The Write Site

Alarm.

Shower.

Teeth, shave, dress.

Out the door, into the car. Horns blaze, traffic stationary. Phone on the passenger seat, screen lights up: ‘Office’.

“Hello?”

“Where are you?”

“Traffic.”

“Again?”

“Yes.”

“Get up earlier.”

“Okay.”

“When you arrive, my office.”

The line goes dead.

From behind, sirens. An ambulance. Pull out behind, follow it through. Phone, back on the passenger seat, screen lights up: ‘Debbie’.

“Hello?”

“Hi.”

“I didn’t think… You said… You called.”

“Let’s talk.”

“Yes, thank you.”

A pause, just static.

“I’m…”

Break lights.

Chris awoke to the sound of beeping, not his alarm but something new. He smiled. The lights were different too, white and too bright, not the warm yellow of his bedside lamp. His smile grew.

“Young man.”

A police officer.

“Lets talk. You were driving, on your phone. Someone died.”

The words fluttered through his mind but all they meant was change. Chris laughed.