Flash of Agony

A flash story as promised, something in direct opposition of the longer tales I had been posting to date.

Maybe 1 more flash story will follow in the days to come.

Take what you will from them and leave your votes and comments behind.

-V

*****

Hanging up his phone, Mike lowered his body slowly onto the back bumper of his Rav 4 and closed his eyes. The air was filled with the raucous honking of passing motorists as they struggled past where he sat on the side of the Grand Central Parkway. The inside of his eyelids were blackish-pink from the morning sunlight shining through. He could smell the exhaust from the thousands of cars streaming by, underlaid by the salty scent of the Little Neck Bay and the East River. But what Mike felt the most was the twinge in his back.

He opened his lids and glanced down at his watch. 7:38 AM. No chance of making it to work on time. His jaw began to ache before he realized he was grinding his teeth together. Forcing himself to relax he eased back and shook his head to clear it.

With both hands against his knees, he gingerly pushed himself upright. The twinge in his back became a deeper twang...and then released with an unheard click from somewhere along his spine. "Just fucking great," he muttered, trying to stand up fully but finding himself canted slightly to the right. With one arm bent and his palm pressed against his hip, he pushed again but only succeeded in reducing the feeling of pressure; not actually standing any straighter.

Growling to himself, Mike walked around the driver's side of his Toyota, giving the door a quick push so it latched closed. Stepping over some of the garbage mixed in with the weeds along the poorly maintained median, he went around to the front of his vehicle and leaned against the hood. A woman was standing nearby, her cel phone held against her ear; her eyes were bloodshot and glistening from the nearly constant flow of tears she had been shedding since the accident. She was nodding her head again and again in response to whoever was on the other side and then ended the call with a poorly disguised sob of, "Thank you. We will."

"Well?" he asked, focusing only on her face.

"The police are on their way. I also asked about a tow truck." She dabbed her eyes with a twisted up tissue, drying yet another tear and wiping away some more makeup. She was nicely dressed, some sort of pants suit thing and a cream colored blouse. Her shoes were low heels and her nails seemed to be manicured and painted a very pale pink color. "I'm so sorry again about this."

"It happens," he replied, doing a poor job in masking his frustration. "Are you, ok?"

She nodded her head, brown hair flipping back and forth in front of her face. "Just not having a good week, I guess."

Looking sideways at his own car, Mike shrugged. "Well, if it helps, neither am I anymore," he gave a quick bark of laughter. "Thankfully neither of us are banged up too much. That's got to count for something."

She gave another one of those vigorous head nods, looking at her own vehicle. All along the driver's side were a number of dents and ripples in the steel where her Chevy had impacted with Mike's Toyota on the passenger side. We weren't even going that fast, he thought pissily. Barely about 20 mph in this damned morning rush hour traffic when, WHAM! She veers suddenly out of the center lane and hits me.

"I'm still so sorry."

He could tell she was still pretty shaken up. Some dormant feeling of chivalry kicked in at the sight of her constant tears. "Hey, enough of that. It's ok. That's why we have insurance, alright?"

"I know, but..."

"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there," Mike sang with a grin. "All those premiums and now I get to use it. So do you." Holding his right hand out he said, "Mike Brakadge. Nice to meet you."

She glanced down at it and the corners of her mouth turned up briefly. "Sally Worthington. Same here." She shook his outstretched hand once and then let it slide away. Her mouth dropped into a frown again and her face had grown blotchy and pale under the remains of her makeup. "I'm so sorry."

"Listen, Sally. It's an accident. They happen."

"I just want to die."

Mike's brows shot up. Want to die? Jeez lady, you side swiped my car; you didn't mow down a field of nuns. "Sally," he said firmly. She continued to stand there and sob, rush hour passing by one angry motorist at a time. "Sally," Mike said again, pushing himself off the hood with only a short grimace.

Her gaze lifted and she gasped. "Oh my! You ARE hurt! Why didn't you say anything!?" Her brows lowered as she tried to get Mike to lean back against the car. "Stupid, stupid. Mike, Damn it. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's ok. Just my back. A pull at best. Let's wait for the cops and then I'll go to my doctor and have him look at it."

"My fault. All my fault. My mind has been elsewhere. My life is a wreck. I wasn't paying enough attention and then I hit your car." She balled up her fist and punched herself in the thigh. "Damn it! Damn it all! Fuck!" Mike actually smiled hearing her finally drop the F-bomb but was getting concerned at how worked up she was becoming. "Hate it. Hate him. That bastard. Ruined my week! Prick! I'm sorry, Mike."

"Whoa, whoa. Enough." He looked around. "Hate who? Did someone hit your car and that's why you hit mine?"

Her head shook; more of that hair flailing about. "No. Nothing like that." She seemed to deflate, all the energy flowing out of her. Her shoulders rolled down and her arms just hung limply by her sides. "It's...my husband."

