Distraction jumped to her feet and Can’t Get in the Zone followed her lead. They paced the room, poking in draws, and flicking through books on the shelves. Great Idea grumped, annoyed that they were once again dominating. Inner Critic rolled her eyes and got up to join them, she was pretty sure Great Idea had floundered again.

‘Ignore them,’ Inspiration urged. She was sat in the corner, surrounded by notebooks, postcards, and magazine clippings. Distraction drifted over to join her; they had a natural chemistry but were a bad influence on each other. Within minutes Inspiration had her phone out and was spiraling down a black hole with Distraction.

Research started to get angsty, she and Inspiration had been going steady lately, but she knew Distraction was a threat to their budding relationship. Rightly threatened she marched across the room, and tapped Diligence on the shoulder, ‘Have you seen what those two are up to?’

‘Again,’ Diligence groaned and hurried to break the pair up. Research smiled smugly and went to sit with Creativity, who was doing a plot puzzle. Research immediately found a missing link.

‘We’ve been here for ages,’ Stuck in the Middle moaned. She felt trapped and she sensed that they were going nowhere, she was anxious.

‘Yeah, I don’t think Productivity is coming back,’ Inner Critic gloated.

The room fell silent, and a creeping sense of panic settled on everyone.

Distraction abandoned Inspiration and started to make the bed. She pulled the covers back and there was Fear of Exposure, curled up in a ball. Fear of Exposure grabbed at the blankets and tried to bury herself again, but Diligence pounced and wrestled her out of her hiding place.

Forced into the open Fear of Exposure scuttled across the room to join Perfectionism. Immediately they set about reworking the rooms latest short story. Inner Critic rushed to join them she had a lot to say about that piece and wanted to make sure her opinions were heard.

Can’t Get in the Zone headed to the record collection, maybe the right music would help. Distraction and Inspiration joined her and before Productivity and Diligence could get a handle on things the tunes were pumping.  

© Juliet Robinson 2024, all rights reserved