Another plot bunny that wanted to get out! I wrote this a while ago, and thought I might share it with you rather than leave it sitting in the Doc Manager. There is a possibility of further chapters in the future, but as it stands now this story is complete.
"Devon! Devon, do you read me?"
"Yes Michael. How is it going?"
"Let's just say it's not one of our better days. How soon can the police get here?"
"Really, Michael! I assume that no one is hurt?"
"Not yet, but at this rate, we might be outta luck."
"And how do you figure that, Michael?"
"We just lost him."
"Not again."
"Are you sure you'll be alright driving home alone?" The woman asked. The man behind her in line shifted on his feet impatiently.
"Mom, I'll be fine," said the girl, "I drove you here, didn't I?"
"I'm just saying..." said the mother.
"Mom, you have to go," the girl said, looking anxiously at the people in line, "The train in leaving any minute. Tell Dad that I said hi, I love him, and that I can't wait until you both come home."
"Well, alright then," the mother said, "Be careful driving home!"
"I know, Mom."
"The brakes-"
"Yes, I know," said the girl, "Now hurry!"
The woman leaned forward and kissed her daughter on the forehead.
"Be safe Tina," she said.
The girl nodded. "I will," she said. Tina's mom finally entered the train, and a few minutes later, the girl watched in relief as the train safely left the station.
"See you soon," she whispered, then looked in the general direction of her pocket. The car keys were still there, she could feel them. She was driving home to an empty house, but she was excited. This was going to be her first time home alone. Finally, she would get some peace and quiet.
She was just turning around to walk out of the station when the explosion happened.
At least, that's what it felt like. There was a large, loud noise, and the entire station shook. A few people screamed, and with a beating heart Tina turned around to see what was happening.
At the other end of the station there was a large iron gate which separated the end of the platform from a three foot drop off of it. Right now that gate was on the ground, and a small black car sat innocently on top of it. A few people who had been standing close to the gate were shaking, and one of them was sitting on the ground; but it looked as if no one was seriously hurt.
"What on earth?" A woman near Tina shouted.
"How did that car get up here?" Tina heard someone else say.
A man nearby swore, and at that moment the car's door opened. A man nervously crawled out, and slipped onto the ground. He looked like he was in shock.
"Is he sick?" someone asked, just as a security guard ran up to the driver.
"Nobody leave the station," another voice said. It was the station's security guard speaking, "We're going to need to talk to the witnesses. Standard protocol."
Tina sighed. She wasn't a witness-she hadn't seen the accident at all, she was facing the other way-but she would probably be stuck for a while. Hopefully she'd get out before the traffic hour...Well, since she was stuck here, she might as well get closer to the action. Apparently, Tina wasn't the only curious person on the platform. There was a small crowd already beginning to gather near the vehicle.
"What do we do?" asked another voice.
"DON'T GO NEAR THE CAR!" someone screamed, startling several people-including Tina-into jumping in the air for half a second.
"What?" asked the security guard.
"That car is evil," said the voice again, and suddenly Tina realized it was the car's driver speaking.
"You've probably just drank too much," the security guard said, "We're going to get you to a nice, warm station and get you something for that headache of yours, alright?"
"I'm serious!" The driver said, trying to wrestle out of the guard's arms even as the guard pulled out handcuffs, "I thought I could handle it. The others failed. That thing is pure evil! Didn't you see it speeding?"
"Oh, speeding," said the guard nonchalantly, cuffing the man's hands together, "I'll make a note of that. Hey Bernie, you there?" He asked into his radio.
"Yeah?" came the distant response.
"Some yahoo crashed his car into the gate at the end of the platform. Come take the car out of here, alright?"
"Sure thing."
"Excuse me sir," said one of the men at the station, "I'm a lawyer. You don't want to move the car, especially not before taking pictures of the damage-"
"Listen bud," said the security guard, "I'm sure you know your job, but I know mine. This is a small train station in a small town, and we were going to replace that fence anyway. What I need now is for that car to get off this platform. Understand?"
"But don't you want to press charges?" The lawyer asked.
"No," said the guard, "Now get out of the way. I'm taking this guy inside."
"I'm serious!" The driver said, "Why don't you believe me?"
"Calm down, we believe you all right," the guard said sarcastically.
"Just stay away from the car," said the driver, "STAY AWAY!"
