Lindsey Altom
Bio
For me, writing runs in the blood. I've wrote songs, poems and short stories ever since I was a little girl. I mostly like to write about my life experiences mixed with a little fiction or just things that come off the top of my head! :)
Stories (63/0)
How Things Went From Wonderful to Terrifying...
My divorce with my first husband was final in August 2014 and by the time I got the divorce papers in the mail I had already been dating Wade 2 weeks. I remember I was so happy to get that paperwork in the mail that my pregnant self ran across the yard to give Wade a hug and kiss when I got them. The paperwork meant that I was officially legally divorced and could be with Wade. I wish to God I had opened my eyes a little wider to see the red flags that were already looming over an overcast sky. The funny thing is that I thought I was keeping a good outsider's perspective. Everyone around me was just happy I was happy and Wade was a hard worker so he made enough money for me to be able to keep my house. It was convenient really because when I met Wade he told me he had just gotten out of an awful long term relationship where his ex girlfriend was crazy and then of course there was that brief fling with K from my work but he said that he and his boys were living with his mother and step father and he was about to be looking for another place to live anyway and since I was having trouble figuring out how to pay for my house it made perfect sense we both figured for him to move in permanently. Soon, the what should have been red flags started to emerge. Well, they already had had I known to see them or had I not been so blinded by his passion and attention that I somehow couldn't see them. As it turned out, Wade had a lot of crazy exes. His ex wife and mother to his boys and he used to have crazy knock down drag out fights that he hoped to never repeat. He said they would throw things at each other, yell, scream, punch walls, push each other, etc. She was crazy though and she couldn't keep her hands off the men. He was a truck driver for the most part that's how Wade made his living and he said when he was married to her he traveled across country and he would get calls that she had other men at their home. He described in detail to me how bad her sex addiction was and how it destroyed their marriage. Then, there was the last long term relationship he'd had shortly before me with Amy we'll call her. He said Amy was always trying to force marriage on him and even bought them wedding bands. He said that Amy lived with most of her family though and that her and her family was crazy. He said that they'd talk about crazy things and get drunk and high all the time and he got so tired of living that life. Wade said it got to a point where he and his boys were scared to stay there and one night while Amy was ranting and raving about something he got a few clothes for him and his boys and got them out of there. Because of this incident though, it left Wade with pretty much nothing to his name. They had no beds, no toys for the boys, no possessions except a few clothes. Also, to top it all off he said that Amy still wanted him and still asked people about him and what he was doing nowadays. It was crazy. Then, there was this other girl that was one of his exes named Jin and she worked at the Dollar store in town and I was told who she was and what she looked like because she wanted him back too and if she found out that he and I were together she would probably try to cause me trouble. He wanted me to know this he said so I could keep myself safe and be aware of these situations. Are you seeing the red flags yet? I wasn't. I just thought, "Wow, what a troubled past this poor man has had and what a string of crazy exes. Good grief. I don't want that drama and they won't be starting anything with me." There was one thing that Wade never opened up to me much about though and that was his childhood. He always told me that he would in due time but that time never really came. Sure, over the years and with some coaxing I managed to piece a few things together but what I knew for sure was that his biological father was a nightmare and Wade didn't want to be anything like him. He said that his step father who we'll call S had come into his life in his late pre-teen years and raised him to be a good man. He idolized S and thought I suppose that every boy needed that in his life. My son was six years old and was going through the worst time in his life what with his parents divorcing and now this new guy had moved in and yet Wade for some reason thought he needed saving and some structure I suppose. Wade's motto was always something along the lines of shit happens, stuff it in a box, shut up and get over it. It seemed everything my son AJ did was the wrong thing in Wade's eyes and he kept trying to set him straight. I was told every time I stuck up for AJ that I babied him too much and that I was favoring him over Wade's two boys. I tried hard to accept NJ and LJ as my own but with the situation with my son starting pretty much right off the bat I immedietly set up resentments. It was in fact, a recipe for disaster but at the time I told myself "Well, Wade isn't the only one that says I spoil AJ so maybe I do need to buckle down a little. Maybe there is a happy medium in this somewhere because other than the children and parenting disagreements Wade and I are great with each other." I tried still even though I knew deep down I was failing my son in certain ways to please not only Wade but my son. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted us all to be one big happy family and I just knew it was possible right?
