Crash
Gideon exhaled slowly. It’s been a tough week, and he had to admit it: there was an end to it at last. In addition the office had always felt like a cage, with thick eight millimeter glass and black rubber tile with sharp edges on every piece of furniture. On the plus side it did feel protective. The lights above seemed to be chosen highlight the sterility of the room. Add to this the camera monitoring the glass door for anyone entering and leaving. Gideon couldn’t help but feel imprisoned.
Add the disciplinary hearing for being five minutes late while being stuck in traffic today and well, things couldn’t be much worse off. Well, they could but it didn’t feel that way.
Seven-thirty p.m. That was the time, at least that’s what it was, not what it actually felt like. It felt closer to midnight with the way he felt. There was nobody left in the office, and he knew that if he didn’t leave now he’d get a mouthful from Anna. So it was time to go, at least he knew what he’d get there.
His cellphone rang, vibrating on the desk with a buzz-buzz. The LCD was scratched and some buttons faded but it was still working. That was at least reliable in his life. He wished his colleagues were. Gideon picked up the phone and looked at the name on the Display. His jaw clenched and fist tightened it’s already tight grip on the phone. The call was answered . Picking up the phone he spoke, “Hi.” Smiling was a hard thing to do but he was trying, knowing what was coming and from whom at this hour. “Hi Hon.” She was smiling.
This was unusual. By now he’d be going red in the face and apologizing profusely. Not today though. In a way he was relieved, but something did feel wrong. An ill feeling was gripping his stomach. It was the feeling of fear. It was that oh shit feeling you got when you were in deeper than you thought, and it wasn’t going to stop soon. Something in her voice just felt wrong, it was too cheery.
“Hi. How are you?” he ventured.
“I’m fine. How are you?”
She’s never this nice.
“I’m fine thanks,” a smile strained into Gideon’s jaws “how was your day?”
“Oh fine fine, you know, work is work.” She always liked to say that when she hid things.
“That’s good love, do you want to go out tonight?” Gideon figured that this was the best way to get information out of her.
“It’s ok Hon. I already ordered some food, it should be there for you when you’re at home.”
“That’s awesome, thank you.” The restraint in Gideon’s voice was showing, and Anne wasn’t showing anything in her voice also.
“Well, call me just before you get home okay? I’ll have it warm for you. Oh and I have a surprise for you. Giddy, I love you!”
The call cut and Gideon found himself sweating. He was tensing up by the minute. The lights in the office were too bright and he felt the urge to get out of the office into fresh air. Gideon found himself stifled, each breath shorter than the previous. The knot in his stomach was becoming worse and he found himself struggling to stand as he packed his bag to go out. He had to get out.
Gideon’s phone rang. He looked at the number and recognized it instantly. Candice. That woman had no life, and worse, she had an attitude about dealing with anyone who helped her out. “Hello, who’s this?” Who else worked these ridiculous hours and still did it for the love of the job bitch?
“Gideon, How can I help?” The strain in Gideon’s voice was worse now, barely concealing the frustration built up over the week.
“Who did I speak to earlier? I’m having the same problem and my inbox disappeared. I can’t do my job. I’m going to quit! You’re fucking useless!”
Gideon took a slow breath in, and breathed out. Candice tried to play around and changed some arbitrary setting on her computer and screamed at his manager, who in turn screamed at Gideon and who at last got a mouthful of complaint for her own error.
“Just click on the plus sign Candice, remember?”
“Oh! Now you’re going to say it’s my fault. Why don’t you people teach us properly, you know, when David was around we never had to do this, he wouldn’t even ask us to do anything and he’d just help us.” And that was what got him fired. He began to tremble now. The sweat dripping off his forehead.
“I need to go.” He dropped the phone from the handset and began to stumble, his body was getting weaker. His stomach was feeling like was collapsing into a black void. Suddenly his head began to throb. Candice was still shouting into the phone and then a beeeeeeep sounded through the handset. Gideon began to grunt and stood up, barely.
