After a few minutes, that feel like hours, I hesitatingly dare to raise my head from behind the steering wheel to look out of the cracked windshield. The entire front of my car is dented in and I can vaguely make out the smoke that’s puffing out from underneath the hood.
Awesome.
A little stiff, shaken, but otherwise fine, I stomp against the door, opening it. I stumble out, intend on surveying the damage a little more closely. Discouraged, I stare at the smoking hood for a couple of seconds before wildly looking around, in search of the short, old man that I am sure was on the road earlier. He’s nowhere in sight and I wonder for a moment if maybe I hit him and flung him into the deep valley on the other side of the country-road. That would be just my luck.
Carefully, I cross the road to the other side, hesitatingly looking down into the valley. I am not sure if I should be relieved or not when I cannot detect any bloodied or crooked bodies lying at the bottom. I shake my head in dismay and walk back to my wrecked car, reaching under the driver’s seat to retrieve my phone. My heart nearly stops when I do not retrieve one, but two pieces of what used to be a solid iPhone.
In my anger, I throw them across the street with a growl, trying to aim for the valley, but only succeeding in throwing the remains of what was my only contact with the civilised world halfway, effectively causing it to break in even more pieces. Mad at the world for causing me so much trouble, I sit down on the trunk of the car, slumping in defeat. The before so calm and peaceful stretch of concrete, soon turns into a place of despair, a place where no living soul should ever be held up at, because no other living soul is ever coming across this road.
After contemplating my options over and over again, I decide it would be best if I try to walk towards the highway, fifty miles back. Only the thought of walking fifty miles makes my legs hurt and grumbling, I pick up a few water bottles and some crackers from the back seat.
Putting them in my bag and slinging it over my shoulder, I give my car one last glance before turning around and starting to walk.
“Hey there, mate. In a bit of a hurry, weren’t we?” a voice booms right next to my left ear and I jump about a mile away from my spot. The man next to me is short, bearded and wears a worn shirt and filthy cap. He smiles maliciously and I can just see the three missing teeth on the right.
After I’ve recovered from the initial shock that this guy just all of a sudden appeared right beside me, I frown, clenching my fists, and look him into his face. “The hell were you doing in the middle of the road dude? You have a death wish or something? I could have hit you!”
“But you haven’t,” the guy replies matter-of-factly.
I narrow my eyes, getting more and more pissed off at the dude as seconds tick by, “maybe if I had, my car wouldn’t be all screwed up right now!” I bellow, turning away swiftly and madly stamping onwards, away from the bearded man.
“Come on,” the guy says, and I can vaguely detect the smile in his voice, while he tries to keep up with my fast pace, “don’t be like that. Not many people would have reacted so fast as you did, many people would have just run me over. You, my boy, are quite a hero.”
I halt abruptly, clench my jaw and take a deep breath before turning, “Well, this hero has to get to the highway before it gets dark. And unless you’ve got a working phone, I would really appreciate it if you would let me get on my way,” I reply stiffly, not in the least expecting this man to have a phone on him.
“Ah, sorry kiddo, can’t really help ya with that. Maybe there’s something else I can help you with though,” he comments mysteriously, not at all bothered with my fast walking anymore. Although my heart steadily picks up speed, I keep my gaze on the road before me.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I mutter.
“You clearly have something on ya’ mind, kid,” the man explains, “Why don’t you share it with the group, son? Get it off your chest?”
This time I do turn to face him, though I keep walking. Am I really that transparent? Do you only need to cast a look on me to know the deep shit I tried to stay out of?
Suddenly I realized that I stopped walking, staring uncertainly at my mysterious companion. He’s looking at me with an inviting expression and although there’s something really strange about him, something I can’t quite put my finger on, he’s right. I do need someone to blow off steam at.
“You really wanna know?” I yell into the warm summer air at the old man’s cap. He nods quickly, watching me with interested eyes. “I’m fucked!” I yell, even louder this time.
“Why’s that, kiddo?”
