Going After Your Dream
500 words – Flash Fiction
This is a story from my publication Fiction LaunchPad, which is part of Writer’s Notebook.
I hope you enjoy this story. In case you’re curious, I wrote this in 2 days. I found this writing prompt while reading some ‘stacks.
The writing prompt will be listed in bold within the story. The goal was to write 500 words. Mission accomplished.
Stefanie knew she had to find a part-time job. Her parents had put the hint to her during dinner one night. They told her they weren’t going to help her through college. It took everything Joy and Eric had to be able to pay rent and put food on the table. If their daughter wanted to go to college, she would need to pay her way.
Stefanie talked to her guidance counselor at her high school. Ms. Ronda was always sweet with all the students. She enjoyed her work. She recommended she apply for a job at a local fast food restaurant.
Her first day was anything but easy. They put her through the paces. She wanted to quit after that first day. But then how was she going to pay for college? Sure she could see about grants and financial aid but she knew that wouldn’t cover everything. With financial aid, she would have to pay it back.
Every day for the next two weeks, she would go to work after school. She would work a few hours. When she got home, she would have to do her homework.
But she was exhausted when she came home. Her grades started to suffer. She fell asleep while doing her homework. Her once stellar school grades came tumbling to a halt. She was spending more time sleeping than doing her homework. Her teachers started noticing. They told her that she better figure her life out or she wasn’t going to get into college.
She wanted to go to college away from home. She hoped to get into Notre Dame University. This was a prestigious university and it didn’t accept someone with bad grades.
Her dream in life was to make enough money where she could afford to buy her parents a new house. They lived in cheap rental properties, while trying to make ends meet. Her parents grew up poor. They never had anything to show for all the hard work they did.
Her mother and father loved her dearly and she knew they wished they could afford to send her to college but it just wasn’t in the books.
How could she keep her job and still excel at her school work?
She continued to go to work after school. Once she came home, she would make herself stay awake. She lingered into the night doing her homework. Her parents were concerned about her. They told her to quit the job and concentrate on her homework. But she thought about her dream and how could she give up on it. She wondered if she should tell her parents. What would they think of her?
Her grades continued to decline. She told her parents what was going on. They were so proud of what she wanted to do with her dream. They told her that what she wanted to do could come some day with hard work.
She quit her job.
In the end, it wasn’t as though she didn’t try.
Conclusion
I hope you liked this Flash Fiction story. I always have fun coming up with these stories. I’m working on a lot of new fiction stories, some very short, some in-between, and others very long. Keep the feedback coming and letting me know that you love these.
I’m thinking of getting you involved too. Keep watch for that on a newsletter coming up.
Until next time, happy reading!
-Matt
You’re receiving this newsletter because you originally signed up for Writer’s Notebook. And now that I have 2 more newsletters attached to it, Abstract Art and Fiction LaunchPad. You were signed up for all of them. You can always subscribe and unsubscribe from the ones you want via the Manage subscriptions option on your profile.
That was a good and realistic story. It goes without saying that getting to where you want to be in life, it can be tough. And trying is always a step in the right direction.