Savage Dragon Posted March 29, 2008 Report Posted March 29, 2008 He had no more options. As he sat and looked at the papers scattered around him, he realized that he literally had no more options. Well that can't be right, he thought to himself, No one has NO options... there's got to be something i can do Again he tore a fresh sheet of paper and set it before him. Scribbling like a mad man, he wrote every choice, every possible direction that his life could take him in. but try as he might... he could only write down three. go forward go back go nowhere and he already knew... knew that none of them were options for him he couldn't go forward... it's not like he didn't try, he'd been trying for years. and every time he'd fall back down again. every year he'd hit a wall and crumble. the same wall, it was always the same wall. and he'd lie there in that pile, that heap until someone picked him up again. it might be a friend, it might be family, a few times he'd even managed to pick himself up. and things would be fine and he'd feel like this time was going to be different. but then he'd hit that wall... every time he hit that wall and he'd fall back down again. he knew he couldn't go forward. he didn't want to go forward...not anymore and he couldn't go back... he already knew what would be waiting for him there if he did. if he went back all he would find was the people who pushed him forward... and he couldn't stand to look at those people again. they would look at him in disgust at his failure, his inability to make anything of the sacrifices they had made for him, to push him. or worse yet... they might push him again, push him towards the wall which he had no desire to conquer and make more useless sacrifices. no, he'd already seen what happens to those who turn back, the soulless shells they become and he knew he couldn't go back and that left just one option. the last option. go nowhere and end the journey here and end it now. and he knew that he couldn't do that either. he wasn't allowed to. not because some friends told him not to, not because some book said it was wrong. he knew he couldn't because he promised he wouldn't. he had broken so many promises already, let so many people down and so he knew he couldn't break this promise... this last promise that he had made only to himself to never end it. so he knew he couldn't go nowhere one by one he crossed all three options off his list and in disgust threw his hands up and tossed the paper aside. he rested his head in his hands, beyond tears. He had no more options. As he sat and looked at the papers scattered around him, he realized that he literally had no more options. Well that can't be right, he thought to himself...
Wyvern Posted April 5, 2008 Report Posted April 5, 2008 Cool piece, Savage Dragon. :-) I was initially thrown off by the lack of details in it, but think that the general nature of the piece can allow readers to relate to the situation in a more universal way. Feeling trapped and unable to advance while the pressure of people's expectations weighs upon you can be a really difficult thing to deal with, and I think that good deal of the emotions of those sorts of situations are touched upon here. Anyway, as frustrating as the complete lack of options is, I'm still glad that going "nowhere" has been barred from the options as well. :-) Anyway, thanks for sharing this here SD.
Venefyxatu Posted April 5, 2008 Report Posted April 5, 2008 Interesting piece - I like how you connect the ending back to the beginning. This nicely brings out the feeling of trying something "just one more time" for the 30th time in the ( all too often futile ) hope that this time you'll find that something has changed. The one thing that irked me a bit was that you start sentences without a capital and/or with a conjunction (and). To some people this doesn't matter at all, to me these are important details, the finishing touches
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