Shattered
What would happen if through a series of events your life was shattered and things were never the same? This is the story of a young man, Tim Kidwell, and his adventures. Some of the things he learns about his friends and life altogether are not always pleasant and not at all what he had thought they were. This is a short 2 part mystery with humor and surprise that will keep you guessing till the end!
Lies and Goodbyes (Part 1)
By Travis L. Flanagan
My name is Timothy Kidwell and I might as well give you some background on myself. I'm what you might call a great cynic, but then again at the wise old age of 16 I'd like to think there are a lot of us wandering through the desperate and dreary hallways of our nation's high schools.
When I was younger I've been told I was always a rather outgoing, intelligent, and outspoken child, precocious even. Yeah ok whatever. I think it's mandatory for most middle class parents to dote on their children's perceived superhuman abilities. However one thing was true, I was always a very physically gifted young man. I was involved in virtually any sport that I could play and still maintain my classes.
My mother and father, to their credit, were always supportive of these extracurricular sporting interests of mine. Mom I believed thought that it was a healthy activity and made me happy but Dad had something else in mind I think. I overheard him in the basement one night with his drinking buddies when I was playing first year football for the Castles saying, or should I say slurring, "That boy o' mine, he came from my baby gravy and lemme tell you something else! You watch guys; he's gonna be my meal ticket outta here when he gets to college! You watch!"
Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression of my dad or anything. He has worked hard, put food on the table, and has loved me dearly in his own distant way. I get the occasional pat on the head, plenty of "atta boys", and overall we've had some good times together.
Let's talk about girls for a minute. Actually let's make that a second. I seem to like them a lot and want to find one to really get to know and talk too, but seeing as how I'm the starting quarterback most of my interaction with girls goes something like this: "Ohhh Timmy you are so hot", "WOW look at those muscles! Wanna make out?" etc. you get the picture.
Tonight the family and my best friend since we were 6 are going out to a new restaurant. I feel I must now give some history on my best friend Benjamin Ziegler or "Ziggy" for short. Ziggys' mother died in childbirth and his father blamed him for it from the time he first laid eyes on him. Since then his father has been an absentee parent at best. So you might say that Ziggy has always been an extended part of my family. Ziggy is my best friend, confidant, and partner in crime in all our crazy and childish endeavors. Some of my earliest memories involve failed lemonade stands, dressing as girl scouts and trying to sell stolen cookies, panhandling for bogus "charities" dressed as clowns making balloon animals, which incidentally at our skill level resembled either eels or penises depending on your point of view.
You get the picture. However, Ziggy is one hell of a football player. We have played together for as long as I can remember. He's never been a first stringer like me but it never seemed to bother him. I can't recall a single argument, fight, or resentment. He just seemed thrilled that we were able to play together and to be honest I never saw him as my "understudy" in the quarterback role, just one hell of a backup when I got injured or winded. All in all he is the yin to my yang and that's the gist of our long-standing relationship.
I'm sure you have all seen those restaurants that have been about 6 different failed ventures yet every few months some misguided, under funded, dreamer decides to throw his chips into exactly the same place with a new theme. The last place that called it quits roughly 4 months ago has what I think is a great back story. First of all how can you possibly go wrong with a place called "The Trough"! I shit you not my friends. But, alas, it gets better. Naturally you can assume with a name like "The Trough" it's an all you can eat buffet. Having seen any daytime T.V. at all you surely know that we are, as a society, grotesque overweight swine. I will give you a quick rundown of the facts as I know them.
First of all one of the aforementioned swine (and I mean this in the nicest possible way seeing as how this was the same used car salesman that sold me my first used car that lasted all of 3 hours with no warranty) let's call him Todd to protect the innocent. No screw that, in truth it would be impossible to further ruin his reputation. His name was Brock "Overstock" Munoz and these are the facts. My good friend Brock took the "all you can eat" part fairly literally I would have to assume considering he sat down and ate 32 chicken fried steaks! YES you read that right! 32 apparently mouth-watering chicken fried steaks! He then proceeded to hurl the aforementioned breaded meat all over the dining room and buffet table. Needless to say, that rang the death knell for "The Trough". Tonight Dad wanted to try the new place entitled "In The Pink" because he simply could not pass up the promise of scantily clad women serving supposedly world-famous rare and medium rare steaks. My Mom was clearly not sharing his enthusiasm.
