this is chapter 2 of the unfolding tale of john jackson life. |
I continued driving, and then a sign said, "welcome to kentucky!". i drove thru, and then the building were all nice and straight and still standing. hmmmmm, i thought. then i said, "why are the buildings near the border of kentucky still standing? this part of kentucky is still near the new madrid! i slammed the brakes, and a box a tissues went flying foward right into the back of my head at about 55 MPH, and i pulled into the parking lot of a hotel. i parked the car, got out, and meghan and i went inside. i went upto the clerk and said, "didn't you guys fell the earthquake?" the clerk said, "no. i didn't even know there was even an earthquake! where was the earthquake at?" " the new madrid fired off a 9.5 just a few hours ago and destroyed southern and central illinois, and a little of northern! how did you not feel that? your right next to the new madrid!" i screamed it at the clerk. the clerk backed up a bit and said, "you want a room or what?" "yeah," i said, "give us a room," i got out $20 and paid the clerk, and she gave us the room key. i went to the elevator, and click the button to go up. i waited, and waited, and finally it came. the door opened, i got in, and click the button to go upto the 20th floor. it went up, really slowly, and then it stopped. the door opened. i walked out, and me and meghan went and unlocked the room, and went in. i locked it, and then i put my stuff on the bed and got settled in. meghan also got settled in. "This is a nice room," meghan said. "Why can't all hotels be this nice?" i went into the bathroom and well, went to the bathroom, and came back out, and meghan was gone. "MEGHAN!?" i went over to the phone and tried to call her cellphone, but all i got was the answering machine. "Man, that girl never answers here phone!" i walked over to the hotel door, and just about to leave, and almost forgot the key! i went over to the intable, but no key. "i left the key right here!" i thought, wondering where the key went. "meghan probably took it!" so, i just sat down on the bed, grabbed the T.V. remote, turned on the tv, and flipped the the channels, channel by channel, channel 1, channel 2, channel 3, and channel 4 was the news channel. so i decided to watch the news. "Welcome to the 4 o'clock news. i'm Taylor Ashley. today's headline New Madrid fires of 9.5 earthquake and devastates southern and central illinois residents. Resident of kentucky felt no effects of the earthquake.... This just in. 13 Year old girl from springfield illinois caught in traffic accident near the Jacksonville Crossover. she was rear ended and went right into a semi. john jackson, if you are watching this, you must go their now!" i was stunned that my name was mentioned on the news, but i have no time to be worried. i jumped up, opened the door, and ran down the 20 flights of stairs, and ran out the front door. i looked out into the parking lot, and my car wasn't there. ?"oh, right! meghan crashed my car...." " How did she get my keys?!??!!" i yelled. the people around me looked at me like i was stupid. i ran back inside, and inserted 50 cents into a payphone, and picked up the headset and grabbed the phone book. "where's car rentals?!" i flipped thru the phonebook, and finally found it. "AHA! now to find enterprise rent a car... yes!" i punched the numbers into the key pad. rrrrrrriiiiiiiinnnnnggggg..... rrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiinnnnnnggg. "pickup the phone already!" "enterprise rent a car, this is shirley, how may i help you?" a voice finally said. "yes i need a car. any car that is a buick will be fine, and i need to be picked up." long wait, and finally she said, "where are you at?" "i'm at the desktoin hotel in John, kentucky," i said. "we'll be there as soon as possible," and she hungup. i waited, and waited. 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and went outside, 30 minutes, and finally a Buick Lucerne pulls up right in front of me. "Are you John Jackson?" she asked. "yes i am!" i said. i got into the car, and she started driving. it was complete quietness. we arrive back at the shop, and she gets out, and hands me the keys. "here you go!" she walked back into the building, and i shifted into reverse, and slammed on the gas and pushed the steering whell all the way to the left. i hit the brakes once i turned right, and shifted into drive. i slammed on the gas, and pulled onto the highway. racing down the highway at about 55, i finally come to the jacksonville crossover. i slammed on the brakes, and this time a giant box of pudding hits me on the back of my head with such force that the box comes open, and the bag of pudding splits open, showering pudding all over the back of my head. i shift into park, and get out of the car, leaving the engine on and the door wide open, and running over towards the crowd. "get outta my way!" i was shoving people left and right, and people thought i was injured because of the bag pudding had hit me head and split. a police officer stopped me and said, "what's you name?" "i'm john jackson," after that he let me thru, and there's meghan, pinned between the steering and the seat. "i didn't mean to steal you car, or steal the room key. i was hungry." she tossed me the room key, and i asked the paramedic if she's alright. "no, she is going to need emergency surgery if she's going to live," just my luck! i thought. my girlfriend gets into a car crash... my thoughts we suddenly interupted when i heard somebody yell, "Tornado!" i look around, there's no tornado. "Just kidding," somebody said. "dude, yeah let's going around yelling tornado in a crowd of people!" i yelled. they pulled meghan out of the car, put her on the strecher, and put her in an ambulance, and left. i noticed the words on the side, "this ambulance