To Go Where No One Can Hear you

Roadkill

After being questioned by the police I decided to head back home. As I was driving the shock started to wear off completely and I was hit with a wall of emotions. Sadness, horror, anger at losing him. I started crying. I tried to calm down so I could focus on driving but I couldn't, so I decided to pull over to the side of the road. As I cried I thought about him. His smile. His laugh. The way his eyes twinkled when he did something mischievous. I was so confused. I still couldn't figure out how he had died. I wanted to go back, to try to figure out this puzzle, but I couldn't. I knew I would just break down.

I rolled my window down for some fresh air. The cool air from outside helped to calm me. I love nature. The trees, the flowers, the wildlife-snap. I froze. I leaned out the window and looked into the woods on the side of the road by my car. What had made that sound? I didn't see anything. I shrugged to myself and turned back and faced the front- and I screamed. There was someone standing in the middle of the road.

I opened my door and got out of the car. "Can I help you?" I called to the person. Their back was turned to me. I cautiously walked forward a little bit. "Hello?" I called, a little louder. Still no response. I decided to try to get their attention one more time. "Do you need any help?" I called. The person turned. They had a hood over their face, so I couldn't tell what they looked like, or even if they were male or female. The person said something in a very quiet voice. Something I couldn't hear.

"I'm sorry" I called "But could you please repeat that? I didn't hear you." The person turned- and walked into the woods. Strange. I decided not to deal with them. I wasn't going to go follow them into some creepy woods, where I could get lost. I walked back to my car and got in. I started it up and started driving forward. I thought about that strange person. I wondered what he-or she- had been doing. I shook my head. Probably just some drunk hitchhiker.

I leaned over to turn on the radio and my phone fell out of my pocket on to the floor. Sh*t. I reached down to the ground while keeping one hand on the steering wheel. I finally grabbed the phone and straightened back up. All of a sudden a person darted out from the woods, and ran right in front of my car. I screamed and slammed on the brakes, but not soon enough. I hit the person with a sickening thud. I sat frozen, staring at the road ahead of me. I had just hit a person. And, judging by how fast I was going, I probably killed them. Just my luck too. I tentatively opened my door and stepped out of the car.

I walked around to the front of the car. Oh my god. It was the same person I had been talking to earlier. The strange person from the road. Same blue hoodie, and same dark jeans. I nudged them with my foot. They didn't move. I squatted down, then started to pull of their hoodie, to see if I recognized them, or if I could at least figure out their gender. As I reached for the hood, all of a sudden their hand shot up and grabbed my wrist.

I screamed and tried to pull my hand out of their grasp and tried to jump away, then kicked them in the head by accident. They let go of me. I scrambled away from them as fast as I could. I sat there for a second, trying to catch my breath. Then I noticed blood on the concrete. They were bleeding from where I had kicked them in the head. Badly bleeding. I slowly crawled back towards them. I couldn't tell if they were alive or not. Something in the back of my mind told me that I needed to call the police, but I needed to make sure he/she was alive first. I mean, what's the use of the ambulance if the persons already dead?

I reached forward and prepared to touch their neck to check their pulse to see if they were alive. I closed my eyes and closed the distance between my finger and his neck and then-fur? I felt...fur?

I opened my eyes and stared in shock at what was in front of me. A deer. There was a dead deer laying on the ground in front of me. What. The. Hell. I looked around. Then back at the deer. The-the man. Where was he? I looked back at the deer. There was blood on the ground. By the deer's head. Where the blood from the man had been. I stared at the deer. I blinked and shook my head. This couldn't be happening. No no no. There was a man there, not a deer. I hit a man. I saw him with my own eyes, run right out in front of me. I heard the thud as my truck made contact with his body. I saw him laying on the ground. Was I going crazy? Wait- No I wasn't. Crazy people didn't know that they were crazy...Did they? I once read that crazy people didn't know they were crazy so if you knew that you were crazy then you weren't crazy.

I shook my head and tried to clear my thoughts. Maybe I just needed some rest. I decided to call the game warden to see if they could help me. The phone rang once. Twice. Three times. Then-"Hello?" Someone finally picked up. "Hi is this the game warden?" I asked. "Yes how can I help you?" she replied. "I just accidentally hit a dear on Quandale road. I was wondering if you wanted to come out here and pick it up or what." "Well...", she replied, "I guess I can. I mean I was just about to end my shift but I suppose I can come get it real quick. Where are you on the road?" I turned around and looked. "Um...actually I'm not sure...Would it be okay if I just put it in the back of my truck and drove it to your office so you guys can do whatever with it?" She hesitated. "I suppose...Technically I'm supposed to come get it but I've had a long shift and I'm exhausted, so as long as your careful it should be fine." "Alright", I replied, "I'll be there in fifteen minutes or so." "Ok" she replied and hung up.

I put my phone in my back pocket and walked over to the dear. Then I realized I had absolutely no idea how I was going to lift it into the back of my truck. I mean, don't get me wrong, working with all those machines has made me pretty strong, but not strong enough to lift a dead deer off the road and then walk it over to the back of my truck and dump it in there.

I walked over to the side of the car and leaned against it, trying to think of what I could do. As I was thinking, I heard a motor and looked down the road to see someone in a blue SUV driving towards me. I watched as they continued getting closer and closer until they slowed down on the road right next to my truck. They rolled their window down and inside was a man with a bushy grey beard and a baseball cap.

"You broken down?" He asked. "No", I replied, "I actually accidentally hit a deer with my truck" I replied. "Well whatcha doing standing around then?" He asked. "Just trying to figure out a way to get the deer into the back of my truck so I can take it to the game warden's office." I said. "Well I'd be happy to help ya with that darlin' " he said as he shut off his truck and got out. "Thanks" I said to him as we walked around to the front of my truck. "No problem ma'am" he replied.

I grabbed the back legs of the deer and he grabbed the front and we managed to carry it around to the side of my truck and heave it over the side into the bed. I winced at the thump it made when it hit the bed. "There ya go darlin'. Best of luck with getting your car fixed" he said as he got into his truck and started it up and drove away. What was he talking about? Then I realized that an impact between a deer and a car didn't end up well for either side. Which meant my car had obtained damage where I hit the deer.

I braced myself as I walked back to the front of the car. I gasped when I saw it. My left headlight was shattered completely. The bumper was dented beyond repair and the whole front of my car was crumpled. I felt like crying. I could barely afford my rent, much less however much this would cost. I sighed and got into the cab of my truck to see if the car would start and-if so- drop the deer off at the game wardens's. I held my breath as I put the key in. I turned it and- it started. I breathed out with relief. I put the car into drive and pulled away from the curb and started driving down the road. Well this had certainly been a shitty day so far. My friend is in a body bag, this poor deer never got to see the grass on the other side of the road, and my car is all jacked up.

I decided that as soon as I got home I would each some lunch and then take a nap. I could try to relive some of the stress that way. I wondered when Theo's funeral would be, and where. There are several cemeteries around Nashville. I had a feeling he'd probably be buried in the one on the west side of town. That's where his grandparents and his uncle were buried.

While keeping my eyes on the road I reached up to try to re-adjust my rear view mirror. Somehow I had bumped it and it was no longer facing towards the back. After a few blind attempts to fix it, it still wasn't going back into place. I decided to glance up real quick to fix it and-

There was a man standing up in the back of my truck.

I screamed and slammed on the breaks and everything went black.

Hello again my lovely readers! I hope your enjoying this so far, and if so please
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