The Hollow Road | Teen Ink

The Hollow Road

August 9, 2010
By TheHummingBird SILVER, Placentia, California
TheHummingBird SILVER, Placentia, California
9 articles 1 photo 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"If the world was normal what would be the point of it?"


Once upon a time, there lived a handsome young man living in New York City. He had all the friends in the world and the love of a stunningly beautiful and elegant lady. His family adored him, girls wanted to be with him, and men wanted to be in his shoes. In conclusion this man had an extraordinary life.
Unfortunately my friends this is not the story you’ll be reading this day. Our story starts outside a sleazy bar outside of New York City. A handsome man begins his venture out of a cheap cab. The cab is ridden with grease and grim, so much so that when he shuts the door he shuts it with his knee, the man refused to touch the handle knowing it may have been touched by every unhygienic person in New York. The man’s travel continues to the door of the bar suitably named “The Tiny Ditch of New York” or “TTDNY” he looks in the gutter outside of the bar and notices a dirty homely looking man. “Here pal don’t spend it all in one place,.” the gentlemen laughed as he tossed the man a few bucks in change. The fresh and shiny coins bounced off the man’s skull. He looked up and flipped the man the bird. He rolled onto his stomach and moaned. Sadly readers this is the main character of our story. His name is Adam Gellar, he has a broken down apartment, crap job, no family, no friends, no one to love, and no one to care for. Why is he in the gutter you might ask, well Adam has a bit of a drinking problem and was tossed out of TTDNY moments earlier. Adam now was using the curb as support to help himself up. “Ugh.,” he spoke, he must say that at least four times a day. He began walking down the dark street smeared with the waste of the city, bums, trash, and stray animals. Adam was dressed in a pair of faded jeans and a white v-neck with a jet black sports coat over it, his hair looked as if he had just rolled out of bed but the time of the night was eleven o’clock. While walking down that street he had a vision, he was now walking down an asphalt road covered in cracks and dirt, all around him was sand and dead trees every mile or so. He was the only one walking it. He took a deep breath and said “Another walk down a hollow road…” he trudged on till he reached the one building on this so called hollow road, it was his apartment building. The moment his hand touched the cold brass knob of the giant wooden door everything vanished, the asphalt, the cracks, the dirt, the sand, the trees, and the emptiness. He was back in the real world. The painful truth had hit him, he was alone and has no one in his life .
He walked up to his apartment door and slowly opened the green door with the paint falling off of it he stepped into the disturbing apartment room. A bed, a bathroom, a TV, a couch, and a small kitchen. Basic, he despised it. He took his fourteen steps to his bed and blacked out. Hitting his bed with a thud, his head smashed against the rock hard pillow, and his eyes shut like two steel doors.
He awoke from a hard sleep that lasted a decent four hours. Rolling out of bed his head still lay on the base of his bed. Throwing on his red polo shirt with the words, “Radio Shack” stitched over the heart. Every button he buttoned on the shirt was like a dagger into his heart. He took a deep breath starring into a cracked mirror he said “I hate my job.” Stepping down the stoop of the apartment building he stepped back onto the hollow road. He began his walk and he felt a unfamiliar rumble of the ground. He kept his eyes glued to the floor ignoring the rumble. He then heard a squawking noise and he perked his ears but still he ignored it. I don’t know exactly what caused Adam to do this but he finally looked up and saw a car a foot away from him. In an instance the hollow road vanished at the impact of the front of the bumper knocked Adam Gellar twenty feet the opposite direction. Ambulances rushed to the scene blood was scattered everywhere. They were losing him…fast.
They kept him stable just long enough to get him to the ICU Adam Gellar did not have much time left on this world until Doctor Gibson took drastic measures of actually taking him off the life support machine and letting him lose conscious. She then brought in the panels and shocked him back into consciousness. He was asleep for the next five hours. He awoke to a bright light and a women’s beautiful face. Her green eyes shining a light in his dark ones. He freaked out and screamed “Where the hell am I!?!?” With a very soothing voice the woman spoke ‘Shhh, shhh, shhh its alright your in Saint Roland’s Hospital, you were hit by a car and almost died, you broke your right arm, shattered your left elbow, snapped both legs at the shine, and broke a few ribs. You’ll be in here for a while. His first day there was extremely interesting and new to him.
He was treated with love by the nurses and especially Doctor Gibson. A few months went by and they began to teach him to walk again. Once he started talking to the people around him. He made friends. He began caring for people. He developed love. He began talking to Doctor Gibson more. Her name was Grace. He began talking to Grace everyday, at first he was very subtle simply answering “Yea” “No” and “I don’t know” they then began developing a close friendship and they had long conversations about everything from favorite foods to the afterlife. His relationship with his fellow ICUers began to flourish. He communicated very well. It was new to him, he liked it.
One day he felt this tug at his heart he had never felt it before…ever. He pondered upon it. “What could it be?” he asked himself while alone in his bed. “I don’t have heard problems. Maybe it was something I ate? No couldn’t be.” His pondering continued. ”NO! It couldn’t be…love could it? Grace!” fearing her patient was in turmoil she came rushing into the room, “What is it Adam?:” he looked at her and smiled “I feel love” he then drifted into a slumber.
Adam awoke the next day, it was his final day in the hospital, he was finally cleared. He got out of bed and took a deep breath, panned around the surrounding ICU, and continued with three strong steps and sat down in a wheel chair. He was escorted to the exit by Doctor Gibson herself. Running his fingers over the rough leather arm rests he said “I’m gonna miss this place.” Adam stood up and turned around and gave Grace a tremendous hug, he began his venture to his taxi and he was stopped by “Hey Mr. Gellar?” turning around Grace continued “Call me” she said with a great smile on her face.
Adam Gellar returned to his wreck apartment but something was different, he was happy. With a smile on his face he opened up the door and lightly climbed into his bed and relaxed till he slowly fell asleep. He arouse the next morning after almost twelve hours of hard sleep. He showered, shaved, and did his hair for the first time in years. He put on clean clothes and he looked in the mirror and said “Time to turn my life around.”
Carrying himself very well he walked down stairs and stopped at the main entrance door. “Just breath” he told himself. He opened the door that lead to the Hollow Road. It was different this time, opening the door he saw all the friends he had made at the hospital, his family he hadn’t seen was all there, and most importantly Doctor Gibson. They were all smiling and waving at him. The road was no longer hollow.
That horrible accident practically killed Adam Gellar but in a sense it saved his life. Getting hit by that car caused him to turn his life around in a great way, with friends family, and love, what else do you need?


