Unlikely hero, p.18
Unlikely Hero, page 18
“Damn…my date has got it going on!” I said. I was trying to imitate a wrapper I’d seen on TMZ.
She giggled and looked at me. My mom and Tim laughed out loud.
“Oh. My. God. Amber, you’re so pretty.” She almost shouted.
“Tim. I think we’re ready.” I said looking between him and my teary eyed mother.
“Actually. Me and your mom got you guys a surprise.” He said as he walked to the door opening it.
We both walked up and sneaked a peek outside.
There in the driveway was a stretch limo. Black sleek. Classy.
“Just so you two don’t get any ideas, I had the alcohol removed from the car.” He smiled.
“Last thing I want.” I said.
Jen just nodded, still gazing at the stretch in the driveway.
“Wow.” She mumbled.
“Ladies, if you would join us in the kitchen for a quick refreshment, before I escort you to your waiting chariot.” Tim said mockingly as he and my giggling mother followed him into the kitchen.
There on the table was sparkling cider and champagne poured into elegant flutes. Next to them were mini quiches, little steak napoleons and crudité. We each lifted a glass. Jen and I drank the cider, Mom and Tim the champagne.
We stood and giggled as we each drank from our elegant glasses, and nibbled on the hors d’oeurves.
Jen placed her empty glass down and looked at the clock.
“Jeez…Amber we have to go.” Panic in her voice.
I looked up. We still had plenty of time to get there, get our pictures taken and make our way to the table before the ceremonies began.
“Uh...okay. Guess that’s that.” I reached over to hug both my mom and Tim. “Thank you both so much. For everything.”
“Yeah…thank you guys so much.” Jen said as she leaned over me and hugged them both.
Truth be told, I was excited and happy to be on our way. The sooner we can get there, the sooner I would have my dance with Troy.
Although I thought about asking her, I wasn’t going to put Jen on the spot asking about Troy and me. She was so excited to be dressed up and going to prom. I totally understood, you see, Jason had broken up with Carrie… or did Carrie break up with Jason? Anyway, they were both still friends and both single tonight, which left Jen in heaven. She had been crushing on Jason for some time now and truth be told, if he didn’t drop to his knees when he saw how gorgeous she looked, I had no hope in him being worthy of her. That said, where was Troy?
We pulled up in front of Summit High and were in line to drive up and be let out of our cars. No one could see who was in the limos, the windows were tinted so dark. So as we pulled up close, I spotted Jason looking around. When our driver walked around and opened our door, I was the first out. Jason looked and smiled, but his glance quickly went from me to the stunning girl getting out of the car behind me. When I looked at him, his whole face lit up. I watched as shock registered on his face when he saw how beautiful she was. When she got out, she grabbed my hand and squeezed it.
“It’s going to be a magical night.” Then she walked ahead of me to greet Jason.
I felt somewhat uneasy not knowing when Troy would make his appearance. I hadn’t seen him since before my dream last night and was feeling a bit jittery.
We all walked in to the cafeteria. It was decorated beautifully. I was taken aback, finding it hard to see Summit High underneath all this shimmer and sheen.
“I’m going to the ladies room. I’ll meet you at the table.” I said close to Jen’s ear.
“I’ll be here, holding your seats.”
“Seat Jen. He said he won’t come in.”
“Okay.”
I walked down the hall, noticing the stares I got from our regular group. Saying hello to all of the familiar faces that congregated out in the hall. I walked into the ladies room and opened my purse and took out my lip-gloss, quickly applying it to my lips. I made a smack sound and turned around to see Nikki and Carrie behind me.
“Hey guys.”
“Hey Amber. You look great.” Nikki said.
“She’s right.” Carrie said. “I got to go meet Steve, he’s waiting for me. See ya both inside.”
“See ya in there.” I said to her back.
“You alone?” Nikki said, but answered her own question before I had the chance to reply. “Yeah, Jason and Al told me. Hell, you look so good, I’ll dance with you.”
“Thank you, I might just take you up on that.” I replied.
“See you inside.” She said.
“Yeah.” I turned to look at the mirror, wishing Troy could see me right now. Not that he would have thought differently about me. But I did want to see his face.
I looked at the phone in my purse and noticed I didn’t have any missed calls. That would be odd Amber, he can’t call you.
Chapter 23
“Hey guys, ready?” Danny said to his friends. “Time to crash a prom. The prom crashers…should make that a movie.” His body swayed slightly as he placed his beer glass on the bar.
“Danny, man, this ain’t a good idea.” Peter said.
“What the heck you talking about? You all said you were in, now you’re all gonna back out? What the hell?” Danny could feel his face turn red.
“Listen man, she doesn’t want to be with you. She ain’t worth the trouble dude. Let it go. I saw Becki lookin’ at you like she was up for it.” Pete said, obviously the spokesman for the two others that just stood there listing to the side, drinking their beers.
