Finish the Story Contest - WEEK #14

Into the Woods

The clouds rolled in as Sharon parked in her driveway. She sat there for a few minutes before going inside, pondering the immensely bad day she’d had.
It started off with her being late for work, the first time in nine years. Her boss had been waiting for her reports, and her lateness made him late which made him unhappy. No, unhappy wasn’t the word. Unhinged fit better. She’d left his office feeling assaulted and ashamed at having performed so poorly, even though she had been the top sales manager for five years running. Walking back to her office she thought it all felt a bit off - too intense for being a mere ten minutes late.
But before she could think about it for long, she was hit by a cart full of old desktop computers the IT guy was taking to recycle. The metal cart had ripped her nylons and left her with a bloody gash on her left calf and bruising on her thigh and hip. He hadn’t even apologized but instead glared at her as he picked up the equipment that had fallen to the ground.
The rest of the day continued like that. Everything went wrong from the vending machine taking her money without dispensing her granola bar to the afternoon coffee burning her hand. The harrowing drive home topped it off, and she considered herself lucky to have just lost a fender to a drunk, uninsured motorist.
Finally opening the car door, she glanced up at the sky. The clouds looked thick, but WeatherBug had said the rain would hold off until tomorrow. Not that she cared. She needed to run and shake off the day even if it poured and even if she was bruised and sore.
She changed into her workout clothes and grabbed her headphones before going back outside to the road. Her usual playlist blasting a little louder than usual, she headed north to the trail. It was her usual 10 km route she ran when she needed to think - or de-stress. Her body would move on autopilot while her brain sorted everything out so that by the time she returned home she’d feel normal and relaxed.
The trail into the woods looked a little darker than usual, but she thought it should with the clouds coming in. She didn’t even pause as she went from pavement to forest floor. Another half kilometer and the trees opened up onto a large pond, a swamp really except for the beavers that had built their dams to fill it up. She always slowed a little on this part of the trail to see if she could catch them working. She admired their persistence and ingenuity.
The mound that made their lodge wasn’t too far from the trail, but she had difficulty seeing it. She slowed even more but was unable to focus on it - as if it were twilight when the shapes and shadows blended together. But it wasn’t that late. She looked behind her, and she could see everything just fine.
Stopping, she stared at the beaver lodge and thought she could see a black haze swirling around it. Then she noticed the water. It too was black and seemed to have a dark fog floating just above the surface. Concerned more than worried, she started running again along the trail that continued into the woods. She thought she'd get a better view from the other side of the pond.

My ending

Sharon arrived at the other side of the pond and the smell was unbearable, her eyes were watering and the dark fog had enveloped the entire pond. She could see the beavers leaving the pond and heading down the trail, away from the pond. The darkness of the fog was hoovering above the pond about fifteen feet, and started to sparkle. Sharon removed her headphones and could hear a humming sound coming from the pond. She headed up the trail, following the beavers, as they were about one hundred feet ahead of her, all the while keeping one eye on the dark mass. Sharon reached the tree line and turned to see a blast of white light shoot through the black fog and explode high in the sky with a shower of tiny burning stars that disappeared before they fell to the ground. She looked back at the pond and everything was crystal clear and the humming had stopped. Sharon continued with her run back to her house but this stinky rain started falling, so she booked it. She came across these dead beavers and wondered if this was going to happen to her. Her leg was burning with pain where the IT guy ran into her and just as she was thinking about it, she fell and hit her head on the trail. The alarm started blaring away and Sharon checked the clock 7:00a.m., she looked at her leg, no injury, she got dressed and headed to work. Checked her car, all fenders there. She thought to herself, "I dreamt the whole day!" Sharon arrived at work, right on time. The day was perfect, she even got two granola bars for the price of one. She got home, put on her running gear, then headed down the trail. Sharon was listening to her tunes when she came across the dead beavers, she turned around and ran back to her house to wait for the big blast of white light!

Ending by Bruni

https://steemit.com/contest/@f3nix/finish-the-story-contest-week-14

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