Write a story in exactly 100 words: the challenge thread

[ShadowPilot]

The 100 word constraint is one of the most useful creative exercises I know. Long enough to establish character or situation, short enough that every word is load-bearing. The edit process for getting to exactly 100 is often where the actual writing happens.

Theme this month: a threshold. Literal or metaphorical, that is up to you. A door, a decision, a moment before something changes. Do not explain the threshold, show us standing at it.

Post your entry in the replies. Count twice before posting. No prizes, no judges, just the exercise and the reading.

[Kieron78]

She had written the email. The cursor hovered. Outside, a bus passed, and then the street was quiet again. The timestamp in the corner ticked to 11:59. She had given herself midnight as the deadline, which now seemed arbitrary. Most deadlines are. She closed the laptop. Made tea. Opened it again. The email was still there, still unsent. She read it once more, looking for the wrong word. Found three. Fixed them. Found two more. Fixed those. At 12:17 she sent it. At 12:18 she felt nothing, which was not what she had expected. At 12:19 she went to bed.