“Maria is my girl. That fag is gonna find that out the hard way, when I kick his ass all over that parking lot.” Danny stumbled slightly as he walked past his friends and disappeared behind the Men’s Room door.
Peter turned to look at Billy and Jimmy. “Hey man, you want to join him, go ahead. Maria don’t want nothing to do with him. I’m not going. It’s friggin’ stupid.” Pete declared as he raised his beer to his lips and drank.
The guys were all drunk last night and all went along with Danny’s plan to crash the Summit High prom and beat the hell out of Maria’s new boyfriend Ron. The group all looked up when they heard Danny approach, mumbling incoherently.
“You pussies stay here. I’m going to kick that kid’s ass all over that damn gym.” Danny reached towards the bar and grabbed his glass, draining the last of his beer.
“It’s stupid man. That Becki girl’s got it bad for you. I’m you, I’d take that.” Pete offered. “Besides, you’re in no shape to drive man, you can’t even stand without swayin’.”
That last comment infuriated Danny. He turned his back on his friends and stormed out the door, expletives in his wake.
“Pussies.” He slurred as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his car keys. Opened the door and climbed in, a look of pure hatred on his face.
“She don’t want me, fine. I’m still gonna kick that kid’s ass.”
He pulled his 1984 Ford Explorer quickly out of the parking lot of Ed’s Tavern, spraying asphalt in his wake. As he turned left onto Kent Boulevard he sped along until he turned left onto Spring Road. The streetlights a blurring streak across the sky; one long string of glowing lights.
His anger built as he thought of Maria.
His Maria.
Her arms wrapped around some high school kid.
He was a man. Just turned twenty. He gave Maria whatever she wanted. He even slowed it down when she said ‘no’. Two years of his life he devoted to her. Two years of being true to just one girl. This was not the way he normally operated. He loved her. He ached for her. His chest constricted as he thought of their time together. Her kisses were so sweet…and now this boy, this kid from high school. Some football jock.
His foot pushed down on the pedal and the Explorer sped up.
He pushed the button to lower the window. He needed air. Hoping the cooler night air would clear his head, allowing him to think straight. His attention was averted from the road for a millisecond. He looked out the dirt-streaked windshield. It took him way to long to realize he was about to enter the intersection. He didn’t have the right of way. He had a full stop. There was no time. He pressed his foot on the brake, using all his strength in an attempt to slow the vehicle. The Explorer swerved to the left, but Danny didn’t turn into the spin. His senses and reaction time was slow.
Too slow.
Danny panicked and looked out the windshield. A bright light, like the lights of a train barring down on him, flooded his vision, causing his head to ache with the strength of the beam. He closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. When he opened them again, he found himself staring at some omniscient figure on the windshield, like watching television in slow motion on the glass. The figure reached out for him. Danny was captivated, unable to look away.
He smiled.
The car, a Chevy, carrying a family of five—parents and three small children—were about to cross over the spot where the two roadways met.
Danny closed his eyes and gripped the steering wheel with all his strength, his upper arms trembling with the exertion of his grip, his eyes transfixed on the glowing light.
Danny felt warmth. It caressed him. Swept him away. He felt nothing. No anger. No hate. No jealousy. Just silence.
It felt strange to him but he felt whole.
There was a sort of commotion in the background, and he could hear people yelling. He tried to listen closely to what they were saying.
“Where did he go.” He heard a woman shout, her voice obviously shaky.
He listened closely.
Then, before he had another thought, he heard the voices again.
“Call 911. Hurry.”
Danny could hear the woman on the phone calling for help. He heard two small children wimpering in the background.
Were they hurt? What happened?
Danny was so confused. He tried to focus but only saw a bright light that was soft and inviting.
“Noreen are they on their way?” A man’s voice shouted. He sounded quite agitated.
“Ralph, I called. They are on the way. I hear the sirens. Is he…is he alive.”
Danny heard the couple fussing near him. He felt no comforting touches. But the warmth that spread through his body was something he’d never experienced before.
He felt himself rise above the scene below and rolled his body so he could look down.
Below him there was chaos. People ran from their cars towards the Chevy that had veered off the road and stopped in some brush, feet short of a massive tree.
Lucky. Damn they were lucky.
On the ground, several feet away from the family stood a guy. He was just standing there watching, a look of concern on his face. Danny rubbed his eyes, trying hard to see. It was beginning to get a bit cloudy, like it was fading.
A man and a woman, both stood looking at the guy in the Ford.
Three small kids sat on the grass behind them. They were agitated, uncomfortable, and were crying.
Danny got the strangest feeling. It was his Ford. It was bent around a telephone pole like it was part of it. There was someone in the front seat, the driver’s seat.
The woman turned to her husband and spoke gently.
“I think he’s gone. Oh my God, I think he’s gone,” She said, her voice increasing in volume, becoming shrill.
“Go back with the kids,” He said gently, “go.”
She turned away from him and walked back to where the children sat just outside their car. The children seemed to sniffle and relax, their attention turned towards the crowd that had started to gather. They got excited when they saw the flashing lights.
