The Forgotten One

The Incident

The sun came up glowing and shining the city around. It let its beam touch everything it could, bringing it back to sight. The clouds were scattered around the sky, leaving spaces here and there. The detective knocked the door. The man spoke: "Come in". "Good morning, Wylie. How do you feel?", asked the detective. "Fine, it seems", replied the man. "So, coming back to the report, can you tell me what had happened?", asked the detective. Calmly as he spoke: "Well, that day we all had decided to go on a road trip to the Red Canyon. Mother was busy packing up things, while Dad was checking on the car. It was after all these years that we would go somewhere together. We packed everything we needed and headed to the destination. But, we would have never dreamt what we would had to encounter afterwards...

"Hey, you sure you took everything, Wylie?", asked his mother in the backseat. "Yes, mom", said Wylie, looking up the driving mirror while driving. "Don't worry, Rosa we have everything covered just enjoy the ride", said his father. "How much time will it take?", asked his mother. "Just about three to four hours, maybe", replied Wylie, "It could be more, depending on the weather". "And son, if we get a little hungry could you stop by some restaurants on the way", said his father. "Of cou..." said Wylie as he was interrupted by his mother. "How dare you two eat from restaurants instead of my homemade delicacy", said his angered mother. "Calm down, sweetheart, I was just joking", said his father, smilingly. His mother sat back and saw through the side window. The view was of a clear sunshine, as it threw its hot beams over the land that surrounded them. The warmth of its rays cuddled the car with it. The trip was far longer than imagined.  

Hunger had found its means to grow inside of their bodies. It was as if, it was slowly eating them from inside out. "Son, do you mind if we park somewhere and eat? Butterflies seem to be flying inside my stomach", said his father. "Alright, it seems we should take a rest and eat.", said his mother. "That's fine just let me find a place to park in this inferno", Wylie said. After watching carefully the surroundings to search for shade yet not even one met his eye. Wylie decided to park it along the side of the road. They went out of the car, fatigue and hunger could be seen through their faces. They opened the trunk, and took out refreshments and food packed in tiny plastic containers. As they opened those containers, and filled their cups with cold juice from the thermos, the sun was burning their souls alive. They quickly entered the car, saving themselves from the deadly sun. As his mother and Wylie were eating, his father's eyes wandered through every corner of the car, to look for any bit of crumb falling over the car's floor and then blame someone of those two for littering his dear car. He had a deep love for that car, due to the fact it was his hard-earned prize. He worked diligently for 15 years to pay off this holy car. Not a scratch had ever formed in the two years he had the car because of his constant care. But, now as he has grown old, as his hair flew off and as wrinkles formed around his face, he decided to hand off his most dear prize to his son.

They filled up their appetite and decided to move on. Wylie stretched his body, took a deep breath and exhaled. His senses became more clearer and he felt relaxed. He turned the key, the engine rumbled a little and he drove off to his goal.  As the sun was descending to the abyss, at some distance, the peak of the red canyon could be seen. They were approaching wilderness, an area of five thousand acres of dense forest. The forest was located a few miles from the Red Canyon. The car was heading steadily toward that unknown and obsolete terrain. A large shadow fell over the rooftop of the car darkening it into pitch black. It was because the trees prevented any inch of sunlight passing through them. The darkness became darker as night fell. Wylie switched on the frontal lights of the car and saw through them the way to his goal. Darkness had ruled the surroundings and turned reality itself into a blurry pitch-black background. Uneasiness had filled the minds of those who were settled in the car, doubt and fear had been born in them through seeing the unknown. Yet who could have imagined what lay ahead.

The road had become bumpier and the view looked daunting and scary. The car struggled to get out of this green maze made of trees and a bunch of crazy turns that might have lead to death itself. The moon had settled high above watching the spectacle of the works of the great almighty getting caught into a deadly trap of death. The car followed its course through the crazy turns and greenish wilderness. Wylie, was skilled enough to spot any inch of movement in broad daylight, yet in the night the darkness had blinded him. Everything was fine until...

An animal had come in front of them. It was a grown brown deer with large antlers, who met the eyes of the driver.  Fear and confusion could be seen through the eyes of the dear animal, who had seen an unknown object with two blinding lights nearing it. Shock had overtaken the animal through all its muscles, for it could not move an inch. It saw as the strange figure approached closer and closer to it.  An uneasy sense of security overcame the animal, and an unexpected adrenaline rushed through the body. The car was just a few meters away when the animal leapt from the strange object's path and entered the wilderness without knowing it caused a deadly act. But who knew that extent the act would go through... The deer ran as fast as it could as far away from this strange threat. It was grateful that its instincts had saved it. As it ran through the woods, it heard a strange echoing sound. It turned to see a strange orange creature through the greenish terrain. It was eating up the space around and grew more and more. Some strange blackish creature grew from the other creature and was covering the sky. In fear, the animal ran deep into the woods.

Wylie saw the deer at a distance, and thoughts had wandered through his mind. The unexpected event startled his senses and decisions were being formed to counterattack the problem. He had thought of two choices, depending if the animal will be standing in front of them. First, he couldn't hit and run over this poor animal; it went against his ethics and principles. If he did, it would have made him guilty for his entire life, and these emotions might turn him insane. While on the other hand, if he avoids the animal, by making an abrupt turn or by other means, it might affect the lives of his parents, injuring them or even killing them. He knew if he held the brakes, it would eventually reach the animal and kill it, because the tires would skid through this muddy road. He knew he had to choose between his parents, whom he knew since he was born or the animal, he had just seen. But, it was too late he was just some meters from it, and that's when he made up his mind. He turned his steering wheel to the left, and suddenly saw the animal jump and enter the trees beside it. He knew he had made the wrong decision but there was nothing that could be done. The car's tires screeched as it turned, but something even more dreadful awaited him...

The car whirled on the abrupt turn, yet the momentum of the car seemed affected. The weight shifted to the right and the car's two left tires seemed to be flying high above the road. This was caused due to the weight of his parents, as it unbalanced the equilibrium of the turn. Both of them were sitting on the right side of the car, unaware of what was about to come to them. His father saw the ground through his right window and slowly closed his eyes. He prepared himself for the impact. While on the other hand, his mother couldn't close her eyes and saw the terror unfold before her. Wylie on the other hand regretted his decision. And that's where it all began...

The car's right side bumped on the ground and jumped flying over and again, hitting the road on its left side. It continued to rollover until its kinetic energy reached a stop. Scattered pieces of glass and metal followed behind the collapsed car, some trees shattered due to the brutal force of the car rollover. Broken branches fell throughout the path of destruction. The disintegrated car come to a stop and sat there, its essence stolen from it, because it looked like a clump of metal thrown from a cliff. From above, the moon grinned over the destiny that awaited the creatures down below. It slowly appeared in front of the clouds waiting for the final outcome...