The Difference

Chapter 14

As soon as he turned the key in the ignition, Michael regretted not having taken a driver. He hated driving, and he really hated driving at night. There was no fitting term for disliking driving at night, after two glasses of wine, while experiencing an inner melt down rivaling ten Three Mile Island and forty Chernobyl accidents. Still, he had to get away from here...away from the place he once called his other home, away from the person who-once again- took his world off its axes and hurled it like a bowling bowl down a very long, very slippery lane.

If he caught the movement in his peripheral field of vision it certainly never fully filtered into his consciousness. Thankfully, the human brain possessed amazing reflex circuits, as evidenced by his foot slamming on the brakes before he even saw the figure jumping in front of his car.

Oh God! It was a miracle he managed to stop, but stop he did. About half an inch before impact. Half an inch before impending disaster. Not that his pounding heart could tell the difference. Incredulous he stared at the ghost before him. No, not a ghost. A total lunatic! Her hands braced on his hood, her head lowered, she slowly raised her eyes to him, staring at him blindly. Holy shit! Was this real? Had Lisa just jumped in front of his car?

"What the fuck? Have you lost your goddamn mind? Of all the crazy, impulsive, dangerous..." Ripping his seatbelt from his shoulders, he bolted out of the car so fast he did not even remember opening the door before he heard it slamming close. Lisa stood at the hood, hunched over, breathing heard, her body heaving from the effort of her mad-dash. With 'mad' being the operative word.

He grabbed her shoulders and turned her toward him forcefully, shaking her.

"Whatcha trying to do? Have you lost it? Now you've finally gone round the bend. Do you fucking realize I almost hit you? Do you even fucking care?" Through the red fog, the azure of her eyes assaulted him. Was that his voice? Did he just hurl all those curse words at her? He felt totally out of control. He felt himself shaking and wanted to strangle her, yell at her some more despite his aversion to yelling and cursing. But really, she made him do it. What was her issue? Was she crying? Was she hurt? Her eyes were huge. Maybe she was in shock.

He shook her again.
"Say something, dammit. Are you hurt? Fucking shit, Lisa! You scared me to death." Still screaming at her, his voice was high pitched and strained. Great- now he was ruining his vocal chords for her. Not that she noticed- she still seemed to be in a daze.

"You're not leaving." Finally a reaction! Her voice was dark and hoarse like cooling tar. Trapping him, slowing his movements...

He froze. Had she just used herself as some kind of human speed bump to keep him here? Oh no!

"Yeah, the hell, I'm leaving. And if you pull another stunt, I call the cops and have your crazy ass arrested."

"You are not leaving, Mike. I am not done talking to you."

"'Scuse me? You're not done talking, so you throw yourself in front of my car? What if I'd hit you?"

"You didn't. You wouldn't."

"Girl, you are really pushing your luck right now." Hitting her seemed like a really good idea. She was so frigging lucky he did not hit girls. Not even with his car after they hurl themselves at him. Jesus!

He reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. She looked so fierce. Crazy, lunatic, courageous pain in the ass. Before he knew what he was doing, he pulled her close, holding onto her for dear life. His heart was beating so hard he thought it would just stop cold at any moment. Thankfully, he felt her chest heaving against him as well and maybe the electric conduction would suffice to keep him in business.