She clocked in at 8 am dragging her feet back to her desk, the same desk she’d been sitting at for the past 10 years. The office smelled old, the carpet was dusty, the walls still plain and the ceiling still leaking in the middle, everything just as it has always been. Today felt different though. Her anxiety was higher. The copy machine was louder. The leaky ceiling was dripping faster. Her co workers voices were deeper. She could hear the clock on the wall all the way across the room tick…tick…tick. As she sits in her chair she catches a glimpse of herself in her little desk mirror. The only thought as she stares back at herself is “this can’t be my life”. How could she have stayed here for so long. Unappreciated. Stuck. Lost. Drained. She was in her own mental prison. The day felt even longer than usual. Keyboard clanking away. 4pm. It’s time to go home. “I need to go home” she thinks.

The drive home felt more eerie. The roads were still wet from the immense rain for the last week. The clouds were greyer. The trees still bare from winter. Work may have been over but the day was still young. “This can’t be my life” kept echoing in her head. “I want to live, and love and be free” she thinks. The radio starts playing and it’s Young and beautiful by Lana Del Rey. That seems to distract her until she approaches her driveway…”This can’t be my life…” it’s back. The echo in her head, over and over again. She sees her house but couldn’t be further away from home. One single tear comes rolling down her cheek as she pulls into the driveway, she goes to wipe it away and its like the floodgates opened.

The tears are uncontrollable, her heart is racing, she can feel her body temperature rise as if it was going up in flames. “This can’t be my life” she screams as loud as she can. “I don’t want this anymore, I want so much more, I owe myself so much more” tears flooding her face. “I am so much more than this” the shouts continue. Thunder starts crashing loudly followed by a huge lighting bolt that lights up the whole sky in a purple hue. Rain start pouring down, It gives her a moment of pause as the tears still flow down her cheeks. Another loud crash of thunder that seems to go on for longer than normal sends a quivering chill down her entire body. It actually shook the entire car.

She goes to take her keys out of the ignition and she hears “This is my life and I am in control”. She whispers. “This…is…my…life.” “I…am…in…control” she pauses. A flash of lighting lights up the sky again, the purple hue even brighter than the last one.

The spell broke, and just like that, she could see everything with fresh eyes.