A Bad Day

A Bad Day
Leaves fell on the ground and flustered into miniature tornados with the passing of cars.  Summer was over and everyone was unhappy at the start of school, everyone except for the seniors, of course.  The street lined with cars and the barking of a dog could barely be heard over the bass of the music blaring. 
The party that night was to commence the senior class into their final year in high school.  Jordan, an eighteen year old football player, had been in preseason training for three weeks before the start of the new school year and was eager for classes to begin.  Being his senior year, he had every intention of taking full advantage of this status for all females were infatuated with him.  As he walked into the house, he could smell the alcohol on everyone’s breath.
“Now this is a party,” he said to no one in particular.
Seeing his friends, he hurried over and they offered him several shots of different colored liquids.  A girl came up to the group and began talking to him.  He surveyed her physical qualities and decided she was worthy to speak with him.  The rest of the night went similarly for Jordan.
“I don’t know how you do it, man. These girls are all over you,” one of his teammates said.
As the evening went on, the partying potheads, perceiving hunger, drove to IHOP to enjoy an early morning snack.  Jordan knew better than to drive while inebriated, so he continued to party. 
Next thing he remembered, Jordan woke up with little recollection of the past eve’s events.  Climbing out of an unfamiliar bed, he fumbled for his pants.  When he glanced back at where he had slept, he realized there was someone else there. Who the hell is that?  It stirred.
“Morning,” he said quietly, still unsure of who it was.  She looked up at him, not noticing his presence until he had spoken. Man, she’s cute.
“Did we-?” she started.
“I don’t know,” Jordan replied, “but since you’re not wearing any clothes, I have a good clue.” 
Yes! I scored last night!  Realizing that he didn’t know her even after seeing her face, he decided to meet her, get her number, and leave to go get ready for school.  Feeling good about the previous night, he ran to his car and drove home.  Gotta get home, so I can grab my books. It’s gotta be at least ten by now.  Man, I’m really late! He looked at the clock in his car and realized that there was no reason to go to school that day. It was already afternoon when he had woken up.  Mom and Dad are going to kill me. 
His dad stormed out of the house when Jordan pulled up. 
“What the hell were you doing last night and why weren’t you at school today?  And it’s you’re first day of school!” his dad roared. He opened the door, reached in, and slammed Jordan’s face against the steering wheel with his overpowering grip.  Jordan’s forehead became red, and he could feel it throbbing from the blow.
“Dad, I’m sorry, I went to a party and lost track of the time today,” he pleaded.
Normally, he wouldn’t take that kind of abuse from anyone.  But there was little he could do to stop his father, for he worked construction for a living and had well-developed muscles that dwarfed Jordan’s.  Also, there wasn’t even any point in fighting back; Jordan knew that he had messed up pretty big this time.  How could I let this happen? It’s my senior year…  …Wait, it’s my senior year. Let me have some slack for making it this far!  Angry for letting his dad handle him like that, he launched out of his seat in attempt to knock him back.  This did not work.  As large as his father was, he was still quicker than Jordan.  Seeing Jordan get angry, he knew to expect something.  Noticing the shift in weight, he tensed and sidestepped as Jordan fell to the ground in a failed attempt.  As soon as he had moved out of the way of Jordan’s attack, he swept back in and put his boot firmly on Jordan’s neck. 
“You need to respect your elders, especially your parents,” his father growled, “And don’t you ever try that crap on me again.”
After a firm scolding, Jordan went back inside.  He didn’t have to face Mom yet. She was still at work at the supermarket.  Thank God for that.  He didn’t want to have to deal with any more crap from his parents. I had a good time last night and that’s all there is to it. I’m not sorry. Good thing I’m going to college next year so I won’t have to deal with my parents. Entering his room in the basement, he felt the cool, damp air hitting his face.  On one side of the room he had his bed and on the other a small television that only picked up only a few channels.  A few parts of the wall were covered with women in skimpy clothing holding erotic poses.  And others had posters of his favorite football team, the Carolina Panthers.  To be honest, he couldn’t be happier with the way it looked. It was his favorite place to come and relax.  Between preseason practices, he and his friends often went down there to get away from the summer heat. 
