He lit a cigarette and waited for her to stroll out. She would be laughing no doubt; flirting and having a rip-roarin good time; leaving him out once more; so different from how it was before. They used to laugh together, rip up the town and drink together. Darin remembered how they would stumble back to his truck and get tangled up. Not now. She was too important. she had too much to prove to all her NEW friends. He dragged deeply and felt the smoke sulk in his lungs, slowly burning away his life from the inside out. She always scolded him for his nasty habit.
"It's not like you can win Darin. You WILL get cancer."
He sighed and stuck his tongue out, offering a stray leaf to his rough fingertips as he plucked it from between his lips. A heavy sigh escaped the defeated man. He had lost his (another) job (again). He ground his teeth and winced. How was he going to tell her? His confidence was crumbling faster than the ash on his cancer stick. She managed to reduce him to a shell of disappointment and failure by never saying a word. Her sighs, her eyes filled with sadness and draining belief that he would amount to anything; the doubt that they were going to stay together, that she deserved someone better. They were emotions and thoughts her mouth knew better than to utter or he would need to show her some reason. Darin grinned gently and pumped his fist; feeling a distinct pleasure at the thought of "reasoning" with that self-righteous bitch. She was so much better than him with her scrubs and hob-knobbing with nurses and docs at that smelly old rinky-dink hospital. She was just an X-ray tech not a brain surgeon. He snorted and blew smoke through his nose like an angry bull.
"Speak of the Devil" he growled. Valerie was coming out to her car tossing some words over her shoulder to someone in the doorway. She waved. They laughed retreating behind the automatic doors. After a short time, both cars fired up; hers pulling out first. He lazily waited, not wanting her to be suspicious.
He tagged along on auto-pilot, already familiar with her route home. The road turned and frowned as he lagged behind, waiting for the right moment, the perfect spot. Trees leaned into each other appearing to whisper about the upcoming tragedy and clinging to each other with their spindly, gnarled arms as he and his dark intentions slithered passed.
At last he recognized the deep turn as the one he wanted to use. He glanced up ahead and smiled at the darkness. Winter had given him a clear view so he knew he wouldn't be interrupted. His heart revved as he slowly mashed the accelerator to pass her. Once alongside, he fought the urge to look and see her face. Darin was ultimately afraid that he would puss-out and wave, dropping back and following her home to hug her, tell her everything and feel sick as her clean hands stroked his hair and she kissed his head telling him it was going to be all right. It was all fake. She was planning to leave him. She would say kind words but never mean a syllabol. He chuffed. "syllabol ~ big word for a little pissant" he softly scolded the steering wheel. Once again he found his teeth coming together in anger. His fists pinched the wheel as he pulled ahead and sharply cut the wheel to force her off the road at the perfect spot.
He heard her scream and relished it. The car bucked and gobbled up dirt and gravel. The windshield shrieked and broke apart. The airbags barked and smoked trying to catch the woman's jolting body. The engine gasped then sat quietly sobbing, surprised and dejected in the dark. He drove a little ways, pulled over and sat; lighting another smoke and watching for her to stagger out; dazed and bleeding. She didn't. His fingers tapped absently on the dash as he quietly listened to the forest around him shushing and gossiping about what he'd done. At last he kicked open his door and stood. He would need to go back and make sure she wasn't just unconscious. Although this was not part of his "A plan", he wasn't about to let her come home. Valerie would never belittle him again. She wouldn't suggest she was outgrowing him or that he wasn't filled with potential and follow-through. He was about to show her just how dedicated he was to that last one. The knife slid comfortably into his palm awaiting orders as he ditched the last butt from the box and began to walk back toward the wreck.
"Gotta pick dem up" he thought to himself. "They can trace me ..." He nodded approvingly at this. He had remembered it from a lab tech his "best gal" buddied with had shared one night over beer and pizza; not the best dinner conversation. "See Valerie? I DO knowed somethin..." and he chuckled. He also knew there was more than one way to skin a cat. He wondered which way he'd use on her ... if need be. He rolled the blade in his hand appreciating its glean in her headlights; the way it danced along the road as the car revved and ticked; gravel slowing trickling from under the tires....
Darin stopped and stared. His girlfriend's (soon to be dead and ex) car had somehow idled up the ditch and sat ruffled but running fully on the road; its headlights blinking angrily at him as the dust and smoke settled . Then the high beams came to life causing him to raise his arm and shield his face. Darin barely had time to react before the furious beast jumped to life and began to close the gap. Startled and confused, he turned and began to run for the safety of his own truck. He heard the once terrified wind laughing through her broken windshield and the engine's throaty chuckle as his feet pounded the pavement. He felt the heat of the lights as she got closer. He turned one last time, throwing his best friend "Blade" at the hood of her murderous cohort. Darin screamed her name as the grill bit into his legs, tripping him and sending him to the ground where bent tire rods, fractured lines and heated pans and parts gouged and ripped at his hateful skin. The nearly bald tires happily smooshed him flat, like a rotted fruit. The car hiccuped as it ran him over.
Valerie stopped the car, staring into the rear view at the malignant lump of flesh in the road. She couldn't hide her sneer or the smile that crept in behind it. Had he really been so stupid to think she didn't know he'd lost his job again? That he'd been following her to work, the store, the gym ... everywhere? That his scanning and scouring of her phone went unnoticed? Or that he had planned to kill her? She reached for one of his cigarettes he kept in her glove box and lit up. She tugged at a stray leaf and flicked it into the night carelessly. Swiping her phone she called the police then her friend at the hospital. He would come and help her of course; worried since she had told him as she left the hospital that her ex-boyfriend Darin was sitting in the lot again. She had tossed a promise that she would call when she made it safely home. Darin had of course been painted as a very jealous, stalking kind of boyfriend... EX boyfriend to those new friends she was making. And here she was, just trying to drive home after a long day and her unstable ex-boyfriend was tagging too close behind as he had been; police reports she'd made would show that. Being alone and female so late at night, she was understandably afraid; slowing to let him pass. He floored it and she thought he would just go on; satisfied he scared her but then, as she made the turn, he cut her off, drove her into the ditch and sped away leaving her for dead. When she came to, she was terrified he was near, waiting to do something worse than drive her off the road. So she slammed the car into gear and yanked it out onto the road to speed home. It was all she wanted to do. As she did, something appeared before her. Too afraid and shaken to stop, she accelerated and realized all too late it wasn't a deer in the headlights.
She exhaled thoughtfully and pinched her cheeks as the flashing lights appeared in the distance. She needed to look more shaken. She held herself and worked up some tears. Sitting quietly, Valerie stared as a doe and two fawn wandered out of the trees, casting shadows along the road. Then they gently carried her secret into the night. She smiled and waited.
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