By Lindsey Altom8 months ago in Chapters
How Things Went From Wonderful to Terrifying...
When I first met we'll call him Wade I was working at my uncle's grocery store, I was pregnant, I had a six year old son and was in the middle of a divorce from my highschool sweetheart. Wade was working for a local businessman who owned a couple of local business' around our small town and they came into the grocery store about everyday for lunch and to do business such as cashing checks for some of the local business man's employees. I was feeling lost in my life as you can imagine; I didn't know where to go from here. I had worked my ass off for years to finally own my own home as my previous husband had not been very consistent with keeping a job and I knew it would take more than what I made to be able to keep my home. I had another baby on the way and a six year old plus myself to feed and take care of and stressed and scared doesn't even begin to describe it. I had also felt lonely, unheard and misunderstood for so many years in my marriage that it had left me feeling desperate to see if better was out there. Wade started talking to one of my co-workers and they even went out on a date but it didn't go well and when he tried to come talk to her about it at the store that should've been my first red flag but I let my desperateness see past that incident. When Wade came to talk to her he cornered her in an aisle and wouldn't let her pass telling her that he just wanted to talk about the date and that she couldn't just avoid him. She was smart and said that she didn't want any part of that meaning his aggressiveness and abrasiveness and they didn't go out again. I waited a few weeks and let all that simmer down but I couldn't get something I had heard Wade tell my young co-worker when they were talking out of my head. He had said that he just wanted someone to settle down with, someone to love and that would love him back. I thought because my co-worker was young at the time "Well then you don't need a girl you need a woman and you need me." Although I also was petrified he would see me and run because I was pregnant with another man's child. So, after those few weeks and things simmering down I let the talk of my other co-worker we'll call Sue who was telling me things like "He's cute!", "You should grab him up! K(the other co-worker who'd went on a date with him) didn't want him so you need to get him." get to me. I looked into his beautiful blue eyes one day and let myself get lost in them. I asked K for his number and it was not long after that that we were texting back and forth and then the next day he and his boys came to visit. He had two sons from a previous marriage. One of his sons who we'll call LJ was the same age as my son and the other, we'll call NJ was nine. Things with Wade were very hot and very heavy very quickly. That first night we spoke on the phone and stayed on the phone most of the night; talking to each other, asking each other questions about our likes and dislikes and our family life. He agreed with most everything I said which now I see it for the red flag that it was, unfortunately at the time I just thought "This is great! How are we so much like each other!?" The next day we all met each other and let the kids play while we hung out and talked some more. By the end of that day, we had shared our first kiss and it wasn't just one. The next day which I believe was a Monday, Wade came to stay the night. It was a horrible decision on my part with having my six year old there but he consumed my every thought and made me feel like I was so special that I didn't want to be away from him. I felt at the time that God was answering my prayers since I knew that alone I would lose my house possibly and I was so worried about that. That night, Wade and I made love all night and the rest of that week followed much the same way. We'd get up in the morning on little to no sleep, go to work, come home, cook supper, eat with my son who we'll call AJ, get him his bath and homework done, put him to bed and then resume our love making sessions. It was some of the most passionate sex I'd ever had(granted I'd only ever been with my highschool sweetheart beforehand) but Wade was full of a fire and a passion I had never known. He was hungry and wild and passionate and so was I. If only I'd understood that part of that passion came from an anger burning deep inside that could not be tamed. A beast that would soon emerge....
By Lindsey Altom8 months ago in Chapters
Mother Earth...