As we got within 2 blocks of this new establishment we all noticed those huge bat signal lights circling the starry night sky and enough pink and blue neon glowing over the rows of cypress and live oaks on the side of the road to make it look like we were approaching the aurora borealis. Dad got excessively excited, "Look kids they really spent some money this time out!" And as we got closer yet and saw the sign and accompanying logo of "In The Pink" we instantly knew we would not be tasting their wares on this eve. Apparently some daring and troubled soul decided to open a "Gentleman's Club" in place of the ill-fated Trough. Naturally Dad gave it the old school rally, "C'mon Jeannie it can't be that bad! I mean we eat at Hooters sometimes right?"
"Yes Bill, but Hooters doesn't advertise jello wrestling, table dances, and all nude all the time with their chicken wings Hon!" mom replied.
Mom: one, dad: goose egg. So we got a really good pie from Pizza King, went home, sat in front of the tube, and despite Dads pleading to watch Demi Moore in Striptease for the 12th time, we settled on a feel good football flick with Mark Wahlberg.
With our guts loaded with Italian hot peppers and Canadian bacon Ziggy and I headed up to my room. We discussed the hilarity of the "In The Pink" fiasco and agreed that Striptease wouldn't have been that bad a choice for the movie, but then our conversation took a oh so familiar turn. Football baby! We discussed how the undefeated Wolverton Wolverines were going to get their asses handed to them tomorrow night. The game had been hyped for the last two weeks straight. Our team, The Castles, had only lost one game all season and the fans were frothing at the mouths to see the clash on the field the next night.
"Hey Tim have you ever thought how we would have done this year if I had been the starter?" I have to admit this came out of left field from Ziggy. He had never even questioned such a thing.
"Well Zig we probably would have done great, I mean you aren't second string because you suck ya know?"
"Yeah I know it just kind of kept me up last night a little. Probably just the big game jitters huh?"
"Yeah Zig sure, but you aren't jealous cuz it's me out there leading the team are you? You've never mentioned anything like that at all to me, it bothers me bro. We've been tight for how many years now?" Then Ziggy dropped a bomb on me.
"Tim, let's be honest, I've been in your damn shadow for how many years now, isn't that what you think? Really?" Ok, now it feels like my world just got turned upside down and I'm not liking it, but I don't really feel like pursuing this any further.
Then Ziggy said "HA! Gotcha bro! Give me a break you are hands down the best friend I could ever hope for. We're family dude! I totally got you."
After that, all went back to normal, a few games of Madden football, a few in-depth conversations on which cheerleaders are gonna be fat with 6 kids in ten years, the regular stuff. It was getting late and we both needed to get some sleep for the upcoming game. I told Ziggy I was beat and he took that as his cue to leave.
That night as I stared out my bedroom window contemplating the huge blood-red moon and thinking how the light it was reflecting would be the light of the day tomorrow it started to freak me out a little. I mean would we wake up with foreboding red skies? I decided since science was never a forte of mine I was probably just thinking too much for a jock and with that my little blue peepers closed tight.
I was dreaming some pretty strange things about the game the next night. It felt like I was running through red muck and the goal posts had human limbs and were shouting obscenities at me, when at that moment, a thunderous cracking sound woke me from the bed. Before I even had my senses about me I was being fitted with what appeared to be a black pillowcase over my head. I couldn't tell for sure how many there were but it certainly felt like enough to get the job done. All I could think at that moment, were where in the hell mom and dad were and were they ok? I didn't have long to think about it though because these guys immediately began hitting me in the head with what I was fairly sure was a football trophy. And they were laughing! Giggling like girls even!
My attackers tied my hands and feet to the bed with what felt like light chain possibly with clasps on the end to keep them tight. Dear readers what I relay to you next is what changed my life in so many ways It wouldn't be fair to go there now. My attackers lifted my right leg and placed what I found later was a cinderblock under my knee. These delinquents proceeded to shatter my right leg with a crowbar. Now let me explain "shatter" to you in order for you to better understand. Seventeen broken bones in both my tibia and knee, including five bones jutting out of my leg, which in itself, is a miracle I didn't bleed to death having not hitting a major artery. Needless to say my next act still being immobile and in obvious shock was to pass smooth out.
