Lois Gardner: A Day in the Life

Lois Gardner is a Fantasy/Romance writer whose characters have the strange habit of coming to life. Lois doesn't mind this, but it certainly makes for an interesting existence.

Lois Gardner glanced at the clock for what felt like the twentieth time in the past hour. The atmosphere in the café was becoming almost unbearable for her. The summer air was heavy and her boss couldn't afford air conditioning, reasoning that it was only summer in England for two weeks a year anyway, so why bother? Lois disagreed, but she didn't say anything, Marge was a formidable woman to anyone who didn't see things her way, so she settled for catching Marge's eye every few hours and wiping sweat from her forehead in a suggestive way.

Lois was a petite woman with medium length ginger hair and green eyes. At twenty-one, she had just moved into her new flat just outside central London, and was looking forward to having her very own space. She was planning to decorate it with things that inspired her imagination, as she was a writer. She had been published in magazines a few times in her life and she was now working on a series of Fantasy/Romance novels, which was draining and demanding, but extremely fulfilling. She hadn't gotten very far into the series just yet, she was only halfway through the first book, but the anticipation and excitement she felt while thinking about it was a promising sign that this idea wasn't going away any time soon.

At last, the clock struck six. Lois waved goodbye to Marge and strode out the door, not bothering to put on her cardigan properly.

"Lois!"

She turned to see her friend and co-worker, Lucy, weaving in and out of tables to meet her. Her heart sank, she knew what Lucy was going to ask.

"How long before you get settled into the flat?" Lucy demanded. "I haven't even seen it yet."

Lois shifted from one foot to the other. "It's not that I don't want you seeing it, I do of course, but it's an absolute mess right now and it's quite embarrassing."

"Mm . . . well, don't leave it too long, yeah?" Lucy said, sounding unconvinced.

"Oh, you'll be welcome as soon as I clean up a bit."

And with that, Lois kissed Lucy on the cheek, spun on her heel, and walked home.

 

The apartment was on the third floor of a tall block fifteen minutes walk away from the café. Lois loved the walk to and from it every day, finding London's curious mixture of Victorian and modern buildings charming and never boring to look at. The block of flats itself was sleek and clean, suggesting that anyone living there would be a strict, no nonsense sort of person. The flat itself wasn't a mess, as she had said to Lucy, it was actually tidier than it had been in the advertisement. She sighed, kicked off her shoes and placed them on the rack next to the door. A scuttling noise sounded in the hallway, and her pitbull, Tango, trotted into the room. She bent and scratched his ears and he rolled onto his back, his tongue lolling stupidly. She then did the first thing she always did after getting home from work: she made a cup of tea. It was only after drinking half of it in one gulp did she switch on her computer and begin to write.

 

Ever the gentleman, Nathaniel rode across the vast, grassy moor to the sound of the woman's screaming. He couldn't bear to hear the sound of a person in pain, especially that of a maiden. The voice of Ariadne, the wise Sorceress, echoed in his mind. 'Do not allow yourself to be distracted, young knight, for he who loses focus will never succeed in his goals.'

"To blazes with her!" Nathaniel cried into the cool air of the evening-

 

Lois paused as she sound of someone clearing his throat. She glanced up from her screen and saw a tall, rugged man with dark hair to his shoulders standing there, his arms folded and glaring at the screen. "What drivel is this?" Nathaniel demanded.

Lois sighed and leaned back in her chair. This was a little quirk she'd had since she'd begun writing. All of her characters had the annoying habit of coming to life.

She knew they were somewhat real. They could feed Tango while she was away, and when she was a teenager, if she asked politely enough, she would usually come home to a clean room. Other people, however, could not see them. Her mother would stride into her room while Lois was in conversation and insist she'd only heard one voice. Nevertheless, Lois always worried that one day someone would see them. What would happen after that she didn't know, nor did she care to find out. So she had pushed people away who had tried to get close to her. This made Lois a rather unpopular girl at school. She didn't mind because she was never lonely. She was almost completely sure it wasn't all in her head. After all, Tango was still alive wasn't he? She'd gone away for the weekend not long ago and come home to find almost all his pet food gone and his business on the balcony even though she had locked the door. At the end of the day these people weren't hurting anyone and neither was she, and she didn't think they worth going to the madhouse over.