He had to get to open air. The lights around him were blinding now and whiter than any white he ever saw in his life. His head began to throb lightly at first, and then pulse more. Gideon held onto his head and dropped from standing, feeling panic rising inside. He grunted trying to control his breath as much as possible. It wasn’t working. The throbbing ceased, he began to sweat and the world moved out of focus and in it again. His vision turned red, and then gained their colours into normality but the pain remained.
Sounds of moaning and heavy breathing overtook his hearing and mind. There was a woman and a man. The woman was shouting, the man grunting in ecstasy. Gideon knew the voice but didn’t want to. He felt anger burning inside, growing, writhing and wanting to burst forth from him.
The vision cleared and another followed. “Have you found a job yet?”
“No, I haven’t. Get off my back, I don’t need you to tell me what to do.” The man sounded angry.
“I’m just trying to help you Grant. I won’t be around forever.”
“I told you I’m working on something, after that we won’t have to worry about money.”
The woman paused for a moment almost hesitant and continued. “I know what you want to do. Don’t do it Grant. I’ve seen everything. Both you and that new girlfriend of yours. It’s going to get you into more trouble than it’s worth. We already moved three times. I don’t want to go again.”
Grant turned around and glared at the older woman and lifted her by her neck with calloused hands.
“Bitch. I told you to stay out of my room. Now I’m going to punish you.”
“Don’t do this. I bore you for nine months and protected you from when you were a baby. Please! Don’t! Don’t do this!”
The man dropped one arm and launched a punch into the woman’s stomach and dropped her.
“I’ll do whatever I want and when I want and there is nothing that you can do about it. You want me to stop paying for your doctor appointments? Is that what you want? Fine. That’s what I’ll do. Bitch.”
The man called Grant spat in her face and stormed out of the apartment.
God no. What’s happening to me? Thought Gideon. Suddenly a voice erupted into his mind like a black echo.
Give in to me.
Who are you?!
Give in to me. I am vengeance.
A gust of pain blasted outward from his brain.
Give in to me and you will see the truth.
What? What are you talking about? GET OUT OF MY HEAD!
You will see. I will come when you need me.
The pain ceased but the fear remained. His head felt normal again and so did his body. Lights around him normalized. Gideon didn’t know what to make of this event. Eventually he reached the lifts after scanning his access card. The voice sounded so familiar, but darker, more frightening. Yet part of him wanted to believe it.
His cell phone began to ring. He ignored it. Already feeling inflamed, Gideon ran-walked to the lifts out of the exit door scanning his access card on the reader and called a lift. He picked up the phone and saw who was calling, it was Anne.
“Hon, are you okay?”
Trying not to sound like the wind had just been knocked out of him, “Sure, just fine. Why? What’s wrong?”
“No, just making sure, you were taking long. That’s all.”
Then it struck him, he knew the voice.
“Uhm, I’m already down the lift. I’ll see you later.”
He cut the call. Avoiding was the only option after making the realization. Gideon suspected Anne could sense he was picking up something.
The parking lot outside was barely lit with old tarmac and worn parking lines arranged into grids the size of a car. There was a boom across the road recently knocked by a large vehicle, and a guard station with a large palisade gate. The walls were lined with barbed wire with the eastern wall facing a northbound highway. The south facing wall had a barely lit pathway leading to Smit Street. In the dim light the city looked asleep, as if the craziness itself were simply resting itself like a baby at night. Gideon knew this was an illusion because people were mugged and robbed at knifepoint around here. Who knows what else happened in the alleyways around the parking lot across the road.
The hairs on Gideon’s neck prickled. He stopped dead. I have a surprise for you. Swearing, he carried on walking to the gate where a security guard had spotted him and was waiting to open the gate.
“Working late again?”
“Later than you think.” Replied Gideon
The gate opened with a heavy creek. Both Gideon and the guard were walking out onto the street facing the outside parking lot.
“You need to park inside next time. It’s not safe. Next time I lose the keys.” The guard grinned at his little joke. Gideon wasn’t impressed. They walked on.”Ok No problem”, said Gideon noncommittally. There wasn’t much you could do about bad attitudes from security guards. After all, they were the ones that held the keys to you leaving for home.