A long, long time ago the great Mother Earth was but a great and vast ball of water. It was but ocean and there was no land. It had been this way for many, many years but one day the great spirits of Water, Land, Fire, and Air decided that the great Mother Earth should be more than just the vastness of water as Land argued that he had so much land stored up in the depths of the seas all he needed was to bring it forth. And Fire raged that his anger had been held back too long. Soon Air chimed in and stated that she needed land to breath. Before long, the heavens rumbled with the great Spirits arguing and the skies and the waters began to shake violently. After a short time of this out of the depths of the water came land mases and soon great mountains rose to the heavens. Some of which in certain areas erupted from beneath the depths below rolling billows of fire which the great spirits called lava. It billowed upon itself so it was as if it would never end. T'was like a cloud as it rolled on and on seeming to never end. It was beautiful, the lava and the mountains from which it erupted would later come to be called volcanos. The destruction it caused was truly glorious as it ate everything in its path leaving nothing but gray and black ash and soot in its wake but also a chance for new life and new life did happen. Shortly after the mountains, volcanos and land rose to the surface animals appeared on Mother Earth. No one knows which of the great spirits created the animals but it is suspected they all four shared a part. It was discovered that during the bringing up of the land mases and the making of the mountains and volcanos that a great unknown was created in the Underground for deep caverns had been made in different parts of the world during the battle of the great spirits and some of the animals tended to migrate there for the comfort of the solitude it offered. This underground world also offered darkness from the bright sun that Fire had decided should shine as a bright ball of gases and heat for light on Mother Earth. The Creation was as it should be and everything was beautiful. Land and Air were working together perfectly and had created these wonderful things called trees and flowers and plants which helped all life grow and flourish. Water and Fire could be at odds but they were learning how to work together. For that matter, all the spirits were learning how to work together and utilize what each other could provide to make Mother Earth better. Some time later, though no one really knows how long, mankind showed up. The great spirits gathered together and discussed who might have made this beast but no one took claim to this. It remained a mystery. And the Earth flourished and floundered, flourished and floundered and what had been done was good. The great oceans, the many great mountains, the waterfalls, the seas, rivers, the creatures which roamed Mother Earth. The Great Spirit looked down and saw that it was all good.
By Lindsey Altom10 months ago in Fiction
Pumpkintown
I watched the rain beat against the car windshield in what sounded like buckets and buckets of rain. It was thundering and lightening as well and I had no idea where I was headed. I was trying my best to forget where I had just came from... looking to the steering wheel my hands were shaking...hard. He was dead of that much I was certain. I had checked his pulse and found none. They'd never find his body....and the blood had been cleaned. Cleansed by fire... I didn't know what else to do. He'd come at me so fast I had no other choice. They wouldn't believe me though, just like last time when they let him out of jail a day afterward. Okay, I thought,...time to get your thoughts together. No. There is no time to stop, no time to slow down, no time to think really. So, I decide to drive through the night and make turns and exits based solely off a whim. Somewhere around 3am my adrenaline fails me and I look for a place to pull off to get a little rest. I am so very tired. My hands are still covered in blood and there are scratches on my face. I have no idea where I'm going to go.... I have no family. I have no friends. He never let me have any of that. My father died when I was 2 and my mother lives in Iowa as far as I know but who knows who she's living with now. I'm never going back there. A glance in the passenger seat gives me slight comfort as I have the one thing he planned on using against me, his gun. Suddenly, I see a sign for a national park and I decide to pull in there. I pull my black 1990 VW beetle into the parking lot and park off towards the corner lot and park as far in the corner and in the shade and discreet as I can. I just hope and pray a park ranger doesn't notice or bother to check my plates. I just need a couple of hours sleep then I'll be on my way again. Just as suddenly as I pull into the space and put my beetle bug into park my eyes close. I wake to the sound of a sharp tapping against my driver's side window. My eyes, blurry with sleep, wake to see what I have hoped not to see... a park ranger with his flashlight tapping it against my window. I look at my hands with the dried blood and quickly pull my sleeves over my hands to cover them up. I turn over the engine of the bug, notice the time is now about 6am ("I really passed out." I think to myself.) and roll down the window. I try to look as innocent and calm as I can as I look into this ranger's eyes and say "Yes sir, can I help you?" He replies, "Yes ma'am you can't park here. I'm afraid you'll have to move." I look at the man with his deep ocean