The Car Crash
by Shadou-sama


"... and it turned out there were aliens after all!" Max wound his story up. The Bladebreakers all laughed. Well, except for Kai, and Tyson only sniggered, surprisingly. Max's story had been funnier than it had been scary, which was the type of story they were supposed to be telling that dark night, years after the World Championships. The team were gathered in a circle around a flashlight in Tyson's dojo.
"Hey Tyson, you haven't said much since we started this," Ray observed.
"Are you feeling alright?" Kenny asked.
"Er-yeah," Tyson answered somewhat nervously, his hand behind his head.
"Then why don't you tell the next story," Max said.
Tyson looked strangely serious. He glanced at Kai. "Should we tell them?" he asked, slowly.
Kai closed his eyes and contemplated for a moment. He opened his eyes and nodded.
"Okay, but you'll have to help me on parts of it. This happened a short while ago..."

Kai gripped the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. Tyson, the black car's second passenger, sat oblivious to the driver's mood and continued singing off key to the radio. The headlights barely made a dent in the darkness surrounding them on the country road. The clock read 11:54pm, in its usual creepy red light.
"Tell me again why I had to drive you?" Kai snarled. Tyson had bugged him and bugged him to take bluenette to the city for some trivial trinket or another. Otherwise, Kai would have been at his quiet home and not trying to navigate the dangerous gravel single-lane road with Tyson screeching in his ear.
Tyson stopped singing/screeching. "Because I don't have a car and you were on hand," he said matter-of-factly. "I needed to pick up Rei's birthday present," he added, pointing to the brown parcel sitting at his feet, "and tonight was the last chance."
"Because you procrastinated," Kai replied. He himself had bought and picked up Rei's gift a week ago in plenty of time for Rei's birthday the next day. Or in three minutes from now.
"Did not! It was specially made and tonight was the earliest I could get it."
Kai looked down at the parcel. It didn't look that special. What had Tyson bought? It had come from an old, beat up looking store in one of the city's not so great neighbourhoods. It hadn't looked like it could take special orders. Nor could Tyson really afford to spend much, especially after paying for his food bill. It was pro--
"KAI, WATCH OUT!" Tyson yelled suddenly.
Kai looked ahead. A car had come streaking towards them, too fast for that time of night. Kai swerved, and the two teens bumped into the ditch, luckily between the trees. He cut the engine.
"Are you okay?" Tyson asked.
"Hn." Kai grabbed a flashlight out of the glove compartment and got out of the car.
"I'll take that as a yes," Tyson said, before he, too, got out of the car.
Tyson blinked a few times, adjusting his eyes. Kai was a few yards up, climbing back onto the road. The flashlight's light bounced around. Tyson ran up to his friend.
"Please," a man said, startling the two. Dark haired and probably in his forties, he stood in the middle of the road with a desperate begging expression on his face. "My daughter is in that car." He pointed to it, which was mostly hidden by trees. "She has a fever and you need to call an ambulance."
Kai nodded, and took his cell phone from his back pocket. He quickly dialled for emergency and explained the situation and their location. After handing up, he looked around.
"Where'd that guy go?" he asked Tyson.
"Uh... I think he went back to the car," Tyson guessed, looking around too. He had been watching the road for cars, just in case one decided to pass by. The area was completely empty except for the two boys. The dark haired man had disappeared.
The two teens waited for the ambulance and police to arrive. Though neither would admit it, neither wanted to see how messed up the girl had got. Let the pros do it for them. When they did arrive, Kai and Tyson quickly pointed them to the car.
The ambulance and police vehicle lights flooded the area with red. A police officer with a notebook strode up to them, demanding to know what had happened. Tyson explained and answered the questions while Kai took a sobriety test. Apparently, they weren't going to be so quick to write off a teenage driver that was out past midnight and involved in a car accident as sober.
"And you say there was a dark haired older man?" the police officer asked. Tyson nodded. "Where is he now? I need to question him."
"We think he went back to the car," Tyson said.
"Jocelynn! Was there anyone by the car?" he asked a paramedic loading up the girl (who looked about five and still in one piece, but awfully red from the fever) on a stretcher into the ambulance. The paramedic shook her head.
"Uh, sir, I think we've found him," a younger police officer said, walking up to the group. "I'll show you."
The car had hit a tree and was fairly crumpled. The tree looked fairly roughed up as well. That girl had been very lucky, Kai decided. They walked past it a dozen yards. Tyson gasped and Kai visibly paled.
A body lied crumpled as if he had been thrown a distance. It's head was in an impossible position, as well as a couple other limbs. A big mess of blood covered it's face. It wasn't breathing, obviously dead. It was the dark haired man.
"Yep," said the younger police officer, "the forensics guy told me that he died on impact...."
All Kai and Tyson could do was stare.

All that the other teens could do was stare at the story. It seemed so spooky... yet it couldn't have been real, could it?
"Is that really true?" Max asked.
Tyson and Kai exchanged glances. They both seemed a bit nervous. "No," Tyson finally answered.
"Oh well, really great story!" Rei said cheerfully. Kenny started another story, and those three boys got caught up in it.
Tyson and Kai looked at each other again. They had told the others it wasn't true, but they knew what they had seen that night...

The End