He laid down in attempt to recuperate from not only last night’s party, but also the confrontation he had just had with his father.  Still angry, he punched his concrete wall twice, not too hard, but enough to break the skin on his knuckles.  Why do they have to get so mad at me? I messed up, I’m sorry. LET IT GO!! He had to get some sleep, though, and he wouldn’t if he kept this up.  Using a technique he learned from his school counselor, he started concentrating on each individual muscle, then relaxing it. Slowly, the pain in his hand faded and he felt himself drift into darkness…
THUMP!  The sound of the front door slamming woke Jordan with a start.  He heard mumbles upstairs of what would be his mother and father conversing.  It started regularly but slowly escalated into an angrier and louder conversation about how Jordan had missed his first day of school.  Here it goes… He heard his mother say loudly that she wasn’t going to talk to him right now. She was just going to make dinner and try to forget about it.  Jordan felt a sense of relief flooding back into his mind.  I don’t want to have to deal with that right now.  Since he didn’t go to school, he had no homework to do.  He decided since he had to wait for dinner to be made anyways, he might as well make the best of his time and call Sara, that girl he woke up next to.  Searching his pockets, he found his cell phone and called her.   
Ring……Ring……Ring...
“Hello?” a cool female voice said.
“Hey, Sara.”
“Who’s this?”
“It’s Jordan; I met you last night… and this morning,” he said with a smile.
“Oh hey! Yeah, that was awkward, wasn’t it?”
“Sure was, but an awkward morning beats a boring night.”
After talking to her for a while, he took a liking to the girl. She was really funny, and not to mention, quite attractive.  It’s too bad that I can’t remember anything from last night; I can’t recall if she was any good. Damn…
Time seemed to zip away from him as he talked to her and before he knew it; his mom called down that it was dinner time.
“Hey, I have to go eat dinner, but you want to hang out sometime?”
“Sure, how about tomorrow night?”
“That’s good for me. Sounds like a date.”
“See ya tomorrow.”
“Bye.”
He hung up and did a victory dance for his prevailing conversation.  Not having time to think too much about it, he raced up the stairs to set the dinner table.  Dinner was silent for Jordan allowed his parents to bask in their anger, not wanting to unleash it.  Shortly after, he went back down to his room and lay in his bed for a while because he had just woken up from his nap, and didn’t want to go to sleep again so soon. He stared at the ceiling and listened to the conversation, one female mumble, and one male mumble. He wondered what they could possibly be dreaming up for a punishment.  After half an hour of hearing his parents talk about him, he rolled over and let sleep overtake him.
The next morning, his parents said that they weren’t going to do anything to him for a punishment except he had to be home that night so they could talk. 
“We’re just worried about your future. We don’t want you to mess anything up in your last year of high school. This year decides where you go to college so you need to be careful about the choices you make,” lectured his mom. It was the first time she had spoken directly to him since returning from work the previous day. What am I going to do? I have the date tonight! I definitely don’t want to miss that.
Still pondering this dilemma, he left for school in his car, not wanting to speak with his parents anymore.  Jordan pulled into school to begin what was supposed to be his second day.  Since his school was so large, it was impossible for him to know everyone, and he knew this his first year as a freshman.  He made it his goal to make sure everyone knew who he was.  So he worked extremely hard at all of his academics and sports, people began to take notice of him shortly into his second year in high school.  Two more years of such work and it resulted in the effect he got this day.  He couldn’t get in the door without being barraged with girls asking him how his summer went.  As much as he enjoyed this, he saw his friends roll their eyes as they past and he ran to catch up with them. 
“Didn’t see you at class yesterday,” one of them said. “You hook up with that chick? You know, the hot one?”
“Yeah, and I have date with her tonight, too, but I got in trouble with my parents so I can’t go,” Jordan replied painfully.
“Dude, screw that. You gotta go with this chick; I even have a bottle of liquor if you want it. Like, to make things more interesting?”