The security guard pulled the man away from the scene, even as another security guard ran up.
"Whew," said the other security guard; Bernie, as his nametag confirmed, "This is some accident! Alright, then. Anyone got the keys?"
"He left them in the car, I think," said one of the people on the platform.
"Hm, don't see any," said Bernie, sticking his head in the vehicle, "Although this car is so fan-cy, maybe there isn't a key. Aha! I was right. No keyhole."
"How are you going to move it then?" A lady asked.
"We're going to push," said Bernie, straightening up, "Any of you want to help?"
"I'm game," someone offered.
"Sure," said someone else, and within a few minutes, all the men and some of the women on the platform were offering to help.
"Let the men do all the hard work, I say," said one of the women, "I'm going to work on clearing the path of this junk." And she kicked a piece of iron that once belonged to the gate out of the way.
"How are you going to get it out?" Another woman asked, "You can't push it backwards. The gate's too bent to do it."
"We'll have to push it to the stairs in the middle of the platform, they'll hold it," said Bernie, "Then we'll just move it to the parking lot. We can call a tow truck to do the rest."
"That means we need someone to steer it to the stairs," said the lawyer, "Someone light."
"How about you?" Asked a voice close to Tina.
Wait. Was he talking to her?
"Who, me?" She asked.
"Sure," said the man, "You look pretty light."
"Whaddya say?" Bernie asked.
"Um, sure?" Tina said nervously.
"Come on then," said Bernie.
Tina walked through the crowd and stepped over the crumpled gate, finally seeing the vehicle without any people in the way. It was surprisingly undamaged.
"So, I just get in?" She asked, more because she felt like she needed to say something than because she needed an answer.
"Wait until we push, then you steer." said the lawyer.
"Watch the mirrors," said Bernie, "I'll point you the directions."
"Um, okay," she said, sitting in the car.
Whoa. This was nice. The pitch black seats still smelled like new car, and the steering wheel was covered in leather. But what really got her attention was the array of cameras and buttons on the console.
"Wow," she whispered, settling into the seat, "Someday I'll have a car this nice. Hopefully."
Suddenly someone closed the door, and Tina jumped. She looked out the window and saw Bernie walking away. She turned her attention back to the car.
"Alright, so the car needs to be in neutral," she said outloud, looking for the shift to take the car out of park. "Right," she said, slapping her forehead, "Can't take you out of park, because we don't have the keys. Guess they'll just have to push harder," she said.
She honestly couldn't tell if the car was in neutral or park. There were a lot of gadgets on the dashboard and center consol, but for some reason she couldn't find the shift. Tina decided to ignore that, however, and instead she turned to look in the mirrors, adjusting the rear-view mirror so that she could see Bernie.
"Here we go," she said outloud again, grabbing the wheel with both hands.
All the men on the station platform, and some of the women too, gathered around the car, apparently taking directions from Bernie. Some people also tried to clear the pathway of the pieces of the gate. The thing was, Tina couldn't hear anything inside the car.
"You're completely soundproof," she observed, her hands tightening on the wheel.
The signal apparently was given, and the people pushed. The car moved a little, slipping off the iron gate, but then it stopped. The people pushed and pushed, and some of them started to get red in the face.
"Come on car," Tina said, "You can do it!"
Treating the car like a child apparently worked, because suddenly the vehicle moved.
"Yes!" Tina said, keeping the wheel in the right direction, "Now we're talking."
The car was pushed past the remaining pieces of the gate, and the people on the platformed gained the confidence to push harder. The vehicle began to move faster.
"Alright," Tina said, watching the mirrors for Bernie, "As soon as we're close enough to the stairs, we're probably going to turn. And I'm going to have to really push the wheel to get you to move, since we're still in park. I think."
She was just talking to herself, of course, but as she followed Bernie's directions-a little to the left, to stay on course, no that was too much, to the right, yes, that was perfect-Tina began to feel much more comfortable in the car.
Finally they reached the middle of the station, close enough to the stairs to turn. To Tina's surprise, it was much easier to move the steering wheel than she thought it would be.
Just as they were in front of the stairs and angled perfectly to move down them, Tina opened the driver's side door.
"What are you doing?" Someone yelled, "Get back in the car!"
"But the stairs," she began.
"You have to go down them," said one of the women pushing, "We can't just push the car down. You need to brake once you get to the bottom or it will crash into something."