By Travis L. Flanagan
My name is Timothy Kidwell and I might as well give you some background on myself. I'm what you might call a great cynic, but then again at the wise old age of 16 I'd like to think there are a lot of us wandering through the desperate and dreary hallways of our nation's high schools.
When I was younger I've been told I was always a rather outgoing, intelligent, and outspoken child, precocious even. Yeah ok whatever. I think it's mandatory for most middle class parents to dote on their children's perceived superhuman abilities. However one thing was true, I was always a very physically gifted young man. I was involved in virtually any sport that I could play and still maintain my classes.
My mother and father, to their credit, were always supportive of these extracurricular sporting interests of mine. Mom I believed thought that it was a healthy activity and made me happy but Dad had something else in mind I think. I overheard him in the basement one night with his drinking buddies when I was playing first year football for the Castles saying, or should I say slurring, "That boy o' mine, he came from my baby gravy and lemme tell you something else! You watch guys; he's gonna be my meal ticket outta here when he gets to college! You watch!"
Now I don't want to give you the wrong impression of my dad or anything. He has worked hard, put food on the table, and has loved me dearly in his own distant way. I get the occasional pat on the head, plenty of "atta boys", and overall we've had some good times together.
Let's talk about girls for a minute. Actually let's make that a second. I seem to like them a lot and want to find one to really get to know and talk too, but seeing as how I'm the starting quarterback most of my interaction with girls goes something like this: "Ohhh Timmy you are so hot", "WOW look at those muscles! Wanna make out?" etc. you get the picture.
Tonight the family and my best friend since we were 6 are going out to a new restaurant. I feel I must now give some history on my best friend Benjamin Ziegler or "Ziggy" for short. Ziggys' mother died in childbirth and his father blamed him for it from the time he first laid eyes on him. Since then his father has been an absentee parent at best. So you might say that Ziggy has always been an extended part of my family. Ziggy is my best friend, confidant, and partner in crime in all our crazy and childish endeavors. Some of my earliest memories involve failed lemonade stands, dressing as girl scouts and trying to sell stolen cookies, panhandling for bogus "charities" dressed as clowns making balloon animals, which incidentally at our skill level resembled either eels or penises depending on your point of view.
You get the picture. However, Ziggy is one hell of a football player. We have played together for as long as I can remember. He's never been a first stringer like me but it never seemed to bother him. I can't recall a single argument, fight, or resentment. He just seemed thrilled that we were able to play together and to be honest I never saw him as my "understudy" in the quarterback role, just one hell of a backup when I got injured or winded. All in all he is the yin to my yang and that's the gist of our long-standing relationship.
I'm sure you have all seen those restaurants that have been about 6 different failed ventures yet every few months some misguided, under funded, dreamer decides to throw his chips into exactly the same place with a new theme. The last place that called it quits roughly 4 months ago has what I think is a great back story. First of all how can you possibly go wrong with a place called "The Trough"! I shit you not my friends. But, alas, it gets better. Naturally you can assume with a name like "The Trough" it's an all you can eat buffet. Having seen any daytime T.V. at all you surely know that we are, as a society, grotesque overweight swine. I will give you a quick rundown of the facts as I know them.
First of all one of the aforementioned swine (and I mean this in the nicest possible way seeing as how this was the same used car salesman that sold me my first used car that lasted all of 3 hours with no warranty) let's call him Todd to protect the innocent. No screw that, in truth it would be impossible to further ruin his reputation. His name was Brock "Overstock" Munoz and these are the facts. My good friend Brock took the "all you can eat" part fairly literally I would have to assume considering he sat down and ate 32 chicken fried steaks! YES you read that right! 32 apparently mouth-watering chicken fried steaks! He then proceeded to hurl the aforementioned breaded meat all over the dining room and buffet table. Needless to say, that rang the death knell for "The Trough". Tonight Dad wanted to try the new place entitled "In The Pink" because he simply could not pass up the promise of scantily clad women serving supposedly world-famous rare and medium rare steaks. My Mom was clearly not sharing his enthusiasm.
