Mannix Drive

one

As I drive through the outskirts of town, my call goes straight to voicemail.

Hi, you've reached the Holland family. Leave a message after the beep, and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

"Hey mom," I speak calmly into the phone. "I'm on my way home. I filled up the gas this morning, so I can bring Patrick to his game if you need me to. Uh, just call me I guess. Bye."

I keep my eyes on the road ahead as I hang up and switch the aux back on. Some song by Kaleo is playing, but it's nearly drowned out by the breeze flowing through the windows. The summer sky is burning a fire of orange and yellow light.

In this moment, driving down the road, my surroundings tinted by the setting sun, I can say that my situation in life is good. I could even say that my situation is ideal. I'm in the spring semester of my senior year of high school, and I'm eagerly counting down the days until graduation, holding a full scholarship to Kane College in my back pocket. I'm not going to say that I'm not grateful, because I am, but sometimes, living in a constantly hyped-up life can be too much for me. I take drives like this every so often to take a break from it all. It feels nice to step away for a while.

One minute, my world is glowing orange, and the next, it's black.

-

I wake up to beeps of a heart monitor blaring in my ear.

A woman who I assume to be a nurse walks in to check my vital signs, I guess. My vision is hazy, but I can make out the outline of her scrubs, the glasses balancing on her nose, and what looks to be a ring on her finger as she reaches for something on the windowsill.

"What happened?" I barely push out the words, and my head starts to pound slowly. It's hard for me to talk without hurting myself.

Through my headache, I strain to hear the words of the blurry nurse.

"Hello, Cody. You crashed your car, in front of the church on Mannix Drive."

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Hello! This is the beginning of my new thriller/teen fiction book that I'm starting, called Mannix Drive. Let me know what you think of it so far. Thank you!

- dehydration

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