The author's comments:
Wanted to send this in to win a contest but never sent it in. Hope you enjoy it.

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This article has 3 comments.


on Aug. 29 2010 at 3:12 pm
TaliaWolf SILVER, Albuquerque, New Mexico
8 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
&quot;I mean this girl was beautiful, and I&#039;m from Miami where beautiful people go to spawn&quot;<br /> Alex Flinn

I like how you subtley use this to say that love can fix anything without being cheesy about it, because nothing in his life has changed but now he can see it with different eyes and make it better. Try to find another contest to enter this into it's a really good piece

on Aug. 23 2010 at 8:16 pm
ilove2read124 GOLD, Dix Hills, New York
11 articles 0 photos 66 comments

this was really good =D

i liked how you started the story with the fancy-schmancy guy and then went to the one in trouble.

i love how you showed his thoughts without having him say things out loud.the voice is clear and strong =D good job.

i like the way it ended with something for the reader to think about.

about entering into a contest, if you go to school and have like an english teacher or something, you could ask her about contests and rules and stuff.good job =]

ps, could you check out some of my work?im still a..how do i say "i suck" in polite language?haha, yeah, my writing needs a little work, so im having a couple ppl look at it, do you mind?thanks =D


lamelola GOLD said...
on Aug. 23 2010 at 6:23 pm
lamelola GOLD, Wichita, Kansas
14 articles 19 photos 45 comments

Favorite Quote:
The problem is, you think you have time.

This was a really great piece of work :) It really set the scene. Keep Writing!