blue eyes and say "Of course, I knew better. I was just so tired. I'm sorry." He looks at me with his police eyes, scrutinizing everything I've just said and says " I understand. Where ya coming from? What's your name?" I realized that I'd have to give this man enough information to throw him off my case and make him think I'm not hiding anything but not enough to actually implicate myself in any way so I say, "Oh, a couple of states away, Tennessee actually. I was thinking of moving here or somewhere close by, thought I could just drive through the night but no such luck." I was a bit torn on what name to give him though as I didn't want to give him my real name because then he could track down who Michelle Stevens was and who I was married to and where oh where was my husband anyways? And why had I left a house burning on fire in the middle of the night so quickly so I said while hoping against hope that he wouldn't check my plates and who they were actually registered to,..."The name is Ramona Sanchez." I figured he could gather the information or perhaps already had of what state I had came from by my license plate so no sense lying about that and I was hoping that by telling the truth on that he wouldn't ask for anything further or verify the rest. I had always loved the name Ramona ever since reading a book about a character with the name years ago and Sanchez would fit me perfectly seeing as my father had been Mexican. The park ranger seemed somewhat pleased that I hadn't lied about the state and said "Well, this is a quiet little area. We like to keep it that way. Most of Tennessee is that way too though from what I hear. " I simply smiled and said, "Yes sir, it is." This seemed to satisfy his need for information from the woman sleeping in the parking lot of the national park so he simply said, "Well, I'll let you be on about your way." Quickly, I said "Thank you sir." and started to pull out as he headed back to his jeep. I drove for another 40 minutes to an hour... I knew I needed to get to a shower soon to get clean and change clothes. I had managed to grab some clothes before I left the house. I would need a new ID, a new backstory of my life...a job. My thoughts were everywhere but first things first... where to settle? I mean as far as I knew that park ranger hadn't ran my tags but what if he had? After about another hour, I suddenly came upon this small quaint town with a small wooden sign that announced it's establishment from the 1700's and the name of the town, Pumpkintown. There were beautiful mountain ranges beyond the town and the town was perfect and just what I needed. It was so small and discreet that I couldn't imagine anyone finding me here. There wasn't even a hotel in the actual town itself but I found by asking a local there was one in a town nearby so that is where I decided to stop and stay. It was called the Table Rock Inn and it too had been in business since the mid 1800's. This area was so fascinating with all it's history that despite my destress from the last few hours I couldn't help but be in aww as well. After checking in at the hotel I quickly went into my room and said a quick prayer that no one had noticed my scratched face or dried blood on my hands. I had managed to save back some money here and there for the last six months from my waitressing job that he barely let me have...but he did because it meant I could buy his beer and cigarettes sometimes when he had already wasted all his money. So, with that, I had enough to get by on for maybe a couple months or so but then I would need a job. I knew things were bad and I knew I needed to get out but I never imagined it would end this way. Part of me was hoping of course that he would just see the light and the error of his ways and realize that I was only ever trying to help him, not hurt him and then we could work together but that didn't ever pan out. Now, Marcus is....a memory flashes in my mind suddenly of him lying on the ground lifeless with a bullet through his side and then the dirt and rain...I look in the mirror in the hotel room bathroom and begin to vigorously wash my hands and face and arms then I strip down naked and climb into the shower. I turn the water on so hot its scolding. I don't care though as I probably deserve it after what I've done. I scrub with that hotel soap until I turn red then I sink to my knees and cry. I cry for what I've lost, I cry for what he's done to me, to us, I cry for what I've done, I cry so long I feel I've shed every part of who Michelle Stevens was and is and when I emerge from the shower I know it's time to turn into Ramona. This new life in Pumpkintown will be different. No more men, no more pain, no more Michelle. I'll never speak of her again. That life is dead now and Michelle is just as dead as Marcus.
By Lindsey Altom10 months ago in Fiction
The Soundtrack of my Life...
First up, would be LeAnn Womack's I Hope You Dance. I have a vauge memory of being in the car with my mother at some point in my tumultuous childhood and this song came on the radio and she looked at me and said "If I could dedicate one song to you and to all my girls(she had three daughters including me) it would be this song." My mother and I had a rocky relationship while I was growing up to say the least and it still is but after that statement I suppose I tried to see the beautiful parts of her. She loved us, she loved me and this song as beautiful as it is, is and was her way of saying that. All her hopes and dreams for me and my sisters wrapped up in a song.
By Lindsey Altom11 months ago in Beat