A cure for insomnia - in the afternoon...
It moved.
It actually moved. Every perverse metal digit moved in concert with his neural impulses. And the wrist! It moved too. Had he installed the circuits for the wrist? He didn’t remember doing so, but he didn’t remember doing a lot of things recently.
He fell on his knees in maniacal laughter. It echoed through the entire building in all its glory. On the third floor, a janitor dropped his mop and nearly had a heart attack.
Slowly the laughter turned to sobs, he completed the fall, pounding his fist into the cold slate floor. And then, sleeping birds were startled to flight, the same janitor keeled over after suffering a major heart attack, and a lone car alarm, somewhere in the black abyss that was the parking lot, sounded, all at the sound of one word…
“SHAYLEE”
“Sweety? Sweety? Come on, wake up. Time to go” She looked at him lovingly as he opened his eyes and sat up in the red satin draped bed. He stared into a pair of beautiful emerald eyes. She was gorgeous. Her red hair draped gently over her shoulders as if placed there by an angel. She wore a black evening gown and the diamond earrings he’d gotten her for their one-year anniversary. “Come on, get dressed naked man” she said, slightly sterner as she fiddled with her engagement ring, “we’re going to be late for Valentine’s dinner with my parents.”
“I still don’t see why we have to go with your parents,” he grumbled as he threw on a pair of black slacks and an undershirt from the closet. “Don’t you think they’d rather be alone, on Valentines Day. I know I would like to be with my one and only tonight. By the way, has she called?”
“No she hasn’t called,” she said playfully as she tossed a blue dress shirt his face. He finished buttoning his shirt; gently putting his hands around the back of her waist, and jerked her forward for a fierce kiss and embraced her. The two stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms, lips sealed tight against each other, for what seemed like an eternity. For time stood still when they were together, and the universe consisted only of her, him and a billion tiny stars twinkling in approval.
“Besides,” she gasped breathlessly, finally breaking away from the kiss, “you know they love you and are thrilled to have to as a son-in-law in May. They’ll eat dinner with us then we’ll go our separate ways. And when we get back, I’ve got a surprise for you” she touched his nose with her long delicate fingers. They kissed again, then he grabbed his vest and coat, got her shawl, and they were out the door.
“We’re not going to make it.” He said as he checked his pocket watch, “call your parents and tell them we’ll be about five minutes late” The sun had set the sky on fire with its brilliance as they drove down the highway in his black ‘69 Camaro. He’d worked janitorial in an auto garage for three years to pay for that car, another two to fix it up. It was his baby, and he treated it as such.
“Yeah mom, we’re going to be about five minutes late.” They pulled off the interstate and up to a light. “You two can start on drinks without us. Yeah, we just pulled off the interstate.” They held hands. Inches felt like miles as they mouthed, “I love you” to each other. The light turned green, and the car slowly lurched forward “Ok mom, I love y-“
Time slowed to a crawl, breaks screeched, metal grated against metal, glass shattered. A woman screamed, it was Shaylee! Pain shot up his right arm. Fire! His right arm burned like the fires of a thousand suns! Shaylee? What had happened?
Time sped up. He looked around, the windshield was shattered. Faster. His window had a giant crack in it, and he could feel glass and some liquid in his hair. FASTER. The car was aimed at the corner of the intersection, and the radio was silent. FASTER. He looked to his right, Shaylee! She was bleeding. FASTER. The door… the door had cut into her stomach and into his arm.. oh god his arm.. FASTER It was pinned, the bone was shattered and it was hanging onto his body by one flap of skin, muscle, and nerve. FASTER. Blood was everywhere. Shaylee! Was she still alive? FASTER. He couldn’t move his right hand to check. His knife! He used his left hand to check under his seat for the seven inch blade he kept in there for emergency, cause this sure was. FASTER. He got a hold of it! FASTER. He pulled it out of its sheath and proceeded to saw of the remaining table scraps that used to be his right arm. FASTER. Pain! The pain nearly made him pass out. FASTER. Freedom! He reached over to check her neck for a pulse. FASTER. She was still alive! She had a faint pulse. FASTER. He opened his door and rolled out.
After he shakily stood up. He ran around the back of the now ruined Camaro. He went to her door to open it, only to find a crumpled hummer H2 in the way. He only now noticed the sobbing women at the side of it. He limped to the back of the hummer, only now realizing the shooting pain in his leg. FASTER.
He pulled, pulled with all of his bloody, one armed might. Nothing, it didn’t budge an inch. Sirens sounded in the distance, but they were too faint to tell where they were coming from, or he to focused. A short balding man in his fifties and a young man in a tie-dyed t-shirt and sandals were at his side now. Shouting “one, two, three, pull!” FASTER. More people now, a young woman and a body builder. FASTER. The car budged. More people, two angsty looking punks in black. FASTER. The hummer moved a foot, and he limped back to the Camaro, running passed the still sobbing woman. He tore off the door, cut the buckle, and pulled her out.
Time slowed to normal. He managed to prop himself up and hold her head close to his at the same time. “Shaylee! Shaylee!” he shouted her name, “Hang on, you’ll be alright!”
She opened her eyes. Her beautiful emerald eyes were filled with a mix of tears and blood. “I… will… always… love… yo-“ her voice trailed off. She cried one last crimson tear, closed her eyes, and went off into a beautiful dream from which she would never return.
“SHAYLEE!!” he cried out again, pounding the slate floor.