Collide
February 20, 11:10 P.M.
“Man, it’s cold,” Rick Holmes said to himself. He was
standing on top of a parking lot in a long, brown overcoat, staring off into
the distant sky. The parking lot was his place to be alone. His girlfriend,
Mary, had just broken up with him, and he needed place to get away from the
stress and chaos of life.
He looked down and saw three police cars parked in front of the
parking lot but just kept on staring off into space. He stood there, just
thinking to himself.
I need a change. I need something different. All of this is too
familiar. I can’t keep living this way. I just can’t believe she’s gone.
All of a sudden, he heard footsteps behind him. The sound
of the flip flops slapping against the ground annoyed him. He didn’t turn
around hoping whoever it was would just pass him by and leave him to his
moping.
“This spot taken?” the woman said as she leaned on the ledge next
to him. He said nothing. “You don’t speak?” she continued.
“Sorry, I should go,” Rick said, starting to walk away.
“No, stay. I could use the company.”
Rick looked back with one eyebrow up and his nose flared.
“But you don’t even know me. That’s dangerous ya know?” he said.
“Yeah, but you look alright, and I really don’t wanna be alone.”
She was a strange woman but Rick didn’t want to leave her up there
by herself. Besides, he did want something new. He agreed and
leaned back next to her and stared off into the sky again.
“So, what’s your story? Why you up here?” she asked Rick.
“It’s personal and I don’t even know your name.”
“Jeez. Chill, dude. I’m Jenn. What’s your name?”
“Rick.”
“Well, Rick. Can you tell me now?”
She was really invasive. Rick knew she wasn’t going to give up, so
he gave in.
“If you really wanna know, my girlfriend just broke up with me.”
“Oh jeez. I’m sorry to hear that.”
He stood up and began to walk at a very slow pace across the top
of the parking lot. She followed him, asking him questions a stranger usually
wouldn’t ask.
February 20, 11:03 P.M.
Rat was a drug addict, a thief and very stupid. He was
walking down Shattuck and decided to snatch a purse. The lady screamed and a
cop saw. The chase was on but lucky for him he did track in high school. He
sprinted and just made it across the busy street, leaving the cop stuck on the
other side. Rat stood there taunting him for a few seconds then heard the
sirens. A cop car down the street had heard the news and was on its way. Rat
ran. He hit the corner at Ross with the cops hot on his trail. He turned into
an alley trying to lose the cops but they saw him. He ran into a door at the
end of the alley and opened it to find the parking lot.
February 20, 11:05 P.M.
Danny, the cop, felt a breeze as he walked into the cold
parking lot.
“Which way do you think he went?” he said to his partner.
“I’m sure he wasn’t stupid enough to take the stairs. Let’s go
this way.”
They started their hike up the parking lot making sure to check
behind every car.
“This is gonna take a while.” Danny said unenthusiastically.
February 20, 11:00 P.M.
“Can we slow down? I don’t wanna go too far yet,” The girl said
calmly. She was wearing a small red skirt and a tank top. The guy she was
with, Jason, was nice enough to let her wear his coat.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” he said as he rested his hand on her thigh.
“Well what do u wanna do” he continued as he slowly ran his hand up her thigh.
She put her hand on his preventing him from going any higher.
“Why don’t we leave this nasty parking lot?” she asked as she
stood up. “These stairs are gross”
“Yeah, yeah. Soon,” Jason said as he pulled her down and began to
kiss her again. She pushed him off angrily.
“Look, I told you once already, now stop,” she said with force.
“Just relax,” he responded in a sleazy tone and tried to kiss her
again.
“No!” She tried to push him off but he was just too strong. He
grabbed her and kissed her again. All she could do was put her lips in her
mouth and shut her eyes. She could no longer stop his hand from going up her
thigh.
A door opened at the bottom of the stairs but he didn’t care. Then
there were foot steps. He paid no attention. They got louder and louder until
they were a few stairs away. He pushed her and stood up to fight off whoever
it was.
The footsteps belonged to someone in a big coat with the hood on.
It was way too dark to see the face. The mysterious character quickly pulled
out a blade and stabbed Jason in the Throat. He fell to his knees then to his
side. He heard the knife bounce against the hard ground then his vision faded
to black.
February 20, 11:11 P.M.
Jack looked down at his watch. “It’s 11:11, Jenn. Make a wish.”
“Okay. I wish for you to come with me to the stairs,” she said
seductively.
“But the stairs are disgusting. What do ya wanna go there for?”
“C’mon, It’ll be fun.” She was not going to take no for an answer
so he went along with it. They strolled over to the door which led to the top
of the stair case. They walked in and it was almost completely dark.
