Wandering Ends A Flash Fiction Collection

Unhappy Ending

Charlie and Gloria were cruising fast down the highway with the top down in their '69 Camaro Convertible enjoying the crisp, fall air that would soon turn to winter. Colorful leaves were blowing along the side of the road as they blew past them, cottonwood trees were shedding their cotton-like extensions so much so that it appeared to be snowing already. There was no other traffic on this long stretch of straight-a-way highway. Their speed topped one hundred twenty miles per hour over the last two mile stretch without a hitch. Gloria stood up in the passenger seat to let the wind whip around her, blowing her straw blonde hair straight behind her. Something stuck her in the neck. It hurt but she brushed it off as just a bug crashing into her. As she sat back down the world around her began to tilt-a-whirl around her. She suddenly felt nauseous and very sleepy. She looked over to tell Charlie something was not right but he was hunched over the wheel, passed out. As she was passing into unconsciousness she noticed the speedometer was approaching one hundred forty miles per hour.

When Gloria came to, sometime after dark, and the fuzziness faded she yelled out for Charlie but as she looked off in the distance she saw the Camaro, or what was left of it, in flames. She tried to stand up to go check on him but both legs were useless. Against her better judgment she looked down at her legs. Her right leg had bones jutting out of the skin, broken into bits. Her left leg was a dark purple from the knee down. Tears and frustrated sobs came but quickly turned to wailing. She was scared. She was sure Charlie was dead and soon she would be too.

Instead of sitting there crying and panicking, Gloria decided she would attempt to army crawl her way to where the flaming, crumpled mess of a Camaro lay. Her arms hurt but were not shattered so she inched her way in the direction of the car, resting every minute or two along the way. As she got halfway there she tried yelling out for Charlie again. Still not a peep from him. As scary as it was thinking of finding his mangled, bloody body it would be even worse if she did not try to find him. She kept thinking, at least I could lay against him until I pass.

By the time Gloria got to the car she was laboring to breathe. Based on the trail of blood behind her she did not have much left in her body. She was more afraid than ever but was determined to find Charlie's body. She crawled the rest of the way to the overturned car to check under it, he was not there. Then a full crawl around the car, still no sign of Charlie. Her strength was fading, it was getting harder to breathe, and she knew it would be near impossible to go any further. She wanted to die with him by her side but the inevitable was coming and there was no way she could go any further. She propped herself up against a tree watching the car fire slowly die, her only source of heat was going out. It was getting cold. Her breathing had become shallow and she felt like she needed a nap.

She startled awake, still alive but barely breathing. The numbness that had settled over her body was somewhat peaceful. She figured hypothermia had set in a while ago and death was grasping for her. Thinking back to the last thing she could remember brought out the last of her tears. She could see herself and Charlie in the brilliant sunshine cruising down the highway, smiling at each other, sun glinting off the cars chrome. It had been such a great day for a top down ride in their dream car. Suddenly, she remembered the sting in her neck and seeing Charlie hunched over the steering wheel passed out. What had happened, she wondered. It did not matter now, time was running short for her. Deaths drumbeat was thudding closer. As she was about to take the final nap of her life Charlie came walking, in one piece, out of the trees. He had a strange glow to him, she figured her dying mind was playing tricks on her. Than he spoke, "I am so sorry babe, I didn't know they were on to me." "Wwh-wwha-t?" she managed. "Don't talk, it's almost over but I had to tell you. I stole their secrets. I was set to make a fortune. They must have caught on to my plan. I can't believe they caught up to us so fast. I never meant for either of us to get killed but I especially didn't want you to get killed. This is all my fault and I am so, so sorry sweetie." Charlie explained then vanished just as he had appeared in the trees.

Gloria laid there for another two hours perplexed by what had happened. She was confused and almost certain it was her brain that had played with her. He had appeared and disappeared like a ghost, a trick only the mind can play, especially a dying mind. On that thought she laid her head down on a pile of leaves and began her eternal nap.