8:59 pm

Before I start this story, I want to say that this is a nonfiction story. This is based on a true story (mine) and maybe many others! 

April 16th 2021

My thin fingers were shaking in fear. I was trying extra hard to type faster, faster, FASTER! But at the same time, I couldn’t make one mistake. Because if I did, that would take up at least 0.5 seconds to delete and rewrite it. I didn’t have a SECOND to waste! 

April 9th 2021 

Now, now. How did I get there? What is happening? I took off my glasses of the future. I just received this pair of glasses that shows me the future within the week. I had no idea what I was rushing to do. I went to bed, nervous and scared at the same time. 

I was peacefully at my desk the next morning, getting ready to check all my assignments before going to school. I woke up extra early and was feeling very proud. I had some extra time and decided to text some of my friends before I was called down for breakfast. 

School was great and right as I got out of school, I saw an email from Reedsy! I was always excited to see Reedsy's new list of prompts every week. It was my one and only hobby during the week. 

I clicked on the link but it didn’t load up. Maybe because I was near school. I didn’t worry too much about it though. I thought I could check it later tonight, which was not a great idea. At all. 

The rest of the day was chaotic. I wasn’t home until later that evening and once I was home, I had a ton of stuff to do. Chores, looking after my dog, piano, golf, exercising, and so much more little duties. Oh! I forgot about homework! Anyways, the rest of the night was spent very busily. 

April 10th 2021 

That night, I had a dream. I had a dream that I forgot to turn in my Reedsy story for this week! I woke up, feeling so weird and annoyed. What a great way to start the weekend! I decided to ignore it. I made my bed and went through my normal Saturday routine. In the car, my way back home, I checked the Reedsy prompts. I loved one of them and instantly started writing down my different ideas for the topic. 

Right that moment, my mom yelled at me, “Get off your phone!” 

I rolled my eyes but what other choice would I have? 

I made a promise. I will write a rough draft for my story by the end of the day today! Of course I didn’t keep that promise. I have no other excuses for this day. I just wanted a day off of my laptop. I spent the whole day outside, riding my bike and playing with my dog. 

April 11th 2021 

This day, I woke up and put “Reedsy rough draft” as my #1 thing on my to-do list. I made sure to do it this time! The morning and afternoon went by super quickly. It was full of golf practice and catching up with my environmental social media account. The night came and I sat on my desk. Finally! I time for my Reedsy story! I only have 5 days, so I will finish my rough draft today, I thought. I sat down and ringgggg! It was my friends on Discord. They needed help with their assignment. I should’ve said, “No, I am sorry. I have to work on my Reedsy story,” but instead, I said, “sure! What is it?” I made them happy but not myself. I helped them for two hours! I mean, we chatted and complained about school too. Well anyways, it was around 9 pm by the time I was off the call with them. I opened my writing file again and started jotting down ideas when…. Bam ba ra bam ba ra ra. It was a call from my mom. She told me to get ready for bed. I mean, it was school day tomorrow. She was on her way home and I went to go wash and get ready for bed. And that day ended up with me jotting down 7 words. 

April 12th-14th 2021 

The whole week, I was busier than the weekend. I went to school in the morning, golf in the afternoon, and a big project from school at night. My day was packed with endless tasks. On Monday and Tuesday, I was so tired that I forgot about Reedsy. On Wednesday and Thursday, I wrote half of my story outline. It wasn’t enough though. I had two days to write my full story. I was getting anxious now. I decided to write harder tomorrow and went to sleep. 

April 15th 2021 

Today was the day before my Reedsy story was due. I couldn’t  focus in school. I kept making different scenarios for my story in my head. I went to the golf tournament right away after school and I came home around 1. Then I took a little break, did all my regular duties, and did homework. I had 2 days left until my golf tournament which meant I had to practice for a long time today. I started writing my Reedsy story but had to stop after a sentence because I had to go to bed. Why can’t time go a little slower? I wanted to cry at the thought of not being able to turn in my story in time. 

April 16th 2021 

It was D-Day. I didn’t want to go to school. I wanted to write my story all day. Obviously, I couldn’t do that and had to go to school. Today was the day my best friend came over. She stayed until 7 pm. We painted, did homework, and went outside. Once she left, I got started on my story. It was 7:15 pm by the time I started and I had an hour and 44 minutes to submit this story. I wrote on and on and on for an hour straight. My eyes were hurting and I checked the word count. I was at 800 words. It was 8:50 and I had to write at least 200 words in 8 minutes in order to turn it in on time. My thin fingers were shaking in fear. I was trying extra hard to type faster, faster, FASTER! But at the same time, I couldn’t make one mistake. Because if I did, that would take up at least 0.5 seconds to delete and rewrite it. I didn’t have a SECOND to waste! 

8:55…. 890 words

8:57…. 950 words 

8:58…. 1000 words!! 

I finished my story! I hurried to check my word count. It was exactly at 1000 words. My heart was beating so fast and my fingers were shaking. I clicked “turn in” and sparks of confetti filled my screen as I realized I turned my story in time! I leaned back in my chair and read my story over. I was so upset that I couldn’t make my story perfect but I was still happy to experience this kind of a nervous feeling. 

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