“Whoa..” she said. Her voice echoed all the way down the stairs.
“Echo!” she screamed. Jack was getting more and more annoyed with her all
night but was also, oddly attracted to her. He liked her long, curly, black
hair and the way her bangs covered part of her forehead. He liked the way she
wore her low-cut, black shirt and her tattered jeans. He wanted
to stay just as much as he wanted to leave. So he was stuck. Completely
unaware of what was going on and just couldn’t stop getting lost in her eyes.
They began walking down the stairs.
“So where are we going now?” Jack asked
“My special place. You’ll love it.—’’
She was cut off by a piercing scream a couple stories down. They
paused to look at each other then sprinted towards the noise.
February 20, 11:13 P.M.
When she came back to consciousness, she opened her eyes to see
the eyes of the man that just tried to rape her. Her scream pierced every wall
of the parking lot. She was covered in his blood and had no idea what had
happened. She quickly crawled into the corner and began to cry. She rocked in
a ball as she stared at the motionless body.
February 20, 11:13 P.M.
“Ya hear that?” Danny asked his partner. “I think it came
from the stair case.”
They sprinted off forgetting about the stupid purse snatcher.
February 20, 11:13 P.M
“Perfect, a distraction!” Rat said to himself when he heard
a scream. He watched a couple of cops run right by towards the noise. He got
out from his hiding place and dashed in the opposite direction of the cops,
hoping for a clean getaway.
February 20, 11:14 P.M.
They were flying down the stairs. Jack looked over at Jenn
and was bewildered by the fact that she looked excited. Before he could give
it a second thought he was horizontal in the air and on his way to the ground.
Luckily, there was something there to break his fall. When he realized it was
a dead body he was back on his feet again in a heartbeat.
“J-Jenn…?” he said shakily. The blood squashed beneath his feet as
he slowly stepped backward. He bumped into Jenn. Neither of them could take
their eyes off of the body. Jack saw something moving in the corner of his
eye.
“Oh jeez, a girl!” Jenn exclaimed. “Are you okay? What happened
here?”
The girl said nothing. She just stared at her blood stained hands.
A door slammed open next and a couple of cops walked through.
Their flashlight went directly to the body on the floor then in the next
instant, they’re guns were pointed at Jack.
“Everybody put your hands up!” one of the cops ordered.
February 20, 11:16 P.M.
Rat ran as fast as he could up the parking lot which went
in a circle. He ended up going into another door that led to the stairs on the
5th of 6 floors. The door slammed against the wall when he opened
it. He paused to see if anyone heard him then he heard screaming down the
stairs so he ran up. All the way to the top and opened a door which led to the
outside.
February 20, 11:16 P.M.
There was a loud noise somewhere up the stairs which
distracted the cops for a second. Jack took this opportunity to pull out his
gun and use Jenn as a shield.
“I didn’t do it!” he screamed.
“Put the gun down!” the cops said with force.
“I know your never going to believe I didn’t do it so just let me
leave no one else has to die tonight.”
“Put the gun down son. You don’t know what your dong.”
“Just let me out of here” Jack demanded as he pointed the gun at
the cops. “You guys found me guilty as soon as you walked through the door and
pointed your guns at me.” He pointed his gun back at Jenn’s head. “So let me
go or I shoot.”
“Wait!” Jenn cried. “I did it...”
There was a long pause as everyone let it sink in, then Rick
suddenly had a lot of questions about this girl he met.
“Why did you bring me here?! What the hell is going on?!” he
roared.
“His name is Jason. And I…I killed him. It was the only way to get
him to stop!”
“To stop what?” the cop asked.
“A while back, he asked me out. He seemed like a really nice guy,
but looks can be deceiving. I trusted him but he turned out to be terrible. He
did horrible things to me!”
“Well why didn’t you just inform the police?” the other cop said.
“He said he would kill me and I wasn’t the only one. I found out
he had gotten to my friend and she introduced me to others. He had to be
stopped!”
“Then why did you bring me down here?” Jack asked her as he
lowered his weapon.
“I needed a fall boy. Someone to take the blame. After I did it, I
ran up to the top of the parking lot and there you were. Jeez, I’m sorry I
just…I didn’t wanna go to jail.”
February 21, 12:01 A.M.
Rick looked down from the top of the parking lot and saw
the cop cars pulling away. He saw Jenn in the back seat staring up at him. He
shook his head in disappointment then looked away, off into the distant sky.
February 21, 12:01 A.M,
Jenn looked up at Rick from the cop car. She looked up at
Rick with a million apologies but he didn’t care. She laid her head down and
cried as the cop car drove off to the station.