The door in my backyard

[a friend suggested I write a story in the style of reddit’s nosleep and post it there and I thought it was an interesting exercise so here it is. I wrote the How to deal with street cats piece while writing this, so you will notice similar themes] [here’s the nosleep post]

Sometimes we don’t notice things unless we focus on them. You won’t notice the feeling of your clothes’ weight on your body, or the fact that you’re blinking reflexively unless I tell you. Then you cannot stop noticing for a while, and it can become uncomfortable.

I spent three years at a dorm that faced an elementary school’s yard. And on the third year, on Christmas, I noticed they had planted a big pine tree on the garden.

It’s so weird they would splurge on planting such a huge tree for Christmas. Especially when most of the children are home for the holidays, I told my friend.

She laughed at me and explained that the tree had been there since before I moved in. And I had never noticed it was there. For me, it was just an unnoticeable detail of the landscape.

I guess I’m trying to justify the fact that, after I moved to a small town for work, I didn’t notice the small wooden door on my backyard for a year.