The outside parking lot was darker than the building’s thanks to no lights and trees being planted around the cracked tar. The gate was opened and the guard waited. Gideon went to the car parked at the eastern end of the lot. He pressed the button to unlock the car but no lights came on. Typical, the car had to do this on a night when he most wanted to be away from a glass cage and frustrating girlfriend. He swore loudly.
Luckily the remote had a spare key on the passenger side. The car unlocked just fine with the spare key. Once in the vehicle the card was inserted and start button pressed. Suddenly there was a knock on the passenger door. Gideon drew in a long breath and blew it out.
There was a gun planted against the window. Gideon’s heart rate climbed again. This was too much. The sweating began again.
A white face with brown eyes looked at him and pointed to the door handle with his free hand. Gideon tensed up and pressed the button to unlock the car. The man got in.
“Drive,” The man’s voice was hard but he only looked ahead, not making eye contact. Gideon’s hands were shaking by now, but he pressed the ignition button and the car started. He reversed the vehicle out of the parking bay and drove toward the exit. The security guard was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’s the guard?” Gideon tried to make out his facial outline under the mask. He hadn’t seen the man before. “Drive, or I shoot.” The man kept looking ahead, avoiding Gideon’s eyes. The gun was pushed into Gideon’s side. Something was familiar about his voice. Gideon couldn’t place it, so he drove on.
The car turned left into Enoch Sontonga. The lights were out on the road, and there seemed to be some kind of power failure. After passing a large green park the car stopped at a robot.
“What do you want? I don’t have money to give you. “The feeling of the gun barrel was painful against his clothing. Strangely Gideon wasn’t afraid. It was as if something was going to happen he was prepared. Nothing prepares you for a situation quite like being in it.
“Are you going to kill me?” No answer came. The gun was pressed harder into Gideon’s side. “Tell me, so I can at least let my girlfriend know. Are you going to kill me?”
“Go straight. When I say turn you turn. Don’t push me, bitch.”
That did it, those words confirmed everything. Gideon’s head began to throb. In a flurry of motion he jammed the handbrake and stopped the car.
Are you ready?
Yes.
“Hello Grant.” The words came from Gideon’s mouth but they were not his. There was darkness around him now, a power. The man turned his head sharply to his right staring at Gideon. His eyes were afraid. He was not expecting this.
“Surprised? Mmm. Let’s go for a ride!” Gideon’s face was stuck in a grin.
“How do you know my name?!”
Grant was staring at Gideon. Gideon turned momentarily and simply smiled. The gun pressed harder into his side. Gideon’s expression turned hard and angry. “You don’t want to shoot me. You want to shoot yourself.” Grant’s right arm stiffly raised itself to the horror of its holder. Slowly it began to point at his temple. Grant’s eyes widened and pupils dilated in response.
“What are you doing?! Stop! Please!” The hardness of face turned back to a grin. “Me? Well I’m not doing anything. You are pointing the gun at your head. Not so?”
“Are you afraid of dying? I am. It scares the crap out of me. Hey, let’s keep the gun there in case you misbehave. I’ll let you live if you answer my questions.” Grant was struggling with the gun with his left and slowly too did his left arm plant itself firmly on his side.
“What the fuck man! Please don’t do this. I wasn’t going to kill you!” Tears began to fall from Grant’s eyes as he said this, slurring on every word.
“LIAR!” Gideon’s face turned hard in an instant. “Do you think I don’t know? Do you think that I didn’t anticipate your coming Grant. You’re a liar – And a bad one at that. Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire. Now shut your ugly mouth before you get to taste that hard metal you’re holding.”
Grant began to sniffle, not knowing what to do. “Okay man. I’m sorry. Just please let me go. I promise you’ll never see me again.”
“Hey! I forgot. You have a mask on. Take it off, would you kindly?” Gideon cheerily asked as Grant’s left hand slowly pulled off the mask from the top of his head and held onto it and remained firmly at his side.
“Let’s play a game. You ask my questions, I decide whether I save your life or not. That way you be good to me I be good to you. How’s that gun feeling?” Grant’s hand began to push the gun barrel further into his temple. His breathing became faster. “It’s fine!” His voice turning into an almost squeak.