“Everything’s messed up, and it’s not even my fault! You know, one moment we were on tour, everything’s fine, and then bam! He goes and fucks it all up. Now we’re all screwed! It’s his fault! Why should we all have to pay for it?” Although I can’t see it, I know my face must resemble something close to a tomato, but I don’t really care about that as a release all the build-up anger I’ve kept inside for over five weeks. The man before me doesn’t seem fazed by my outburst and patiently waits for me to continue.
“You know, my wife keeps calling me, because she thinks I vanished from the face of the earth, but I couldn’t do it anymore. I had to get out, you understand? I mean, how am I supposed to act like nothing’s going on, when all I really want is to change everything that happened? So I left! What else could I do? What’s done, has been done, nothing you can do to change it, right?” I feel my chest heaving in exertion as I watch the man helplessly, as if asking him to tell me different.
He looks at me thoughtfully, as if contemplating if I’m worth giving his advice to, “So what brings you to Bendrick Road then, kid?” he questions after a few moments.
It doesn’t occur to me why he knows the name of this Godforsaken country-road, instead I slump down, sitting on the guardrail that my car crashed into about a mile ago.
“He needs my help, I’m supposed to be in Indiana in...,” I pause, glancing at my watch again, “two minutes…” I laugh slightly, feeling ridiculous and let my arm drop, staring off in the distance for a solid minute before speaking again, “and then you appeared, and now my car’s screwed up too, just like my life,” my voice sounds only half-accusing, the defeat and exhaustion taking up the other part.
The man nods, seemingly understanding. “I see. Though I do not really know what happened, I feel like it doesn’t matter. It’s too late to change any of it, right?” I nod, still staring into the distance.
“But still you jumped at the chance of helping the guy, even if he screwed up your life?” he doesn’t sound disbelieving, and if I wouldn’t know better, I’d say I heard a hint of admiration in his voice.
I do know better though and that’s why I shrug half-heartedly, “Yeah, I’m just that stupid, I guess.”
The man decides not to touch that subject and the silence lingers for a good five minutes before he speaks up. “What if…” he begins and I notice it’s a struggle to force the words out, “What if I told you, there was a way to…” he pauses and I raise my eyebrows.
“To what?”
“To change things? You know, really, change them?”
I frown deeply, returning my gaze on the road, thinking about his words, “How? I mean, you did get the part where I said it was too late, right?”
“It doesn’t have to be,” he states cryptically.
“What do you mean?”
“I need you to focus, really, really focus,” the man suddenly instructs and instead of doing as he says, I watch him incredulously.
“What?”
“Nothing is ever too late, Nick, not in the least if you know all the things I’ve learnt in my years.” My eyes grow big at the mention of my name, but I keep my mouth shut, too caught up in the moment to really take it into account that I never told this stranger my name.
“Focus, son. Focus on the one thing you want to change most in this life, close your eyes, and go from there.”
After a few moments, I decide to take his words seriously and do as he says. My thoughts wander off to a time long ago, the time everything started to get loose and wobbly, threatening to fall over and destroy the lives of them involved.
“You got something?” the man’s gruff voice interrupts only slightly and I nod, mesmerized. “Alright, now I want you to open up your eyes again, but do not stop thinking about it, can you do that?” I nod confidently again, printing the mental image onto my brain just to be sure. Opening up my eyes, I don’t see anything different immediately. My eyes flick towards the man’s face for a second and I give him a questioning look.
“Focus, kiddo!” he hisses vehemently, and I immediately return my gaze to the road, “Focus and think about the thing!”
Complying, I try again and as I open my eyes a second time, there’s a strange feeling of déjà vu sweeping over me. Two birds, that I swear were there five minutes ago, fly dangerously low over the abandoned road. I blink a few times, but have to conclude in the end that my eyes are not betraying me.
The birds are flying backwards.
Shocked, I turn towards the man again, but he’s disappeared as fast as he’s come. The world suddenly starts spinning madly and the exhaustion I felt earlier multiplies by ten. I lose the struggle to keep my eyes open and I’m asleep even before my head connects with the guardrail.
Author's Chapter Notes:
I hope it finally becomes interesting now :P
