My A-muse-ing Life

Writing Prompt:

Write about a character with an unreliable memory.

Tilly stared up at the building above her. It looked familiar, but she’d forgotten where she was and where she was supposed to go. Glancing down at her watch, the time read 7:40am. It felt like she was supposed to be somewhere, but she wasn’t sure where. Drawing in a deep breath, she let it out slowly and lifted her shoulders up and down. It was then she felt the bag hanging from her arm.

She took the bag down and pulled it open. ‘Purse.’ The word echoed through her brain and she realized that’s what she was looking at. The bag was her purse. Glancing inside of it, she found a long skinny object, with something removable on the end of it. Pulling it out of the purse and turning it over, she found the word ‘pen’ written on it. Her mind couldn’t recall what it was used for, but she had a vague recollection of paper and writing something down.

Writing. Perhaps that what she was supposed to do. No, that didn’t feel quite right, but the word was very familiar to her. She stared up at the building again, and looked around for any signs. One read “Trembly Daily News.” So this was a news place. She remembered what the news was. They reported on daily events and things that happened in their area. Reported. But who reported?

Glancing into the purse again, she pulled out a card with a photo on it. It looked familiar and the name under the photo read “Tilly Jenkins.” ‘Tilly.’ That was her name. She glanced at her reflection in one of the lower windows, then looked back at the card. Yes, this was her card. The line below her name read “Trembly News Editor.”

So she was an editor. It came back to her suddenly, what she did and why she was standing in front of the building. It was her job to edit the news reports every day. An auto accident had led to her forgetting things easily, but it all came back to her for a moment. She loved her job, and her life was good. Smiling, she took a few more steps into the building and walked inside. She’d finally remembered why she was there. It was time to start the workday.