Day 26 of 365 Days of Writing Prompts: Write a story with a heavy focus on patterns.

Erin: Rachel always does the same thing every day: wakes up, goes to the bathroom, eats a bowl of cereal, washes her face, brushes her teeth, does her makeup, changes her clothing, starts a cup of coffee, makes lunch, puts on shoes, pours coffee into travel mug, leaves house, opens garage, leaves driveway, takes same rout as always to work… only not today.

Today there is construction, and Rachel’s well-oiled machine is derailed. She drives 5 miles per hour faster than normal to get to work. Because she does not know there is a cop that parks on the corner of 5^th and Lombard she is pulled over. Being 34 minutes late to work she runs into the building and straight for the elevator. As she slams the 12 button another tardy employee she has never seen before gets in. His name is Dax.

They say breaking a pattern is detrimental and it is. Dax is the catalyst to removing all regularity from Rachel’s life. After today, she won’t know if she will have her cereal in the morning, because Dax might just want to stay in bed a little longer. She might skip washing her face in order to catch up on the news with him. She might even stop on level two every once in a while, to sneak to the back cubical and surprise mister unpredictable himself.

Shannon: Within a year my hometown had become known as the town of patterns. We were a place in the middle of nowhere, just looking for a little attention to keep ourselves from disappearing.

People colored their fences, they colored their steps, and they even colored patterns on their birdhouses. I wanted to hate every aspect of neighbors choosing to conform just to fit in with the new trend, but when I walked through the town after the changes I realized I was wrong. The regular world was the conformity. This was a rebellion.

The houses were filled with color, and each different personality that lived inside them. Even though we were trying to become some kind of spectacle, the people were changing too. They were talking more, and smiling more. I didn’t understand it right away. I thought they were just outside more, and had more time to talk, but then I came up with a theory. I decided the real cause was due to the fact they were free to be a little crazy. They weren’t hiding their favorite colors and designs anymore. They were displaying them right there on the front porch, because no one could judge them. They were free to be exactly who they were, and it was beautiful.

Write yesterday, write today, write tomorrow, and repeat until physically or mentally impossible.