserves to be ghosted, she thought.
Prompt 2: She started taking up a lot of bad habits…
like smoking, eating junk food, and drinking too much, in the months after Andrew died. Her habit of picking up jerks like Richard wasn’t new, Andrew had been the exception that proved the rule. He was the first guy she had been with that was actually good for her, but then he picked her up at the coffee shop, not the other way around. Maybe she should think about seeing a therapist or a grief counselor. A woman therapist, she thought, given her track record of picking bad men.
Prompt 3: an old letter from Amsterdam…
That she was using as a bookmark fell out of “Good Women, Bad Choices” the latest bestselling self-help book she was reading. The letter was from Andrew, the last love letter he sent her before his overdose. She had known when they met that he had a habit, but she thought that he had it under control. After the overdose, he went to a rehab in the states and got clean.
Monique met Andrew downtown fresh off the bus from rehab. He seemed so full of life, and when that mugger had jumped out from behind the dumpster, he bravely stood between Monique and the blade. The mugger lunged forward, trying to push Andrew out of the way. Instead, the knife plunged deep into Andrew’s side.
