The Icelandic Canadian - 01.04.2007, Page 35

Vol. 61 #1
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
33
Short Story
Left Unwritten
by Jennifer Vigfusson
Finally, I had an opportunity for a
quiet evening. My spouse was going out for
the night and my kids were put to bed
early. I smiled as I knew there were going
to be at least a few hours to myself without
interruption. I turned off the phone to
avoid any chance of waking the kids. I
plugged in the kettle to make a cup of my
favourite mango tea. How perfect it was to
have an evening that I had craved; 1 was
going to be by myself in solitude and
silence.
I took my cup of tea and went to my
room where our laptop is located. I turned
on the fireplace. It was welcoming to sit
down to the keyboard and type without
having anyone come in. I had some ideas
that came to me a few days before, but just
hadn’t had the chance to write them down.
This was something different and unlike
anything that I would write about. I’ve
wanted to attempt to create something
eerie, but was a little nervous to try.
Perhaps it was the topic that made me ner-
vous; uncanny phenomenon of the
Interlake. Maybe, but, I wanted to try it
anyway. The unknown and unexpected
could turn into an amazing adventure.
I took a sip of my tea as I heard the
loud crack of the house. It was dangerous-
ly cold outside. It had been that way for
weeks. The month of January was drag-
ging, and I felt in someway that I was slow-
ly going mad and definitely suffering from
cabin fever. Maybe there was an advantage
to being cooped up in the house all month;
maybe it brought out the wild creative side.
This was the moment to tell it to the key-
board. I imagined all the poor keyboards
around the world; they have probably seen
it all and are no strangers to problems or
dysfunction.
The more I typed, the better the ideas
were developing. I was typing faster and
faster; I was on a roll trying to keep up.
Although I was the creator of the story, it
was even starting to scare me. I felt a chilly
draft on the back of my neck. The room
was warm because I still had the fireplace
on. I felt like I was being watched. I turned
to see if one of the kids had woken up. No
one was there. I rose up from my chair to
check in their rooms. Sure enough, both
boys were asleep.
‘It must be the cold weather,’ I
thought, as I returned back to my room.
I sat back down at the laptop trying to
figure out how to continue. Suddenly, a
sound went, “Whomph!” The room was
completely dark and silent. Even the fire-
place went out because it’s electric. The
only source of light I had was from the lap-
top as the battery as still working. The
story was extra bright and it really gave me
the chills because I was then seeing it in
darkness.