No 'because' needed, 1,965 words

 I'm joining Sam on this summer's noveling adventure! No idea why or how or what the hell is going on. Because yeah, in my free time I'm writing another novel, and how this fits in to that... just don't even ask me what my plans are. So far I have a character named Fenn, who moved into a cottage in the woods after a bad breakup. 

I have a tendency to invent characters that are always alone, and then I have no way to invent any kind of dramatic conflict. So I've got to figure out why this weird cottage in the woods needs a caretaker, and bring some other people and/or animals into the story. 

Here is an excerpt.

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It will be easier in a cottage in the woods, thought Fenn, away from the bar where they had met, away from the bridge where they used to meet so they could walk home together, away from the bakery with their Sunday morning croissants (the croissants Fenn ate alone, in the square in front of Glyn’s apartment, while Glyn was sleeping inside, because Glyn needed their space and wouldn’t ever let Fenn spend the night, so Fenn spent Sunday mornings outside Glyn’s apartment, which Glyn never knew, meaning, you already know something about Fenn that Glynn didn’t), away from the stupid job.

One night, not long after the breakup, Fenn had dreamed they were in a post-apocalyptic world, fighting other people for basic resources, for survival, and they were hiding out in a thatched-roof cottage in the woods, the kind they only have in tiny villages in England. And I know this sounds like a nightmare but when Fenn woke up from the dream they felt warm, they felt blessed, they felt excited. Encouraged. In the dream, there was something worth fighting for. Friends. Life.

Fenn had lain awake for a while after the dream, wishing for sleep so they could go back to the cottage, but when sleep wouldn’t come, they went into the darkened living room and woke up the computer. The dream’s golden glow was immediately dampened but Fenn didn’t notice, all numbed out on the internet rabbit hole numbing drugs.

And that’s when they had stumbled across an ad for the cottage. The same one from their dream. An hour away by car. Caretaker needed. 

No ‘because’ needed. When you dream about an imaginary place and then find the place the next day, you obviously have to go. Fenn applied for the job and then stayed up all night, drinking coffee, refreshing their email, and watching YouTube videos on what exactly a caretaker does, just in case.