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"Measure Of A Man"
Written by Sara(goneplatinum@live.com)
Two Thousand & Eight


---3---
Not knowing what she was doing or where she was going to go, Jill simply thrust the gear back into reverse and slowly let her foot off the brake. Her red metallic mini Cooper sped down the residential street with the radio at top volume. She had to have something other than her own thoughts swimming through her head.

“God I can’t believe how stupid I was to let him make me think…” She shook her head, throwing tears right and left, as the last half hour sunk in. “I gave him three years--three fucking years of my life. And then he just throws it away.”

A shrill beeping interrupted her string of thoughts for the moment. Jill grabbed the pink phone and cast a quick glance at who was calling.

“Hey AJ,” she sighed, making a sharp left turn out of the gated community.

“Yo Jilly babe. What’s going on?”

“Uh, this really isn’t a good time,” Jill said as she maneuvered onto the congested highway. “I-I’m not in the best of moods.”

“Uh oh, what happened? Did they cancel ‘Grey’s Anatomy’?” he asked with a chuckle.

“If it were that simple, I would be in a much better place right now.” She could feel the tears welling up behind her eyes again. “Nick and I had a fight.”

“Ack. Um, do you want to talk about it?” AJ fidgeted in his seat. He wasn’t that keen on ‘girl speak’, and was even less keen on relationship talk.

“No, not really,” she said, her voice choked with sobs. She flipped a switch and soon AJ’s voice filled the small space. Jill snapped her cell phone shut and threw it into the backseat.

“Where are you going?” was all AJ could think of to say.

Jill shrugged. “Does it matter?”

“Jilly, of course it matters. You matter, and don’t you forget it.”

Out of nowhere, a shiny black crotch rocket zoomed by, making her little car shake in reverberation. Jill sucked in her breath, her eyes wide as they fixated on the view before her.  A small Ford pickup was driving erratically, weaving in and out of each lane. She could hear the horns of the other irate drivers as well as the choice words they shouted out the open windows. But all Jill could focus on were the two circles of yellow light.

The truck was going the wrong way, and heading straight for her.

Her hands shook as they had never before, a sense of fear overtook her mind if only for a moment. All she could think of was somehow stopping or getting out of the car.

“Holy shit, oh please no.” she whispered, silently hoping the truck would somehow go a different way.

“Jilly? Babe, please, talk to me,” AJ said, a sense of urgency in his husky voice.

She gasped and clenched the steering wheel tightly, violently turning it all the way to the left. Her heart pounded with such force she felt as if it might explode out of her chest.

“Jill? What in the fuck is going on?” AJ shouted into the phone.

“Oh… oh god. I’m going to crash,” she said in realization as the scene she hoped she would never have to see in her life quickly began to unfold.

“Ha… Haha, very funny. No really, what’s going on?” AJ’s voice faded as the connection was suddenly cut.

Fragments of metal and tiny shards of glass flew in every direction as the pickup slammed head-on into the Cooper, causing the crumpled automobile to skid sideways into the stone median. Acting more like a ping pong ball, the small vehicle bounced off the median and began to cross the highway at a high rate of speed.

She could hear the sound of rubber skidding against the hot pavement and brakes squealing from all sides. Jill’s eyes became wide as saucers when the green grass of the drainage ditch came into view.

The tires hit a ridge of dirt on the shoulder and immediately, the car flipped up onto its side. Dark, thick gray smoke billowed out of the now mangled hood of the Cooper and up into the already smog-filled air. Jill felt a rush of air escape from her mouth as the world suddenly faded to black.

-----

“Well, here’s to you, Nicky boy, for being a first-class jackhole,” Nick said, raising the amber bottle to eye level. He nodded at the bottle, and then took a long, hard swig of the cold liquid. “Ahhh.” It slid down his throat like butter.

Nick sat back and let out a sigh, taking in the now empty house. It had once been filled with laughter and the scent of lavender from Jill’s favorite shampoo.

Jill… no, he wasn’t gonna go there. What’s done is done. They both had had their say in the matter, and now… she was gone. And it was fine. Really, it was.

“I need some music,” Nick decided, abandoning his friend Mr. Jack Daniels for the moment. He stumbled over to the large entertainment center, letting out a random hiccup. He sniggered as his fingers fumbled over the many buttons, and soon the room was rocking out to the sounds of the latest by Nickelback.

The song was good, and a sober Nick knew that, but the constant pounding of drums and the guitar that seemed to get louder and louder with each verse was making the liquor go to his head even quicker than usual.

“Oh ughh,” he lamented, scratching his head as it too began to thump in sync with the harsh beat.

Somehow his legs got tangled over each other, and Nick fell to the floor with a loud thud. He let out a groan and managed to roll over on his back. He heaved, squinting at the thought as his stomach began to make strange gurgling noises.

“Oh shit. Please no,” he begged as the vile substance charged up his throat. He choked it back, willing anything else at this point to happen, as the beige carpeted floor suddenly took on a sickly greenish-brown hue.

Nick groaned again, wiping at his face and down the front of his sweatshirt that was now encased with his own vomit. With some will pulled out of somewhere, he managed to rip off the shirt and throw it as far out of view as possible.

He let out a low groan and glanced up at the ceiling as the lights from outside cast shadows and danced, swirling about, shooting off vivid designs in his head. The room was eerily silent and still, despite the fact that the lingering song lyrics still trailed through the depths of his conscience.

Someone to love with my life in their hands. There`s gotta be somebody for me like that.

A single tear escaped down his cheek, which he forcefully wiped away as the anger and sorrow that tugged at his heart came to a head. His broad shoulders shook as the tears flowed like rain, soaking the carpet once over.