Settling...

The heater clicked on and she heard the familiar pings and pops from the warm air coursing through the vents. The warmth expanding the joints, filling the walls. She knew that later on when the heat turned off she would hear the clicks and creaks of the house settling back into itself. The cold contracting everything again.

When she was a child the noises had scared her. Her mother telling her that the house was settling did not make her feel any better. What was it settling for? Was it waiting to fall on them or suck them into a ghostly vortex but was settling for waiting? When her father explained to her that settling could also mean a sort of relaxing she felt better. Comforted.

She imagined her house settling into its own foundations. Solid. Firm. A kind of settling she liked the idea of. 

Not the settling of a mediocre existence. 

Where your job was just okay. 

Your boyfriend was fine. 

Everything was...

Well everything was. 

She sighed.

She was not one to settle.

Not for long. 

She had in the past, of course, everyone does sometimes.

But she didn't dwell.

If she realized that a job wasn't really challenging her she moved on to a new position. 

If she found a relationship wasn't fulfilling she said her goodbyes and found a new one. 

She just refused to settle. 

Except into herself. Into her own foundations. The familiar comfort.

The good kind of settling. 

She took a deep breath and listened to her house creak. Felt the warmth from the heater. Thought about settling. And how she wouldn't. And why that meant her cheating bastard of a boyfriend had to die.

She refused to settle.