A fireman walked quickly up to the couple.
“Can you tell me what happened?” he said evenly, although his words were commanding.
The man walked back and stood next to his wife. He looked at her questionably and began speaking.
“We were heading east on Kent Boulevard, about to enter the intersection. We had the right of way. There was a stop sign for the others, but we had the right of way.”
“Sir, I need you to calm down.”
“Yes…yes, sir. As I was saying we were, that’s our car,” the man turned and pointed to the Chevy Crossover in the wooded area, “we were about to cross Summit Avenue when out of nowhere a guy stood in the middle of the road. I turned to avoid him and lost control of the car.” He rubbed the back of his neck and continued, “at the same time the Ford,” he point to the Ford that was destroyed. “The Ford crashed into that pole. I never heard anything so loud in my life.”
A police officer joined the group.
“If it weren’t for that young man, we would be dead.” His voice was somber.
“Where is the young man now?”
“That’s just it. There was so much commotion going on. It was chaos. By the time I looked where I last saw him, he was gone.”
“Did he just walk away?”
“I really don’t know officer. I can’t remember seeing him after I got out of he car. Then we ran over to the Ford to help the driver, but it was too late. He was already gone.” The man looked over towards the Ford and watched as the firemen cut part of the door off, allowing the medics access to his body.
They loaded him onto the gurney and covered his bloodied body with a sheet; then loaded the gurney into the back of one of the waiting ambulances.
“The EMT’s are going to check you and your family out. Any injuries?”
“No sir. No. We came to a stop and didn’t hit anything.” He turned his head towards his vehicle, “if it weren’t for that boy, you would be taking us…” He let his thought trail off.
By now several police officers were standing next to the couples car. A few policemen were searching the wooded area for the boy. A woman officer sat down and spoke gently to the kids, who were still in awe of the scene playing out in front of them, as the EMTs checked the children.
“Miss, can you tell us what you saw?” the one policeman asked.
“It was just like my husband said. We were driving along and were about to cross the intersection, we live a few streets down Summit Avenue on River Road, when out of nowhere comes this boy is standing in the middle of the roadway.” She said as she looked down. “He caused my husband to turn our car towards the woods. Moments before that truck, over there,” she pointed to the Ford Explorer that had been split apart as it crashed into the telephone pole. “Before he would have hit us. If this boy didn’t veer us into the woods, that truck would have hit us. He would have hit us and killed us all.” She shook involuntarily. “He saved us. Is he okay?”
The officer called the two that had been searching the wooded area over to side where the group stood.
“Did you find anything?”
“No sir.” They said in unison.
“Keep looking.”
Danny felt like he was watching a movie—pretty grisly movie—and his emotions consumed him all of a sudden. He felt spent.
It slowly dawned on him that it was his body in the twisted metal that once was a car. His car. He lowered his head into his hands and moaned.
Chapter 24
“Danny?”
Danny wiped his tears away and looked at the guy standing in front of him.
“Who are you?”
He didn’t feel anger or pain. He didn’t feel anything but sadness.
“My name is Troy. I think you know why I’m here.”
“You’re the guy that saved that family. The one who was standing in the middle of the road?”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because a long time ago I did something I shouldn’t have. I’m just trying to pay it back.”
“Would I have killed them?” Danny asked, already sure of the answer.
“Yes.”
“I’m glad you saved them.”
“I am too.”
“So what now?” Danny asked.
“Now you just wait and the light will come to take you.”
“I saw a light. A bright as hell light right before the accident.”
Danny thought about the words Troy just said. He knew he was gone, he knew he would have taken that family with him. He knew he was lucky that Troy entered the intersection, at that precise time. The time his vehicle would have crushed that Chevy, killing that family.
“Are you going into the light too?”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Troy answered as truthfully as he could. He really didn’t know what would happen to him now. He didn’t know what would happen to this kid now either. He only knew he wanted to hold Amber again, just one more time. And he would be happy to go wherever he needed to. He just wanted one last kiss.
“Hey.” Danny said, knocking Troy out of his reverie. “Thanks man.”
“Yeah.”
Suddenly Troy felt a pull, a strong pull, dragging him back rapidly. He watched as Danny’s frame grew smaller in the distance. He closed his eyes.
Troy knew he deserved what was coming. He took a life and he had to pay for it. He would willingly go wherever the force took him, but his chest hurt, his heart ached. He wanted to hold her one more time, just one more time.
He heard their song in his head. So this was to be his afterlife. The memory of a girl he’d always love. The girl that made him want to be better. The girl that made him feel more alive after he was dead than he ever felt in life.
When you came to me with your bad dreams and your fears
It was easy to see that you'd been crying
Seems like everywhere you turn catastrophe it reigns
But who really profits from the dying
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you forever
I could hold you in my arms
I could hold you in my arms for-ev-r…
I wish I had the time.
Chapter 25
I walked back in and took my seat next to Jen. It was so wonderful to see her sitting and talking with Jason.