works for St. Johns Hospital." well, that is handy! i thought. i ran back to my car, and got in it, and searched my pockets, for the keys, but no keys! "where the hell are my keys?!" i searched, and searched, no keys. "Oh, there under my seat!" i felt under my seat, and there were my keys. i picked them up, closed the door, put the key in the ignition, turned it foward, RRRRRRRRR. the engine didn't start. so i tried again. RRRRRRRR. no start. "Oh my god, was is wrong with the %^ thing!" i kicked the gas pedal down, forgetting to take the key out of run, and the engine started right up. "OOOOOKKKK," i said out loud. i decided not to go into details about it. i raced towards the hospital, going as fast as the state of kentucky will allow me to go, which was 45 MPH. half way to the hospital, and the engine just shuts off. i tap on the brakes to slow down to turn into a autozone, and the didn't even slow down a bit. "oh, this is good!" i popped the hood up, and peaked my head out the window looking at the road trying to drive and figuring out what's wrong. a brake had popped off, and all the pressure from the braking system is leaving thru there. i didn't hit the brake again so i didn't lose any more brake fluid. i reached out, keeping one hand on the steering wheel, looking at the road, trying to screw this brake line back on, and people i pass looking at me, like i'm crazy, half of them taking out their cellphones and calling the police. i tried to grab the brakeline, but it was to far away. i tried again, and that's when i noticed that there was a hairpin left turn up ahead. i closed the hood, and grabbed the steering whell with both hands, and yanked the steering whell left. suprisingly, i didn't crash. "Hey, wait a minute! how am i still accelerating when my foot is off the gas?!" i looked at the cruise control. it wasn't on. the car sped back upto 45, and i popped the hood again, trying to reattach the brake, the brake line was to far away, and even if could reattach it, most of the brake fluid went out and dripped on the engine. so i put the hood down, and pulled out my cellphone to call the police. "I'm sorry, but you call can not be processed. try again later," "what!??!?!?!??" i though. "what do you mean you can't process the call!?" that i ended up screaming with a touch of horror in my voice. all of a sudden, a police car, sirens blaring, pulls up next to my car, both still going 45 MPH, and he rolled down his window. "hey, we got a call that you are in a runaway car. is this it?" he asked. "YES!!!!" i yelled. "Well try the brakes," the cop said. i just sat there frozen, processing the words he just sent my way. "HOW CAN I USE THE BRAKES WHEN ONE OF MY BRAKE LINES HAVE SNAPPED???!?!!!!?!?!!?" i said. "oh, well hold on, let me dispatch the C.E.D" he braked a little, and dispatched the C.E.D. that thing went under my car engine, and then the engine shut off. the car shifted into park, all by itself, and the police officer was stunned, and he rear ended me. the results include me spinning out of control, him spinning faster out of control, and me ending up in a ditch, and him ending up jumping the guard rail and falling off the bridge, and hittting the river bed. all i saw was a car sinking fast into the river, and no cop. i freaked out. I killed a cop... well, it wasn't my fault directly, but i still killed him! i jumped out of the car as fast as i could, and ran across to the other side of the highway. "I have to get to the hospital!" i ran down the road to the hospital, got into the parking lot, huffing and puffing, and ran inside. "Yes, i would like to see Meghan Neville please," i said. "Room 3456432909029388582039920485893000028388888." she said. "what floor is that on?" i asked, politely, trying to mask the anger in my voice. " the 300th floor." she said. how big is the %^&$ing hospital?! i thought. i hit the up button on the elevator, and waited a few, and the door finally opened. i got inside, by myself, and looked at the control panel. there were 300 buttons there. i clicked the button to correspond to the 300th floor. the door closed, and the elevator starting rocketing upward. i fell down to the floor. glued there, the ride was only a few second long. the elevator stopped very suddenly, which sent me flying upwards into the ceiling, and finally hitting the ground. i stumbled out of the elevator, and yelled, "What kind of &*%$ing Elevator is that?!" i finally found Room 3456432909029388582039920485893000028388888, after 3 hours of looking, and went inside. there was meghan, laying down, and she yelled, "Hi!" i said, "how are you doing?" i said, trying to mask up my anger, and not trying to cry. she picked it up of course, and said, "Why are you so angry and about to cry?" she said, very soothingly. "my injuries aren't that bad..." "well," i said, "let's see here," sitting down in a chair next to the bed, "i was coming over here, and one of my brakelines snapped and the cruise control got stuck, so a policeman tried to help me out. he shut down my engine, and the car shifted into park, all by itself, and the police officer rear ended me, sending me into a ditch, and making him jump a rail and fall into the river. i looked down, and the car was sinking fast. no cop. i jumped out the car, and ran here. i got into the elevator, and was so fast it glued me to the floor. then i stopped so suddenly that i hit the ceiling, and then fell to the floor. that's why i'm walking funny, and on top of that i'm really tired." "well, go ahead and fall asleep," she said. "I'll be fine," so i laid down on the couch, and fell asleep. meghan watched tv. "let's just hope that nothing else happens to you." she said very softly while i was still asleep. she reached over with her arm that's not tethered and has no I.V's in it, and rubbed my arm. "Sweet dreams," she said. |