ADD09-Final Round: The Sidewalk Ended Yesterday (620 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.68 on 29 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Offspring (View user info) at 2009-02-03 08:26:32 EST
ADD09: The Sidewalk Ended Yesterday
Shannon had no idea how long she'd been walking down this trail. In reality, it had only been a couple of days, yet it felt like weeks with the backpack full of gear slung across her shoulders. The abandoned logging road was overgrown with shrubs and evergreen saplings and wound deep into the Canadian wilderness. She was most likely lost, but that was her intention when she started this trek.
Living in Vancouver her whole life had taught her much about living in the city, but she never felt truly at home there. Like a stranger in a foreign land, Shannon's hometown always seemed alien to her. After the accident, her relentless inner voice screamed at her to leave that which she knew so well.
Her father had told her stories about the Northwest Territory and his adventures there as a boy. She was enraptured with his every word, watching the fires of excitement burn in his eyes. Before his death three years ago, they went on camping trips there twice every year. He taught her everything she needed to know about living off the land and taking care of herself. She couldn't remember truly feeling happy since his heart attack. She missed him terribly, but felt like he was right there with her when she was out there.
When David, her boyfriend of two years, lost his job as a military contractor, he spiraled into a deep depression that snapped Shannon out of hers. He became detached from reality and increasingly irritated with life in general. As supportive as she was of him, she still saw all the signs that their relationship was in trouble and doomed to fail.
The verbal abuse started from him early, putting Shannon on constant guard for the next assault. The day it became physical is still blurry to her. She remembered seeing his fist coming and the crushing blow to her cheek, but everything after that seemed surreal and disjointed.
Waking up sprawled under the kitchen table, she pushed the broken chair across the floor and stood up. Shannon remembered getting the knife from the drawer, its blade gleaming in the light coming from above the sink. She walked into the living room where David was sitting in the recliner.
He spoke without looking up as she walked up behind him, "Go clean up that mess."
Shannon couldn't remember anything else until she was dragging his twitching body into the bathroom. She stumbled around the house in a daze, collecting her pack and supplies. Without a single tear, she flipped the light switch off as she looked into the now silent apartment and locked the door behind her.
Even the three hour drive to where she abandoned her car was a blur. She did remember shifting the Ford into neutral and pushing it over the embankment and starting down the old road. Wondering how it came to this was useless, for she knew it would be this way. She was destined to walk this path.
Looking down the path toward an unknown fate, the words her father said to her on their last trip rang through Shannon's head:
"Here, you're truly free. You aren't bound by the laws of men. The sidewalk ended yesterday, sweetheart, and here you make your own path."
WORD COUNT: 549
User Reviews
Submitted by SilvrWolf (user info) at 2009-02-05 21:36:55 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Only slightly better than FALLEN's, by the narrowest of margins.
Submitted by Method (user info) at 2009-02-05 12:26:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
grapes
Submitted by billrhine (user info) at 2009-02-03 23:28:43 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
This looks like something I've seen before today. I'll sort it out eventually and get back to you.
Also, Stephen King you ain't.
Submitted by kaos-king (user info) at 2009-02-03 21:28:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by YourNameHere (user info) at 2009-02-03 16:07:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2009-02-03 14:16:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
its ok, im here!
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 14:04:56 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Cool!
I got a new haircut at the weekend, I'm glad someone's going to get to enjoy it!
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-02-03 14:03:42 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
ME TOO!
OK. lets bump uglies ya faux scottish man beast.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 13:55:05 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Aye, howay berg, I've been sitting here, desperately pressing 'Refresh' waiting for an offer.
Fucking tease.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-02-03 13:54:11 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
We can't hump O - I don't want to catch gay.
THANKS FOR CONTINUING TO VALIDATE MY EXISTENCE, tho.
XOxo
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2009-02-03 13:48:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
will you two just quit flirting and fuck already?
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 13:44:30 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Thank GOD the internet is around to give rob_berg's LIFE SOME MEANING!!! It's so refreshing to see even the biggest spackers getting a forum.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2009-02-03 13:31:07 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thank GOD people are around to make these internet ratings MEAN SOMETHING. It's so refreshing to see so much caring.
HOORAY FOR HURT BY THE SUN, people.
HOOR-FUCKIN'-RAY.
ps - I didn't read this.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 12:25:15 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by rubbermaid (user info) at 2009-02-03 17:23:31 GMT (#)
Ranking: 2
IN general I tend to honestly rate during contests...unless Fey is participating.
Do you want to fuck since I CAN'T get pregnant and you are a eunuch which means you CAN'T get me pregnant :)
I'll even let you top.
==========
Hahahahaha, good to know that people still hate that cunt.
And yeah, I'm a little tense, a good bumming session would sort me out, you can be the big spoon after?
Submitted by rubbermaid (user info) at 2009-02-03 12:23:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
IN general I tend to honestly rate during contests...unless Fey is participating.
Do you want to fuck since I CAN'T get pregnant and you are a eunuch which means you CAN'T get me pregnant :)
I'll even let you top.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 12:20:31 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
Submitted by rubbermaid (user info) at 2009-02-03 17:16:12 GMT (#)
Ranking: 2
I think hurty found a lump in his sack.
======
I'm a eunuch, I don't even have a sack.
And when did Uber become a fucking love-in?
Submitted by rubbermaid (user info) at 2009-02-03 12:16:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I think hurty found a lump in his sack.
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2009-02-03 11:53:14 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
So I know I'm not really around enough to be allowed to moan about this site, but what the fuck is this about:
"Eh, I'm not blown away by this or anything, but it's alright."
Why take the time to write something like that and then give a +2? Fucking weird.
Submitted by inion_de_trua (user info) at 2009-02-03 11:48:27 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by FALLEN (user info) at 2009-02-03 11:07:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I am so fucked!
Submitted by EmissionImpossible (user info) at 2009-02-03 10:30:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
There has been superb writing in this competition, however as soon as I was unceremonously CHEATED. It never recovered.
im sorry people.
Submitted by Doodles (user info) at 2009-02-03 10:24:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This contest is in shambles.
Still good, though
Submitted by scourge (user info) at 2009-02-03 10:19:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by monkeyswithguns (user info) at 2009-02-03 09:56:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by F.J.Bell (user info) at 2009-02-03 09:39:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Eh, I'm not blown away by this or anything, but it's alright. I think it would be a lot better if it were longer but I understand there are word count limits and stuff.
Submitted by TheGoat (user info) at 2009-02-03 09:34:12 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Yup, very good.
Submitted by orphelia (user info) at 2009-02-03 09:17:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i love FALLEN to PIECES but this is awesome.
i put my awesome lable on it.
good luck
Submitted by sage104 (user info) at 2009-02-03 09:14:15 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by skrapmetal (user info) at 2009-02-03 08:37:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well done.