Tina nodded, but she also gulped. She closed the door, and buckled herself up.
"All right," she said nervously, "This is going to be fine. Right? Yeah. Of course. Right?"
The pushers moved the car right to the edge of the stairs, and it was all it took for Tina to keep her foot off the break.
"It's alright," she said, "Once the wheels are on the stairs I can slow down with the break."
The front went over the edge, and Tina couldn't hold back a shriek as the car dipped forwards. There was an uncomfortable bump, followed closely by a few more from the front tires, before the car came to a stop.
"What happened?" She asked, her foot off the break.
There was an uncomfortable amount of time as Tina sat there, not knowing what to do, while behind her the pushers were moving all around the car, apparently discussing the situation.
Suddenly there was a knock on the window, and someone opened the door to speak with her.
"We forgot that it's still in park," the man said, "We think that's why the tires are stopping the car from rolling forward any further. We need to push it down step by step, and we still need you to steer."
Tina nodded, and the man closed the door.
The people reassembled behind the car, and they all continued to push. Step by step, minute by minute, they moved the car down the flight of steps until it finally reached the bottom. Tina gave a big sigh of relief once the rear wheels touched the ground.
They pushed the car a little further while Tina steered, until finally they reached the parking lot. Suddenly they disbanded, and Tina took that to mean that they were done.
She opened the door and stepped out.
"Well, that's something to tell the family about," she said to herself, closing the door behind her.
"Alright, everyone. You're free to go," Bernie said, "Thank you all for your help."
"Don't you need us as witnesses? You know, about the accident?" The lawyer asked, his forehead sweaty from pushing.
"Nah, it's pretty open and shut," said Bernie, "You all can get going now. The next train will be here in a few minutes. Wouldn't want anyone to be late."
Suddenly, sirens pierced the air.
"Finally! These guys must've come to pickup the loon," Bernie said, referring to the car's driver.
But it didn't seem as if the police had sent an ordinary station car. An out-of-state cruiser, the newest model, pulled up in the parking lot and parked near the small black car. Then another police car pulled up. And another. And another...
"What's going on here?" Tina asked herself, as she counted the cars. She finally counted thirteen, before the last car pulled into the parking lot. It wasn't a real police car, in fact, the only tall-tell sign of being one was the small red cap flashing above the driver's side door. What struck her about this car, however, was the fact that it was completely identical to the one they had just pushed down the stairs. The twin car pulled up right next to the parked one, and the driver got out and leaned against his car.
"Is everything all right?" The driver of the nearest police car asked, jumping out of the car and running towards the small black car they had pushed down the stairs.
"Everything's fine, officer," said Bernie the security guard, "The driver's waiting for you at the station."
"The driver? Is he alright?" Asked the officer.
"Eh, a little shaken I guess," said Bernie, "But then, who wouldn't be? The guy drove this car right onto the platform."
"He's not on the platform now," said the officer, looking at the empty car.
"Huh?" Bernie asked.
"We pushed the car down here," said the lawyer, "I told them not to move it. I'm a lawyer, you see, and-"
"Yes yes, that's fine," said the officer, waving his hand to silence the man, "Knight, you go get the driver. Make sure he's alright."
"Yessir," said the driver of the twin car, quickly running to the stairs.
"Devon?" The officer asked.
"Over here officer," said a voice, and out of the passenger side of the twin black car stepped an elderly man. "The trailer is on its way," Devon said.
"Good," said the officer, "You know, I'm holding you responsible for this."
"Of course." Devon said unemotionally, but he glanced very quickly at the Knight fellow who just went up the stairs. Almost as if he was mad at him.
"You all can get going," the police officer said to the crowd, "There's nothing to see here."
Tina took the opportunity to leave immediately. If she didn't leave soon, she would get stuck in traffic. She quickly walked to her mother's car.
"Well, that was an adventure," she said as she entered the car and adjusted the seat.
She started the engine and looked behind her to avoid crashing into any of the police cars or people.
Just as she was leaving the parking lot, Tina turned to get one last look at the scene behind her.
"That's funny," she said.
She could have sworn that the small black car, still empty, had flashed its headlights at her.
But she shook her head and continued driving. She had a nice, empty house to get to and plenty of quiet time to herself-aside from work, that is.
THE END