As we got within 2 blocks of this new establishment we all noticed those huge bat signal lights circling the starry night sky and enough pink and blue neon glowing over the rows of cypress and live oaks on the side of the road to make it look like we were approaching the aurora borealis. Dad got excessively excited, "Look kids they really spent some money this time out!" And as we got closer yet and saw the sign and accompanying logo of "In The Pink" we instantly knew we would not be tasting their wares on this eve. Apparently some daring and troubled soul decided to open a "Gentleman's Club" in place of the ill-fated Trough. Naturally Dad gave it the old school rally, "C'mon Jeannie it can't be that bad! I mean we eat at Hooters sometimes right?"
"Yes Bill, but Hooters doesn't advertise jello wrestling, table dances, and all nude all the time with their chicken wings Hon!" mom replied.
Mom: one, dad: goose egg. So we got a really good pie from Pizza King, went home, sat in front of the tube, and despite Dads pleading to watch Demi Moore in Striptease for the 12th time, we settled on a feel good football flick with Mark Wahlberg.
With our guts loaded with Italian hot peppers and Canadian bacon Ziggy and I headed up to my room. We discussed the hilarity of the "In The Pink" fiasco and agreed that Striptease wouldn't have been that bad a choice for the movie, but then our conversation took a oh so familiar turn. Football baby! We discussed how the undefeated Wolverton Wolverines were going to get their asses handed to them tomorrow night. The game had been hyped for the last two weeks straight. Our team, The Castles, had only lost one game all season and the fans were frothing at the mouths to see the clash on the field the next night.
"Hey Tim have you ever thought how we would have done this year if I had been the starter?" I have to admit this came out of left field from Ziggy. He had never even questioned such a thing.
"Well Zig we probably would have done great, I mean you aren't second string because you suck ya know?"
"Yeah I know it just kind of kept me up last night a little. Probably just the big game jitters huh?"
"Yeah Zig sure, but you aren't jealous cuz it's me out there leading the team are you? You've never mentioned anything like that at all to me, it bothers me bro. We've been tight for how many years now?" Then Ziggy dropped a bomb on me.
"Tim, let's be honest, I've been in your damn shadow for how many years now, isn't that what you think? Really?" Ok, now it feels like my world just got turned upside down and I'm not liking it, but I don't really feel like pursuing this any further.
Then Ziggy said "HA! Gotcha bro! Give me a break you are hands down the best friend I could ever hope for. We're family dude! I totally got you."
After that, all went back to normal, a few games of Madden football, a few in-depth conversations on which cheerleaders are gonna be fat with 6 kids in ten years, the regular stuff. It was getting late and we both needed to get some sleep for the upcoming game. I told Ziggy I was beat and he took that as his cue to leave.
That night as I stared out my bedroom window contemplating the huge blood-red moon and thinking how the light it was reflecting would be the light of the day tomorrow it started to freak me out a little. I mean would we wake up with foreboding red skies? I decided since science was never a forte of mine I was probably just thinking too much for a jock and with that my little blue peepers closed tight.
I was dreaming some pretty strange things about the game the next night. It felt like I was running through red muck and the goal posts had human limbs and were shouting obscenities at me, when at that moment, a thunderous cracking sound woke me from the bed. Before I even had my senses about me I was being fitted with what appeared to be a black pillowcase over my head. I couldn't tell for sure how many there were but it certainly felt like enough to get the job done. All I could think at that moment, were where in the hell mom and dad were and were they ok? I didn't have long to think about it though because these guys immediately began hitting me in the head with what I was fairly sure was a football trophy. And they were laughing! Giggling like girls even!
My attackers tied my hands and feet to the bed with what felt like light chain possibly with clasps on the end to keep them tight. Dear readers what I relay to you next is what changed my life in so many ways It wouldn't be fair to go there now. My attackers lifted my right leg and placed what I found later was a cinderblock under my knee. These delinquents proceeded to shatter my right leg with a crowbar. Now let me explain "shatter" to you in order for you to better understand. Seventeen broken bones in both my tibia and knee, including five bones jutting out of my leg, which in itself, is a miracle I didn't bleed to death having not hitting a major artery. Needless to say my next act still being immobile and in obvious shock was to pass smooth out.
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