This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Elephant's Child over here. This week's prompt is the image below and these words: destined, remarkable, lure, aware, rules.
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She was destined to stay exhausted all her life. There was nothing remarkable about that when you had lived a long life of endless work and lost sleep. The rule to this life was: work until you're exhausted or until death takes you on a long holiday. A few times, she was lured by the flashy photographs of faraway places she saw in books and wanted to retire to some remote place where she would do nothing all day and not worry about not doing enough but those times never lasted.
As she sat on the front porch steps taking a minute break, she pondered how she ended up here. At age ten, she was trained by her mother and then ten years after, she took over her mother's job when her mother died. It had been almost forty years since and yet, people kept calling for her help.
She looked behind her, through the small opening of the doorway, at the body. There was no alarm about such sight and yet, she had ran out the door as soon as possible. Though it was late afternoon on a week day, it was dead quiet as most people were away at work. Around her, the shabby houses seemed to know something had happened but was nonchalant about it. She exhaled and reminded herself this was perfectly normal. Why was her heart still pounding away? She had done this before. Another death, another day. She exhaled again. Then she got up, walked the two blocks to the grocery store, made the call to the police, returned to the house and waited on the steps.
For a while, she sat, enjoying the silence. A cold wind began to drift over her. She pulled her shawl tighter around her. When she looked up, the late afternoon sky had dimmed and night was near to settling down. She was exhausted and yet, the rush of adrenaline was still weaving through her body.
The police's arrival brought noise loud enough to wake the dead. There were some questions she had to answer but in the end, everything was sorted. As she stood on the side, she was aware of the gathering crowd. If they thought she, an old lady with a tired face, was not capable of killing monsters, then that's their business. She did her job and she will be rewarded a small sum for another monster slayed. Everyone in the small town knew what was happening to married men who cheated on their wives but they were helpless to do anything about it. Her father had been the first afflicted and it was her mother who took care of him. Once turned, there was no cure, only death can end it all.
"Mrs. Webb, thank you. If it wasn't for you..." said Mrs. Stone, hurrying toward her. She wiped her eyes with a handkerchief. Hours ago, Mrs. Stone had came to Mrs. Webb's door. Mrs. Webb was cooking lunch but she dropped the vegetable she was slicing, turned off the stove and rushed right over. When she got to Mrs. Stone's house, the monster, hairy like a wolf and twice the size of any man, was throwing furniture about and shouting nonsense. Mrs. Webb simply threw a dagger that was applied with poison at the tip toward the monster's heart. The monster stumbled and then collapsed onto the floor and that was the end.
Mrs. Webb looked up at the woman. She held a hand up. "What's done is done. Don't fret about it." Some days, things worked out just fine, like today. Other days, it took ugly turns but she preferred not to think of that. She gave the woman a small smile. Mrs. Stone had been waiting a few doors down. Her gaze turned toward the door of her house as they carried out what was once her husband. She gave Mrs. Webb a nod and then turned to follow the police. A moment later, the two vehicles raced off silently. The crowd dispersed with a few giving Mrs. Webb one or two glances.
Walking back to her house, Mrs. Webb thought about her actions. She had been swift and only had a minor cut on her arm when the monster swiped at her with his long claws. This slaying had made her realized she was still capable of her job even if she was a bit exhausted afterward. Someday, she would like to retire but not today.