What the fuck? I don't know what you mean. Mike rubbed his forehead, feeling a headache slowly forming behind his brow. "Your husband?"

Another nod, this one slower and more weary. Sally turned so she could lean herself on Mike's Rav 4, looking towards the back of her own vehicle. "My husband, Ray." She paused as if trying to order her thoughts. "He...I caught him...last week...cheating on me."

Oh, shit. "Oh, shit." Sometimes, there isn't anything else to think or say.

"Yeah. With June...my neighbor. Slut." She took a ragged breath and continued. "So, yeah. Caught them trying to get dressed when I came home early. Got into a fight. He's crying, I'm crying, now my kids are crying."

She tilted her head back and looked up at the blue sky. "So everyone is upset and crying, and that bastard, it's because of him."

"Sally, I don't know what to say."

Shrug. "What is there to say? 12 years down the drain. I don't know what we're going to do. I've just been feeling alone for months now, like I'm the only one in this marriage that's even trying. And then I find out that he's been cheating on me."

She twisted her tissues again, the paper warping in her grip. "I mean, talk to me. I'm a person too. We're supposed to love each other and he just...and then he does what he does with another woman. Like I don't matter. I matter, don't I?"

All Mike could do is nod, feeling sick deep in his guts. "Anyway, I've not been paying much attention lately. I just feel so...stupid. So used. Like there is a hole in my chest where that bastard used to live and because of his actions, it's been torn from me. All I have is pain, this constant pain. It's like the worst burn you could imagine except it's inside and there is no escaping it."

Mike took a deeper look at Sally, noting that although she wasn't a bad looking woman, she just looked tired. Here it was, morning drive to work, and she looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep.

"So again, I'm sorry," her breath came in shuddering as if rolling over a mound of pebbles. "I thought the lane was clear, and everyone was merging over to get onto the Cross Island Parkway. So I didn't even see you. Normally I'm such a careful driver, but...just..."

He watched as she fell apart in front of him. Her hands came up and cupped her face. The gentle tears began to fall faster, dragging down her cheeks and spoiling her mascara. Her shoulders hunched up and down a few times and then a wailing sob fell free; rent from her chest like a root torn from the ground.

Mike pushed himself upright and just stared. His hands were held loosely at his side, fingers curled in like he could hold on to something. But there was nothing to hang on to, nothing to hold back, nothing to correct, straighten, fix, or just do.

Looking around him at the thousands of cars streaming by, the angry motorists and their snide snippets of conversation or even just the one finger salute, the garbage choked weedy median stained with grease and oil and gritty filth; he just felt...lost. Impotent. Unsure.

"Sally?" he asked quietly. She lifted her chin and peeked through her fingers, acknowledging that she heard him. "Sally, why don't you have a seat in your car, ok?"

He held his hand out and she looked at it; just that simple act of kindness was enough to push already ragged emotions off the ledge again. With a renewed round of tears surrounding her, she took Mike's outstretched hand and let him hobble her over to her car. She fell into the seat and mindlessly plucked a fresh tissue from her purse, wiping it across the dark runnels and tracks on her face.

With a deep sigh, Mike wandered back to his Rav 4, pulling his cel phone out of his pocket. In the distance he could see the flashing bubble gum lights of the Highway Patrol coming at long last. Glancing down at the screen he scrolled through his contacts and pressed the connect button. With another careful and tender lean he let himself fall gently against the front of his Toyota and held the phone to his ear.

After it finished ringing and the voice on the other end picked up, he smiled sadly and spoke.

"Hey, honey?"

"No, still here."

"Yeah, the cops are almost here."

"I called Harry already; he knows I'm going to be late."

"Yeah, true."

"No, my back is a bit fucked up."

"It's ok, no really. Listen, honey?"

"I know things have been crazy busy for the two of us lately, but I just wanted to tell you I love you."

"No, I'm not being silly."

"No, I didn't hit my head."

"I just wanted to let you know that I love you."

"Yeah, well. This was a pretty fucked up morning, and it's just got me thinking is all."

"Well, you're pretty wonderful, too."

"I will."

"I love you too, honey."

Mike hung up the phone. Looking at Sally through her rear window, the sudden twinge he felt in his heart matched the one he felt in his back.

* *

Hello, this is Eliza Destifano with your traffic update. Pretty normal rush hour traffic at this time. Some light delays in Eastern Suffolk on 27 out to the Hamptons by the Shinecock Inlet. There is also a brake check on the Northern State at Wolf Hill Road. The big delay though is on the Grand Central where our tip line has reported an accident pulled over to the medianright by the entrance to the Cross Island. You have a lot of rubber necking east and west bound so there are painful delays already thrity minutes; so use the LIE if you can and avoid the area altogether. This is News 12 Traffic; know...before you go.