Write 4 Ten: FRAME

Its been a while since I participated in Write 4 Ten, but seeing as I am putting off doing everything else, I figured why not?

Here it is, let me know what you think if you have time :)

Her legs ached. She had been traipsing around the antiques market for several hours and found nothing that made her skin tingle. A couple of times she had glimpsed something from the corner of her eye, dashed over to it with the fervour of a possessed woman, only to discover that it wasn’t what she thought it was.

She was about to give up hope of ever finding anything. Her brother had told her that her flat was shabby chic – meaning he thought it was a dump – and casually thrown into conversation that a few quality antique pieces would improve the ‘feel’ of the place tenfold. For as long as she could remember she had always wanted to impress him, and every time she tried had fallen on her face in the process, he had given her that look of sheer pity and she thought that maybe even a little disappointment. She hated to disappoint anyone and made a decision there and then to find some antiques to spruce the place up. A colleague had told her about the antique fair and assured her that you could get some bargains, and so she had come, and wasn’t prepared to go home without anything.

Having been roaming around for so long she resigned herself to the fact that she would be going home empty handed but consoled herself by saying she would come back. She headed for the exit. It seemed to be a popular time to leave as the crowd bottlenecked at the aisle to the door. The woman in front of her had a baby in a pushchair and she looked at the infant enviously, what she wouldn’t give to sit down for a while, and as if the child could read her mind she threw her stuffed bear onto the floor and began screaming. She bent down to pick up the bear to hand back to the baby and as she did so she saw on the stall next to her the most beautiful frame. She moved closer for a better look and mentally noted that the stall owner was packing up to go home which meant she might be able to get a real bargain.

The frame was large and would be awkward to carry but she couldn’t take her eyes off it, it was gilt edged with a beautiful swirling design, it was sturdy and not only thick but had depth to it, the light in the market danced off of every curve and bump and seemed to be performing a light show just for her, it screamed ‘look at me aren’t I beautiful’ and she hadn’t seen anything like it before. She asked the owner how much and the price seemed low, surely they must be joking with her, this frame was a work of art. The picture inside it not so much. She wasn’t going to bargain in case they changed their minds and realised that they were underselling it, and she had a tight budget too so she paid them, and struggled a little carrying it out to the taxi rank.

That night when she was at home she stood in front of her purchase and admired it on her wall. She had removed the awful painting and left it empty. It had at first seemed silly but hadn’t she been to a gallery opening last year when they had done pretty much the same thing? It was almost the size of the wall in her living room; it dominated every square inch and literally brought the place to life as a warm glow seemed to emanate from it. If she didn’t know any better she would think it was enchanted but as her life wasn’t a Disney film she would settle on it being perfect. As she stepped closer to it she felt her skin tingle.