The clouds are gray and dull. The winds whip furiously through the trees as they bend in unnatural angles, looking like it might snap any minute. Jenna grips her denim jacket to herself as she walks briskly down to the company's parking lot. Her mind is encompassed in a sheet of fogginess from all the work exterted today, the pressure building gradually. Today is just not her lucky day.
The winds pick up again and blows her hair all over her face, as if reminding her to pick up her pace.
"Ah shit!" She groans. The jacket does nothing to salvage the situation as the cold bites into her skin. "Looks like a storm is brewing."
No sooner does she utter those words, that the sky—as if on cue—opens up, and the gray sheets of rain hurriedly tumbles out in torrents, drenching Jenna and her handbag.
"You couldn't just wait for me to enter my car, huh?" She makes a run for her car. She spots it in the distance—a shiny black Ford. Her fiancé—Joshua, got it for her as a gift for their anniversary. Trust her super rich husband-to-be to dole her with expensive gifts, with the claim that "they would soon be spending the rest of their lives together, and she should envisage it as a pre-wedding gift". She couldn't have asked for a more caring man.
She slips the key into the key slot, and twists. A distinct click resonates and Jenna pulls the door to her direction. Soon she is seated on the black,plush leather seat of the car, squeezing the water out of her hair into a plastic container. She revvs up the engine and slams on the gas pedal.
*
At 7pm the road seems more traffic-congested than usual. Car honks resonates in all directions. She maneuvers her car and slips into a moving line, grinning with satisfaction. The street lights illuminate the streets of Chicago, bringing out the beauty in it.
After spending 20 minutes, in the crawling traffic-jam, the road clears up and she guns the car, speeding along the highway. Soon the road thins out and is a little bumpy and littered with trees as the forest side comes up before her. She loves the peace and quiet that comes with living in the forest, away from the noisy city.She can still hear her mother's voice, loud and distinct voicing her complaints over Jenna's decision. "Jen, why don't you come and live in the city, for the love of God! It's a little dangerous secluding yourself from civilization. What if an emergency pops up? What then?" and then she'd reply, "Mom, you're being overly paranoid. I've got a phone, that can place across calls. If anyone should be worried, it's me not you." Then her mother would be all "Well forgive me for worrying about my only daughter" and that would bring the discussion to an abrupt end. It always ended on a tensed note, with her mother brandishing the caring mother card, and always trying to guilt trip her. I am 32 for God's sake. She thinks with trepidation, her hand gripping the steering till they turn white. Decisions like this should be up to her to make. She's already an adult. A full blown one at that.