October 23, 2007 9:19 AM BST
Here is my story "The lost man".
LauraThe lost man by Laura
I was actually quite a happy man, happy with my life in general, everything run well with my wife Sue, I loved our three daughters and our dog. We lived a normal American middle class life in our suburban home in a good neighbourhood. I worked downtown as a lawyer and Sue was a teacher in the neighbourhood high school. I could not imagine that one day this all would be gone. Still less I could imagine the way it would be lost forever.
That tragical morning I left for my job as usual, gave my wife and kids a goodbye kiss and took the bus and the tram downtown. I left the car for Sue, because her working times were more scattered and she did the daily shopping. At the office there was a very difficult case I was working with and it made me stay in the office until quite late at night. At nine I finally closed the door and headed to the tram stop. It was suddenly very dark and I looked up in the sky. Heavy black clouds coming up from the south. I run faster as the first raindrops fell down. Luckily my tram came around the street corner and I jumped in. The wagon was practically empty, only one other traveller, a black girl. I sat down behind her and opened the newspaper. Then a sudden bright light….and that is the last thing I remember.
I woke up in the ambulance. The nurse said to me that a lightning had hit the waggon and I had passed out for a while. And that I had some burned skin on my arms. One thing stroke me: the nurse said madam to me. This must be a nightmare, it cannot be true. "What did you say?" I asked and it was not my voice…..rather a girls voice. "You have some burns and we must check you in the hospital". repeated the nurse. My brain worked hard, what had happened? The lightning must have changed my person into that black girl and vice versa. I must meet that girl, who is now me and get us changed back. "Was there also a man in the tram?" I asked. "Yes, there was, but he had no bad injury, so we let him go home." "Oh my God, I gasped". She….or he is now going home, my home. Oh NO.
In the hospital I was checked, my injury was packed nicely and they gave me "my" purse.
Now I had to look who I was now and where I lived. It is no use to say anything here, nobody would believe me, a black girl stroke by a lightning. I found the driving license for Amelie Loft, 5025 Bellamy drive, Stockton. There was also a car key, but I had no idea where the car could have been parked, so I said byebye to the hospital and took the straight bus to Stockton. It was on the east side of the railway track, not directly a nice neighbourhood. It was a dark late night when I finally stepped out of the bus outside 5020 Bellamy drive. A gloomy area, small dirty houses, old rusty cars. I walked a few hundred yards until the house 5025. It was a wooden small house, sometimes having been yellow. The porch and steps half-rotten. I looked into my handbag, there was the key, I opened the door…and faced a fat and furious man looking at me with rage and murmuring: "Where have you been, you slut? Was it again Jimmy-boy? Answer me!". I gasped there had been an accident and showed him my burned arms. "You don´t fool me!" he shouted and grabbed my burned arm and pulled me across the room. Oh, I don´t want to remember what then happened, it was like a continuous nightmare. I got hits until he got what he wanted.
I must get out of here turned around in my head as I was looking for my cloths in the dark, the man snoarching next to me. I shivered, not from the cold, but from fear and disgust.
I got to get to my own neighbourhood, to my house and get my life back. This is hell.
The night was nearly gone when I got back to the empty street. I tried my car key to the rusty Chevy on the street side and the door opened. Still trembling I drove out and headed to the west side of the city. The streets were totally empty, nobody around, yet it took me nearly an hour until I reached my old street and house. Now I had to think what to do.
The best would be probably to stop "me" when he is leaving for job. So I sat and waited until I saw my old home door open and "me" coming out. I jumped out of the car and yielled: "Hey mister, a minute". He looked at me angrily: "What do you want?". I said: "I think something happened to us in the tram last night." "I don´t know what you´re talking about". he said and continued: "If you don´t leave me in peace I´ll call the police." "So, you´ve got a nice life now and don´t wanna change back?" I gasped. "Sorry" he said "You must leave now madam, or…".
After he left I rang the door bell, Sue opened, tears came into my eyes. "Sue don´t you recognize me?" I was desperate. "No…" Sue said "Sorry, no…you must have been mistaken". "I can tell you what you said yesterday about the kids". I tried. Sue turned red and said: " Okay, now I know where my husband was so late last night". She slammed the door, I rang again and again the door bell…until cops came and took me away.
At the police department I was locked into a jail with two other women who looked like…well, you can imagine. "Miss Loft, you understand that you will sit a while here and get a fine for trespassing on a private property". The two women gave me a broad smile: " Somebody didn´pay, so you went there for your money". "No" I said "Nothing like that, but you would never believe me."
Tears bursted in my eyes, my life is in ruins. I live in hell with a violent man and there is no hope for a change. Nobody would ever believe me or help me. I need a new thunderstorm, but as we know a lightning never strikes twice.
October 24, 2007 11:52 AM BST
Please start a new thread for each story. If you enter part 2 of a story that would go in the same thread as part 1.
October 26, 2007 12:34 PM BST
I have to keep posting in this to keep it in everyones eyes.
I hope at least some of you are coming up with something to enter.
Stories can be fun & goofy or a bit more than that.
November 1, 2007 11:42 AM GMT
What with Christmas coming up I'm sure we all have something we wish would happen.
Write it down & enter it in our contest.
November 23, 2007 3:20 PM GMT
I wrote one & was doing some last minut editing when I some how lost it. Now have to start over.
I'm beginning to wonder if anyone is going to submit a story. It's been a month allready & all I have is sarah's.
I wanted to have this by the next Tribune. But not sure now.