"Since when would I ignore Ariadne?" Nathaniel demanded. He was the stereotype of any Romance novel. Tall, dark and handsome.

"You're ignoring her this time," Lois said simply. "It's crucial to the plot."

"Who is this maiden?" he asked.

"Ah," she said, "well, it isn't a maiden, it's Hyacinth disguised as a maiden to lure you into a trap. Don't worry, though," she added as his eyes widened, "he isn't going to kill you."

"I told him, did I not?" another dreamy voice drifted from the other side of the room. A woman with greying hair stood next to the mirror, wearing a dress which went out of fashion a couple of years after the Renaissance. She swept across the room and placed a hand on Nathaniel's shoulder. "That Hyacinth is going to be the death of poor Nathaniel."

"As if I would let that happen," snapped Lois, "Nathaniel's my main character!"

"Yes, Ariadne, listen to her, I am the main character . . . you however, could be killed any moment."

"Oh please," Ariadne said, "I am just as important to this adventure as you are," her eyes slid towards Lois, "am I not?"

"You certainly are. Now please can I get back to it?"

Nathaniel bowed, "Of course, of course."

Ariadne waved her hands, gesturing for Lois to continue, and they both disappeared back to their world. 

Lois continued to write into the night. Hyacinth was the main villain of this novel, a wizard whose favourite weapon, other than that of disguise, was a venomous scythe. He was terrifying, powerful and unbelievably nasty; he made Lois feel thankful that her villains never came to life. Why that was, she wasn't sure, she thought it had something to do with her feelings towards her characters. She had never had to deal with the live version of a character she didn't like. She hoped it stayed that way, lest she be ripped apart by a scythe dripping with viper venom. She smiled grimly at the thought. Yes, she was very lucky indeed her villains never came to life.

At eleven o'clock Tango sat beside her, his tongue lolling as usual. She saved the document but didn't switch off the computer as she wasn't finished yet. Instead she patted him, got up and walked around the room to liven up her legs. The apartment was dark and what some might consider eerily silent but she didn't bother to turn on a light or the television, this was how she liked it. She lay on the couch on her back to stretch it. The light from the computer screen dimmed as she closed her eyes. The couch was as good as a bed, and she didn't want to give up and sleep yet. She would just rest her eyes.

She dreamed of a young woman on horseback, holding a bow, pointing the arrow in front of her. Her long, ebony hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail and her dark skin was damp with sweat. The sun beat down upon her, but she didn't flinch or break concentration. There was something tough about her, as if she had been born to be a warrior.

"You dare make a fool of me, heathens!" she roared. "You'll never see the light of another day!" She then turned to glare at Lois. "You! Lois! Lois!"

"Lois!" The woman's voice was not that of the archer, but of Ariadne. She was bent over her, shaking her gently. "My dear, I think it is time for you to sleep."

"I'm not finished," Lois mumbled.

"I think you are," Ariadne said, and helped her to her feet.

Nathaniel switched the light on in her room. "I can wait until tomorrow to continue my adventure," he said.

Lois felt a rush of affection for the both of them. This wasn't the first time this had happened nor would it be the last. Sometimes she didn't know whether she liked having her little quirk or not, but it was moments like these that she thought she was the luckiest woman in the world. Lois Gardner knew she was one of the only people who had this ability, this existence, and in that moment she wouldn't have her life any other way.

Author's Note

You might be miffed by the lack of plot. I am too, it was difficult to write without an end goal. I thought that throwing in a plot would be too much for an approximately 1500 word introduction to a sort of series, especially in this case when we're just getting to know our characters.

Reviews

[Marie]

This didn't need a plot. It was interesting enough meeting the characters, hearing what they had to say.