A fictional exercise cont’d
The bus lugged through the tough terrain, shadows of deserted buildings blitzing past the windows. Eddie jolted awake when his head hit against the window as the bus came to a hard stop. He looked around blearily, trying to orient himself, before realizing that the bus had finally arrived at its destination.
Relieved to be able to finally stretch his legs, Eddie disembarked and took in his surroundings. Havenmead, drastically different from its former self, Chicago, was a small town, but it had a certain charm to it. Just as he remembered. He walked around for a while, taking in the sights and sounds of the town, before finding his assigned building to put his stuff away and relax.
Suddenly, he heard a loud crash coming from the other side of the street. He turned just in time to see a car careen into a lamppost, smashing it to pieces.
Eddie ran towards the car, his heart pounding in his chest. He could see a figure slumped over the steering wheel, and he could hear faint moaning coming from inside the car. He reached the car and yanked open the door. The driver, a middle-aged man, was bleeding from a head wound, mumbling nonsense.
“Are you okay?” Eddie yelled.
The man nodded weakly and tried to enunciate, but nothing came out. Right next to him, a small burst of flame erupted. Eddie retreated before the fire could light him on fire too and called 9-1-1.
“9-1-1, what’s your emergency?”
“Hi, yeah, I’m on Main Street and there’s been a car accident. A person is injured, likely stuck in the car, and will need medical attention.”
“Okay, we’ll send an ambulance right away. What’s your name and location?”
Eddie gave the operator the information and hung up the phone. He could hear the sirens in the distance, but he knew they wouldn’t be there in time. He ran back to the car to see if he could get the driver out. The small fire that he had seen earlier was now a raging inferno, and the man was now unconscious. Eddie looked around, desperate for something to use to cool the flames. There was nothing. Not even a fire hydrant.
Fuck it. Eddie reached inside and tried to drag the driver out. The fire burned, but Eddie had no time to waste. Luckily, he was able to wedge the driver’s feet loose from the seat and heave the man out of the car. He laid him down on the curb and checked for a pulse.
The man was still alive, but he was in bad shape.
Eddie had to do something.
He wrapped his arms around the driver and lifted him up. He started to walk towards the nearest hospital, trying to stabilize the man’s head. Just a few steps later, Eddie quickly realized that trying to walk with a 180-pound limp man probably wouldn’t be fast enough. So he maneuvered the man onto his back and started to run. He had never been a runner, so he knew he couldn’t keep this up for long.
Suddenly, he heard someone calling his name. He struggled to stop and turned around.
A thud, and then there was darkness.
Eddie woke up groggy and disoriented. He couldn’t remember what had happened. He tried to sit up, but his head was pounding. He put a hand to his forehead and felt a large lump. Then it all came back to him. The car accident. The fire. The man he had tried to save.
Eddie looked around, straining. He was in what looked like a hospital room. There was a man in a suit sitting in a chair to the corner. Hearing that Eddie was awake, the man shifted in his seat, fumbling for something in his coat. He must’ve been dozing off.
“Mr. Keng, I’m Agent Burke with the UHA. I need to ask you some questions about what happened last night.”
Last night? UHA? How did he know my name?
Eddie’s head was still spinning, so the man was blurry. He tried to focus on the agent’s words. This voice sounded familiar, but he was too out of it to match it to anyone he knew.
“I — I don’t know what you’re talking about. I just — I was trying to help someone, and then — ”
Agent Burke suddenly stood up, interrupting Eddie. Eddie shrank back and closed his eyes, confused and scared. Agent Burke walked over and loomed over Eddie, exuding anger. “You idiot! You could have blown the entire operation!”
Eddie opened his eyes, trying to focus. Burke’s face was still blurry. Sensing danger, Eddie stuttered, “I — I don’t understand. What operation?”
Burke leaned in closer, his voice raised and branded by anger. “You were never supposed to be involved. But now, you’ve become a liability. We can’t let you go!” Eddie felt something angled, hard and cold being shoved into his blanket. He flinched away and starting fighting Burke. He wanted Burke to back off, but was repeatedly pinned back down. Eddie’s heart began to race as he realized that Burke could easily choke him to death. Eddie begged internally to his eyes. Focus, eyes! Focus! See his face!
Finally, Eddie’s vision slowly turned clear. He flailed his arms, as a distraction at this point to keep Burke occupied, while trying to catch a clear look of Burke’s face. Just as he could finally see Burke’s face with clarity, Eddie stopped sharp, his eyes wide open, his hands not letting go of Burke’s coat. He was groggy still, but the face was significant enough that he didn’t need to think at all to place it.
“What the actual fuck.” Eddie mumbled under his breaths, disbelief taking over.
The face belonged to a man Eddie knew as Tom. Thomas Helms, brother of Sara Helms, brother-in-law of Eddie Keng, one of the many family members who everybody thought had died from various diseases three years ago, Eddie’s best friend.
Burke also stopped sharp, his eyes suddenly wavering. He quickly recovered, though. Roaring in fury, Burke backhanded Eddie so hard that Eddie saw stars and blackness creeping in at the edges of his hard-gained vision. He knew he was going to pass out soon.
Burke leaned down again and whispered, “To your ears.”
“What?…” Eddie was confused again, drifting further into the abyss.
Burke walked away, and everything went dark again.
The Drowning, a fictional exercise:
The Drowning #1
The Drowning #2
The Drowning #3
