Fictober Prompt No.3 | I've Waited For This

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

I’ve waited for this for so long: my own apartment. 

It took so many months of carefully saving up, of working crazy hours at both my jobs, of sacrificing opportunities that would’ve cost money to have or partake in, opportunities that would’ve delayed this moment...when I walk into my new apartment and see the enormous windows, east and west facing so I get sunlight all day long, the bare walls, the expanse of uncarpeted floor, the doors leading to a small bedroom and a full bathroom, the arch leading to the kitchen.

I set the last of my boxes down and let myself grin wide and manic. 

Finally, finally, I have my own home! A place just for me, that I can decorate how I like, that I can fill with music at whatever volume and of whatever genre I want, where I can stack all my many books on shelves I have yet to put up, where I can cook whenever I want no matter how smelly and leave the dishes for as long as I can stand.
​
Maybe even get a cat. Maybe even get two. 

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to own anything in my life, not even my car, which got me everywhere I needed to go, which gave me freedom and mobility I hadn’t had before and sometimes wondered if I ever would.

Look at me now though: I own this place. It’s mine. And nobody can take it away from me. It's the beginning of a whole new life, and my future is wide open and full of possibility!

That same night, I settle onto my couch, tired but pleased and most of the way unpacked, turn on the news...and find out that the worldwide pandemic we’ve been suffering under for the past three years has evolved its worst strain yet.
​
And now we’ve got a zombie outbreak on our hands.

Just my luck. Guess it's a good thing I love this place then; I won't be able to risk leaving it for a long, long time.

Fictober is an event hosted on tumblr where writers respond to a prompt a day for the whole of October.
You can find the prompt list here.