Crinkled / Quackhalo

Prologue

Darryl sat on the damp concrete sidewalk, his head buried within the palms of his hands as he tried to not use profanities. A light purple bruise had begun showing up on the pale canvas that was the boy's left shoulder and ribs.

The sun was just barely beginning to claw its way up the sky, making Darryl's shadow glow shades of gray and gold on the dirty pavement. He could feel the chilled air lapping away with light heat as the sun moved further up the sky.

A few feet away was another man, his own skin untouched. Unlike Darryl, he did not restrict his cursing. The frustration in voice sounded harsh compared to the bird's scattered chirping. Darryl shivered.

To accompany this silent madness, a few police officers stood by to assess the damages. Scratches like the veins of a tree spread across the surface of both cars, however Darryl's car got the worst of it with the passenger door undoubtedly needing replacement.

The officers concluded that the man was at fault, striking the side of Darryl's car at an intersection where he should have stopped. Of course, he wasn't planning on telling the police officers that he was going about 20 miles over the posted speed limit.

The cars had formed a crooked T, and with it left the neglected stop sign at a diagonal. Soon people would begin their routes to work, so there was little time for clean up, and even less time for chat.

It would be a matter of minutes before a disbached medic came to check out the two. The man knew he was okay, at least he had to be. He had an early meeting he needed to get to, not to mention the casino-

"Sir, we recommend you come to the hospital. I don't believe there are any fractures, but you may have gotten whiplash." The medic bent down by Darryl, helping him stand up to see if walking would be an issue.

"I'm fine- I just want to get home. I've had a rough day and I can't deal with this right now." Darryl looked at the dents on his door as well as his groceries, now spilled all over the damaged backseat.

He had gone to Walmart around midnight for the sake of avoiding people. That's when he usually did his shopping if he could help it. Unfortunately a broken system and an old cashier- bless her heart- turned what should have been an hour into four.

Between the ridiculous shopping trip, his destroyed groceries, and the car accident, Darryl wasn't far from snapping.

"You gentlemen can leave once we finish the accident report, you'll both need a copy of that for later." The head officer said, glancing down at Darryl briefly before returning to his notes.

"While he's finishing that up, be sure to exchange information if you haven't already." Another officer chimed in, her dark ponytail running over her badge as she pulled out a bic pen.

"Done right before you showed up Ma'am." The man mumbled, looking at the frayed piece of notebook paper he was handed earlier.

Darryl, huh?

The man noticed how shakey Darryl's writing was against the dull blue lines. He couldn't tell if he just had poor penmanship or if it was the stress of the situation making his hand tremble.

On the paper was his name, phone number, address, insurance, and license plate. The man gave the slightest smile. I guess this is one way to get a man's number.

In this situation, money wasn't an issue. Heck, he'd buy this stranger a new car if it meant he got to leave already. If he missed this meeting than-

"Alrighty now, we'll have to get this car towed for repair." The officer's head tilted the direction of Darryl's car.

"If you don't plan on going to the hospital, we'll get you a ride home. And you sir, your car appears to be okay to drive for now but you probably want to get it checked as soon as you can."

"Can we go now?" The man asked, trying not to sound overly impatient. He wasn't gonna mention the meeting because then they'll ask about his job. It wasn't even because he worked in the casino business, it was the things he didn't have the proper permits for that worried him.

"If you're confident that you're physically sound as well as having the information and pictures you need, you may be on your way. I'll get this report down to the station. I suggest you make your insurance aware of the situation sooner rather than later."

Less than 5 minutes passed, the man was gone and Darryl remained sitting and waiting for an Uber.

Is this what being a good person got you in life? Darryl wanted to cry, but not on the public sidewalk in front of these police officers. He could feel the morning sun climb higher, heating up the bruises on top of his skin. It hurt.

"Hey son, you look familiar. Have I seen you before?" The head officer asked.

"Not sure." Darryl whispered, just barely loud enough to be heard.

"Isn't this the kid that knocked over that untility pole last summer?" The female officer stepped back, looking over Darryl's face.

What a lovely day.

/18 June 2022/