“Good, now we continue. So, what were you doing with my girlfriend last week Saturday?”
“Nothing man, we were hanging out and had some drinks.” Grant kept trying to eye the gun.
“Are you lying to me? I know if you are lying to me Grant. You don’t want to lie to me.” Grant’s trigger finger tightened onto the trigger of the gun.
“OK! OK! We did it! We did it. We did it like animals. Are you happy?”
“Good, honesty. I like that in a man. Next question! Why the gun and rude entry into my car?” That was the next logical question, of course, and the real test.
“It was her plan. Not mine. She said you had a couple mil. You just had to disappear. It was going to be a hijacking. NO! NO!” His right trigger finger was beginning to squeeze the trigger. Gideon’s eyes lit up with glee. “So you thought you could simply take me for some weakling who’d fold at the mere sight of a gun. Wrong!” His voice became gritty as the last words were said, grinding teeth as he said them, his tone verging on a growl.
“SHE said it! She said you were a pussy. She said you’d just go with it like you always did. I didn’t know!” Grant’s lip quivered and he went pale. “Oh but you are right. She thinks a lot doesn’t she. She’s very calculating. I saw it, mind you. Despised her planning and manipulations.” Gideon stretched forward casually. “Still, you’re not innocent either. It’s time for your punishment.”
“You said you’d save my life if I told you the truth! Please! Don’t’ do this!”
Gideon threw his head back, laughing maniacally and stopped instantly. “You sound like your mother before you hit her. Do you think she deserved what she did? Even after bearing you for nine months. Oh, you know the answer to that. No! You will be punished.” Gideon’s face was an expression of coldness, an even more powerful turn away from the burning anger. “Put down the gun,”
The gun went down to Grant’s side, in an instant he tried to fire the gun in Gideon’s direction and found the trigger stiff, unable to budge. In desperation he pressed harder but couldn’t.
“Feeling brave? Oh that won’t do.”
Grant’s hand held the grip and gradually pointed the gun to his thigh. He shot himself twice. “Aarrgh. Please! I told you the truth. Please let me go!” Gideon looked coolly at the man intent on killing him.
“I’ll start with your ribs.”
At first Grant’s body began to convulse as force was applied punch by punch into his chest, holes the shape of human fists made themselves, collapsed in and expanded back with the skin’s flexibility. With every punch his body shook and jumped upward and to his sides. At first they started slow, and worked up to frenzy. Blood flowed out of his nose by the end of the flurry of impacts.
“I’m sorry okay. I didn’t know what you could do. I know now. I just shat myself. Are you happy?” Grant knew the answer to the question. “No. We’ve just begun. Do you value your legs Grant? I don’t know if you do. Let’s see.” Gideon curled his fingers into the shape of a claw. “Ever felt something being removed after being lodged into your flesh?” Gideon’s grinned wide and toothy. “Let us begin.”
The black pants Grant wore began to soak above his thigh. He tried to breath but only half-breaths came out and went in. He tried to brace himself against the pain but it wouldn’t cease. Slowly the soaking took shape into two round caps. “Shit! I can’t take any more. Please stop. Please stop! I’m sorry. I’m sorr-” A cracking sound was heard and Grant couldn’t scream any more, only whimper in knowledge of what was going to happen to him.
“Good. Now you know the pain you caused. Now for the encore!” exclaimed Gideon in a cheery and surprisingly light voice. “The time for talk is done, Mr. Mueller.”
Grant tried to implore Gideon to stop but something in his throat was changing. First, the timbre notes were fading into higher ones, then into a lowly rasp, and then nothing. “You are a mute now. You have been punished but you deserve more. Now get out of my car. If I see or hear you again you will die. Do you hear me? Blink twice if you understand.” Grant blinked twice. Gideon unlocked the car and Grant stumbled out into the night. The car started again and Gideon turned it around. As the car passed the damaged form of Grant Mueller the window opened, “Oh, and if you tell anyone about this there will be consequences. You hear me?” A head was shaken in response.
The window closed and Gideon drove on. He felt for some frozen yogurt and the car could be cleaned later. He turned on the radio. Riders on the storm was playing. Killer on the road, yeah.
