Becky Bloom has never been sure what she wanted to do with herself. But one day she woke up, and just KNEW the direction she wanted her future to go…. Now, she just has to take that first step to get there. 841 words.

The world of Shadow Oaks is owned by TheStalkerBunny on tumblr. It is a brilliant piece of work and I recommend reading more about it HERE.

Content warning:
mentions of mental illness

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It came to her in a dream.

It had been two years since Becky Bloom had graduated high school and fought with her friends to save the town. And yet, until last month, she hadn’t had a clue what she wanted to do with her life!

There had been discussions about her future. Though after her second stay in Warm Waters Psychiatric Hospital (only a little over a month after coming home from the beach-house with Jareth, she’d dropped and shattered a plate and been so upset about it that she’d laid on the floor and not said a word for four days straight, before her father had called Goodhuman to have her admitted) it was only ever light talk.

Careful talk.

“When you feel up to it” talk.

Becky was grateful she’d been allowed to rest.

She still lived with her parents; spending half her time at home, and the rest of her time either in the woods or staying at Jareth’s house. There was no pressure to move out…. Though she wanted to.

She really, really wanted to.

But she needed a stable income, for that…. And finding a job just seemed so daunting!

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to work— She wanted to be useful! And she wanted to be independent! But nothing ever held her focus for long enough that she’d want to do it as a career.

She loved her hobbies, of course. Her art classes, martial arts, maintaining the woods, helping out at the Historical Society…. But she didn’t want to spoil those things with the stress of responsibility.

She didn’t want to make things she loved so much into something mundane and thoughtless.

Something she did day in, and day out.

Day in, day out.

Day in, day out….

It came to her in a dream.

Becky took the glasses her father had gotten her (enchanted ones, to help with her reading disorder) and placed them carefully on her face.

Then, she pulled out the laptop Adam had built her (he had forced her to accept it, after explaining that if her old one was a person he’d “do it the mercy of smothering it with a pillow!”) and stared at the blank white Word document that she wasn’t sure how to start.

She tapped her nails on its surface rhythmically, before smacking her lips and spinning her chair around.

It had come to her in a dream.

She’d held scissors in her hands.

And smelt the familiar scent of shampooed-bathwater.

Beauty.

Clothes.

Animals.

Everything she loved had swirled into one thought, so clear and concise she wasn’t sure how it hadn’t been obvious before.

It had hit her with a jolt that woke her —that there was something that she never got tired of— and she’d found herself jumping into bed with her parents, exclaiming she’d figured it out— She knew what she wanted to do!

Pet grooming!

But to get into the course she wanted, she needed to write a cover letter….

She’d been so nervous about writing it that she’d put it off— Which was a terrible idea. As now, the deadline for submission was tonight at twelve. And everyone she knew seemed to be asleep already so she couldn’t ask for help with it….

But she had to do this, if she wanted to get in; otherwise she’d have to wait until next term….

A deep breath, and she moved her hands to the keyboard and tried her absolute best to be clear and readable:

“Hello. My name is Rebecca Bloom. I am a level 6 druid. I have a reading disorder, so I’m very sorry for any gramatical errors in this letter.

I am wanting to apply for your animal grooming course.

I am a very good druid who has trained with Shadow Oaks’s Erkling spirit. I can not add a written recomandation from him as he does not know how too read because he is a forest spirit, so I have attached a photo of us together instead.

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He is a very good teacher.

I have a lot of skills as a druid. I have the ability to talk too mimics and some other monstrostity species outside the usual speak with animal range.

I have experence with lots of different animal categorys including monstrostity, exotic, wildlife, undead, and familiar.

Some animals I have experience handling include: mimics, simulacri, deer, ferret, armadillo, opossum, goanna, pigeon, bat, cat, owlbear, and goose. Though I have handled more.

I want to become an animal groomer because animal care and manetenance has always been big part of my life and I am very passionate about it. I do not have a resume but I have an instagram dedecated to my experience with animals and lots of documintation of me helping people in my home town with their familiars and pets and also wild animals.

[link]

I will require acccess to disability services, and must be able too bring my assistance animal to class.

Thank you for your time.

Love, Rebecca Bloom.”

-End-

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