An Unwanted Child
Evelyn had always been an unwanted child.
This was not hyperbole. She was put up for adoption by her family when she was old enough not to be a cute little baby, and yet not old enough to remember anything about them. The foster system bounced her from home to home as she slowly aged out of different groups, and quietly waited for the picture perfect family to find her that never did.
Eventually, she aged out of the system and onto the streets without any true sense of identity or purpose. But the world continues to turn whether one knows who they are or not, and so Evelyn stumbled forward through life all the same, drifting through part time jobs and cheap housing, without any meaningful or lasting relationships.
Such a tragic world it can be, that a soul can pass through it with barely a ripple and then be ground up by the gears of the turning world.
Such thoughts were not on Evelyn’s mind, though, on that Monday.
She was late for her second job, which was a problem because she’d been late for her first job as well, and losing both at the same time was just the sort of clown show that her life adored.
That in mind, she nearly ran the red light near Applegate Medical Center, the local hospital. Only the unpleasant thought of being sideswiped by an ambulance convinced her to stop in time.
The air conditioner in her car rattled. It probably needed to be fixed. She definitely didn’t have enough money for it. But when she smacked the vents, it usually quieted down for a bit, and it still blew out cold air.
Today, the moment that her palm struck the dashboard, the world exploded.
Or, perhaps, the more correct statement: the hospital in her rear view mirror exploded.
The shockwave cracked her windows and caused her car to skid slightly in the road, and - more importantly - rattled every bone in her body until all she could hear was a loud, endless ringing.
And all she could see was the fire.
The building on fire. The cars on fire. The people running on fire.
Everything....
She could hardly breathe. Couldn’t think.
Every sound was muffled. Every movement slowed.
And she...
What was she supposed to do?
What was anyone supposed to do?
Her car shook heavily.
For a moment, she thought it might be a second explosion.
Something shoved her shoulder violently, causing her to snap to attention.
“Drive!” A man with a mask screamed at her, voice rasping with an edge of panicked authority.
He held a gun at her face close enough that she struggled to focus on it. If not for the context of the man screaming at her, she might not have been able to identify it immediately.
“I said! Drive!” He shouted once more, punctuating his insistent shouting with a gesture of his gun toward her windshield.
She stared at the man. He shook his gun at her again, impatient, screaming still. As if he’d never even considered the possibility that anyone would hesitate. That she wouldn’t immediately jump to obey.
“Drive, dammit, or you can die right here!” The man’s tone didn’t brook any argument, and the previously waving gun settled directly in her face once more, promising to follow through on his threat.
She couldn’t see his face, but she could see his eyes. Brown. Angry.
Just the slightest edge of adrenaline fueled mania. But far more angry than anything else.
She’d never seen anyone so angry before.
Her gaze flickered to the hospital, still burning bright, black smoke billowing up into the air, and then back to him.
It didn’t take a genius to understand. The mask. The violence. The need to escape. The explosion.
This man had done that.
He had made the hospital explode.
The lives lost. The families shattered. The survivors with no more help.
It was all this man’s fault. This random stranger. Who decided to blow up a building meant for nothing but care and help for the most vulnerable, and then jump into the nearest car, not even caring if he killed the person driving it.
In another life, Evelyn would have frozen in fear, and he’d probably have shot her and stolen her car anyway.
In another life, she might have screamed for help, as if anyone in the area were capable of offering that, and gotten shot anyway.
But she didn’t do either of those things.
Because Evelyn had never wanted anything in life. She never had any direction or purpose or dream to achieve. And she knew she was never going to have one.
But the families in that hospital had.
The old men.
The children.
The new mothers.
The doctors and the nurses who’d dedicated their lives to saving others.
All of those hundreds of lives he’d stolen. Every person who was just trying to find a way to survive. Just like her.
Her fingers gripped the steering wheel, harder than anything she’d held in her life.
“You’ve made a mistake,” she hissed.
And slammed her foot on the gas. The car roared, throwing her back into her seat, but she held the wheel firm. She ignored his screams as he fell against the backseat and struggled to regain balance. The world turned to a blur around her, trees whipping by.
He pointed the gun at the back of her head and she yanked the steering wheel hard to the right, sending them both crashing against the side window.
“Stop the car!” He screamed. “Stop!”
He didn’t get another word in.
The road curved up ahead. She saw it, but her mind was blank.
A loud crack. Pain erupted across the back of her scalp.
He was trying to shoot her.
But her foot stayed on the gas. Her hands held tight.
The car soared over the guardrail.
Evelyn didn’t even feel the fall.
In her last moments, all she saw was the man’s terrified eyes.
