My 20 short spints in 20 Days is a way to stimulate your creative juice,

and just have some fun with writing  #CampNaNoPrep

Write 500 or 5K words using the above prompt image.

Or Set a Timer for XX minutes... and Sprint!

"I just want to hear your voice once more before the world separates us and we never speak again"

Time 7:00 - 7:30

Shane swallowed as he watched the video feed of Prue's testimony again. Seeing her in a neck halo and full body back brace was terrifying. He did't know what had happened. He realized now that he should have known something was wrong. Prudence usually texted him every hour when he was away and the last voice message he had gotten from her was on  the first day of his vacation that he didn't get until his drive home. 

"I have a surprise for you." 

Well, when he got home he was surprised. Her sister had met him at his home and beaten the heck out of him, before forcing him to sign divorce papers. When the police arrived, he had admitting to hitting Penelope after she attacked him and Penelope had baited him into admitting in front of the cops that he had never hit Prue, only shoved her. Under interrogation at the ER, while doped on pain meds, he had stupidly waved his right to a lawyer and confessed that he had abused Prudence when drunk, confessing to shoving and insulting her, and once he even slapped her. Now, he wished he hadn't stopped on the drive home at a bar and hadn't drank several rum and cokes to fortify his melancholy against Prue's usual bubbly mood. Now, he would give anything to hear her voice again.

 Shane wondered about the sudden end of his marriage. Did she think he wanted this? Did she find out he wasn't at work? Yes, he had lied about working at the Jersey Shore build site, booked a room in his name, and then let Sam handle it solo, so he could grieve his brother in the somber isolation of the family cabin. He didn't know if something had happened when they tried to contact him about the accident and Sam had said he didn't see Penny that week. The only thing he could think of was that Prue though he had abandoned her after the accident. He couldn't even ask or apologize. Prudence had blocked him from all means of contacting her and had him served with a restraining order. 

The more Shane dwelt on it, the less it made sense. He couldn't think of anything he did to deserve being cut from her life so completely. Shane did love her, he loved how she saw beauty in everything, he loved how she made beauty out of broken glass, and he missed how she loved him. She had annoyed him to the point of insanity sometimes, but at other times, she was the thing that brought joy to his stressed out world. 

 Shane just wanted to talk to Prue, just once more so he could ask what happened, but there was the threat of Penelope's vengeance. He wasn't afraid of going back to jail if he violated the restraining order; he feared Prue's amateur MMA contender sister fulfilling her threat to end him in the most painful possible way she could. She had two more weeks in jail and he doubted that he could find Prue before then. Unfortunately, HIPPA laws kept Prue hidden from him. She had her own health insurance so he couldn't track her that way. And no hospital or rehab center would tell him if his exwife was a patient.  

His watch beeped and he got up. Part of his probation was weekly A.A. meetings. He never thought of himself as an alcoholic, but while in jail, he had to admit he used it to cope after his brother's drunk driving death. 

TIME 30 Minute, Word Count 628

Losing his brother and not finding out until they got back from their honey money had  been a double blow and Shane blamed himself for letting Craig drive away from the airport after dropping he and Prue off for their flight to Cabo. Because of Craig's death, they had never celebrated a single one of their wedding anniversaries. He regretted that so much now. Sitting in the meeting, he listened to other men who had it so much worse than him but it didn't make him feel any better about his situation.  Then it was his turn. 

"Hey, I'm Shane and I'm an alcoholic. It seems weird to say that because I hated how much my dad and brother drank. They both died of it and I blamed myself. When Dad died of liver failure when I was 10 I swore I would never drink too much. Then I started drinking to numb the pain after my brother died drunk driving the night on my wedding. My wife tried to make me happy but I punished both of us for his death by never celebrating our anniversary. She was in an accident and I think she found out I lied about going on a business trip so I could go to our family cabin and spend the week grieving and drunk. I came home and she was gone. I had a fight with her sister, she kicked my ass, then we both went to jail. My wife divorced me and got a restraining order. I miss her and it sounds stupid but I just want to talk."

His sponsor Matt asked, "What would you say to her?"

Shane's lips pressed in a thin line then he admitted, "I would tell her. 'I just want to hear your voice once more before the world separates us and we never speak again... just to say goodbye'."

"Did you write your amends letter?" 

"Yes, but I can't send it because of the restraining order. I can't even find out where to send it," Shane confessed. "But I didn't have a drink when I couldn't find her. Or when her sister's roommate showed up at my job and told me to stop looking for her, or when her sister called me at home yesterday and promised to put me back in the hospital when she got out for looking for her." Shane's gut clenched internally at the thought of Penny finding him. 

"So, what are you going to do about the crazy sister?" A man named Tony asked. 

"Sell my house and live somewhere more secure." Shane confessed, "Penelope scares the crap out of me. I hurt her sister and she told me flat out that a TRO is just a piece of paper." He held up his wrist brace. "She did this, broke my ribs and my nose without even breaking a sweat. She could kill me." 

TIME ONE HOUR w/c 1110