She stepped out of her front door into the cool air. The door slammed behind her, as it always did, yet today it made her jump. The evening before, she laid in bed discussing the state of the world and how she wished she could just stay inside with her cat and her space heater. Yet, here she was, out in the real world again, heading to school. She walked down the long, straight path to the subway, and decided to stop in to get coffee at the local café. It wasn’t so much that she wanted coffee, but more that she hoped to use it as a warm up for the rest of the social situations that the day was certainly to bring. Disappointingly, her favorite barista wasn’t there, and the blonde girl behind the counter never had anything interesting to say. They exchanged the usual pleasantries, and she went on her way. She continued on the walk through the cold, windy air. Why did she even get this coffee? It tasted bitter, and she was already awake enough. After weighing the guilt of wasting her money, she decided to throw the coffee out. As she turned to the nearest trashcan, she ran face first into a hipster guy with a long beard. “Oh my god, I’m sorry.” Her face flushed and she recalled more and more of the reasons she had dreaded leaving her apartment. She put her headphones in and turned up her favorite playlist of only Sia songs. It took her back to the fall where she travelled all the way to Toronto just to see her favorite artist sing her favorite music. Sia had been there for her in all of the different times she needed it, and today was no different. Feeling a bit more optimistic, she walked down into the subway and made her way to the Manhattan-bound L train platform. The train rushed in nearly immediately. Since moving to the city, she had always loved the way it felt when a train flew past. It was a little bit dangerous, a little bit loud, a little bit exhilarating. She got on the overcrowded train and took a deep breath. She had always hated crowds, and every morning felt like a calculated risk, one she had to get through. Luckily, her trip from the Morgan Avenue stop to the 3rd Avenue stop was fairly short. 15 minutes later, she emancipated herself from the crowd and exited the hot, sticky train, entering, yet again, the cool and crisp air. She recalled the days in which she lived in a town where everyone was far apart and she drove on her own through giant highways to get where she needed to go. Sometimes she questioned why she moved where she was so often uncomfortable, but, in reality, she relished the moments she was able to feel awkward and nervous. To her, they were chances to grow. She headed up another long and straight path from 14th Street all the way to 24th Street, still blasting Sia through her headphones. She arrived at school, and after all of this, felt at least a little more confident about the choice to leave her apartment that morning.
(Sorry this was so long, I had a lot of fun writing it!)