Anxiety (Photo credit: Joana Roja - working long hours, mostly away)The second exercise for Anxiety in Creating Character Emotions was quite fun. We had to write a 1-2 page scene in which a character is in danger, without using any dialogue. I don't know if I managed to capture enough anxiety in it, but I had fun.Anxiety #2
Shhh Thump Thump. Shhh Thump Thump. Maria was running on a treadmill. It was late and she had only a few minutes left before she was done. She increased the speed on the machine. Shh Thump Thump. Sh Thump Thump. Thump Thump. Her heart rate increased as she pushed herself to run faster. Sweat dripped down her head. Maria counted down the seconds until she could begin her cool down.
Maria tried to catch her breath as she walked. She could feel slight tremors through her body, which let her know that she had pushed herself a little too hard. Maria sprayed the treadmill down and wiped it off. She looked around and noticed that she was the only one left in the room. She collected her things as she did she looked into the weight room. It was dark and empty.
Shhh Thump Thump Shhh. Maria turned and looked at the treadmills. They were empty and still. She hurried out of the room. There was no one at the desk. The lights were out. Thankfully, Maria could see her way out thanks to the pale light from the outside lights shining through the glass doors. She tried to open the doors, but they were locked.
Shh Thump Thump Shh. Maria almost called out, but something stopped her. Her heart quickened. There was something else in the building. Surely, someone else was in the building. They wouldn’t have just locked her in. Maria knew that there was another door out. It led to the employee parking lot.
Shh Thump Shh. Maria hurried through the lobby. The way out was down a dark narrow corridor. She felt around for the light switch. If she remembered correctly there were two light switches, one at each end. She switched on the light. It flickered to life and she felt relief. Just having that light made her feel better. She walked down the corridor, feeling a little silly. That noise was probably just some machine in the building that someone forgot to switch off. The clerk was probably in such a rush, that they didn’t want to wait on her.
Thump Thump Shh. The lights went out. Maria froze for just a second. Then she ran. She hit the door hard and tried to open it. The door was jammed, it was an emergency door, and it should open. She desperately felt around the cool cement wall for the light switch. The walls felt almost wet. She hoped that it was just the sweat on her hands, but it was sticky. Maria felt her lungs go into overtime. She tried to call out, but she could only croak.
Shhhh.
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