Heaven Can Wait || Eddie Munson Story ||

Fast Road

"Are you sure the person you are waiting for is still coming?" The waitress asks for the third time. I tap my fingers against the table annoyed as she pops her gum and stares down at me.

"The person I'm waiting for is very rarely late. Something must have come up. Do you have a phone?" I ask. It's about 6:35pm and AnnMarie still hasn't shown up to the restaurant. I'm trying my best to remain calm, but I'm starting to get nervous and this girl's attitude isn't helping. She uses her pen to point towards the front of the restaurant and I see a public phone stationed next to the door. I get up and pull some change from my pocket, dialing her number.

The line rings several times before going to voice-mail. My foot starts to tap nervously and I decide to try Steve and Nancy's.

"Hello?" Nancy answers.

"Wheeler! Hey, is AnnMarie there?" I ask, thankful to at least get someone on the phone.

"No she hasn't gotten here yet with Ozzy. What time were you guys supposed to meet up, again?"

"She was supposed to be here at six." I pause, dreading to have to ask my next question. "Did she say anything to you or seem like she didn't want to come tonight?"

"No! No, Eddie. She called me a few hours ago to ask me about what to wear. That's so weird. I'm assuming you've already tried calling the house?"

"Yea."

"I can call Max and see if she can walk over there and check on them. Can you call me back in like 15 minutes?"

"Yea I can. Thanks, Nancy." I hang up and twirl some of my hair nervously around my finger as I head back to my table. I pick up a breadstick out of the basket on the table and pull it apart without eating it. I watch my watch closely. The next fifteen minutes feel like the longest of my life but eventually it's time and I get up and call Nancy back.

"Hey," she says once I let her know it's me. "Max went over there but she isn't home. Maybe you should come over and Steve could go with you to look for her?"

"I'll be there in a few."

I walk back to my table and throw down a twenty for the one Coke I had and the trouble I gave the moody waitress and I walked out.

Getting in my van, I head out towards Nancy and Steve's place. They live a little out of the way so you have to head almost completely back towards my house and then south to get to them, but I drive as quickly as the icy roads will allow. The weather is down right awful today and I gnaw at my lip in concentration as I drive. About 10 minutes out from their place, I'm stopped by bumper to bumper traffic. I can see police cars a little distance ahead.

I tap my dashboard restlessly and I see multiple people getting out to see what the hold up is. Officers are walking along the roadsides talking to people as they wait. I decide to park and get out, too restless to sit still. I put my head down and my hands in my pocket to fight off the cold as I trudge forward. The lights atop the police cars dance off the snow, nearly blinding. I walk up to a younger looking officer and nod toward to hold up.

"What's going on?"

"Pretty nasty accident," he says, sniffling slightly from the freezing wind. "We are getting the cars moved out of there now."

I peek around one of the firetrucks and freeze, dead in my tracks. AnnMarie's car is being lifted up on a tow truck, completely totaled. I whirl around and grab the officer by the jacket, eyes wild. His hand goes to his gun and I can see out of the corner of my eyes, the other officers are running towards us.

"WHERE IS THE GIRL AND THE BABY THAT WERE IN THAT CAR?" I bellow, clutching him for dear life. Another officer tackles me before he can answer and I yelp.