“Sure, I guess that’s cool, man. Thanks.”
Entering the classroom, he had to end his conversation; he couldn’t let the teacher hear something like that.  He couldn’t concentrate on whatever the teacher was saying, something about matrices and algebra.  Should I take the bottle and go out with this girl?  We could have quite the time, I bet.  Damn, I just don’t know. Mom and Dad wanted me to come home tonight… He had this mental battle for the rest of the day as his friends words echoed in his head.  After filling up his homework book with assignments and heading out the door, the moment of truth came. 
“So do you want it?” he friend asked.  There were a million reasons he could have given him to not take the bottle, not go out with this girl, and just go home to his parents and talk.  But he had made up his mind.
         “Yeah, I’ll take it; I’m looking for a good time tonight anyway, right?” Jordan gave in.  He walked over to his car and his friend pulled up next to him and threw a paper bag threw his window.
“There ya go man, good luck with her!” he shouted and then peeled out of the parking lot.  Now that school was over and he only had to think about one thing at a time, he remembered that he had football practice.  Did I miss it yesterday? No, coach said we had the day off. That’s right. He remembered this as he ran over to the gymnasium where the locker room was.  His teammates greeted him and he got changed quickly. I don’t want to upset the coach for being late.  As he thought this, the coach walked into the dark room and told the boys to get on the field.  Practice ended up not being that bad, quite painless actually.  Probably because as soon as he got on the field, he noticed the cheerleading squad was having practice as well, only a hundred feet away on the sidelines.  After examining each of them for some time, he noticed that Sara was a part of the group cheering.  Why haven’t I ever noticed her before? She must be new. She saw him, smiled, and then waved.  She really is something.
They met at the local burger joint and had a meal.  It was supposed to have the best burgers in town but Jordan wouldn’t know. He loved this place, and he never went anywhere else to compare. 
When they were finished eating, Jordan said, “You wanna get out of here?”
“I thought you would never ask,” Sara said slyly.  They walked back to his car in the parking lot and got in.
         “You want a drink?” Jordan asked.  She smiled at him through playfully accusing eyes. 
         “Of what?” she replied. He grabbed the paper bag and tore it open.  Looking down at the label he found it was rum. I love rum!
         “Rum.”
         “Rum’s good!” she exclaimed, taking the bottle from his hand, wrapping her lips around it and taking a gulp. This is going to be a hell of a night. He took it and threw back two to her one. 
         “Let’s go to the park,” she said.
         “In a little while. Let’s have a couple more drinks,” Jordan replied in attempt to stay put for a while.  No complaints.  Not being at home made Jordan feel bad about his parents and disobeying them. After all, they were quite worried about him.  In a while, though, the sense of regret began to haze as the alcohol thinned his blood, sending him into a state of indifference.  Suddenly Sara leaned in close and kissed him, and the next thing he knew, they were in his backseat making out.  I could get used to this.  His phone buzzed. He looked at it, it was his parents, aaaannd click. Back to Sara. They started making out again when his phone buzzed a second time.
         “I’m getting really tired of my parents’ calling me,” Jordan said out of anger.
         “Forget about your parents. Let’s go to the park,” she whispered, grabbing the inside of his thigh.  Jordan didn’t need much more convincing.  He jumped into the driver’s seat, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot.  I don’t feel so good.  Because he was drunker than he thought, the car was challenged to keep a straight course.  Everything seemed to be moving faster than he was, and his sight blurred. 
         “Faster,” Sara said, whispering in his ear, and then kissing his neck.  Jordan accelerated past his comfortable speed to please her. Remembering his parents had called he grabbed his phone from his pocket and noticed there were voicemails. He called the line, voices came shortly after.
         “Jordan, you need to come home right now, we need to talk,” His mother said through the electronic messaging system.  His father came on.
         “Jordan, I don’t like what you’re pulling. Were coming to find you if you don’t come home in one minute. I swear to God I’m gonna beat your ass,” he threatened.
         They’re out looking for me? That’s ridiculous! Sara took his phone and threw it  into the back seat.  Now her hand was caressing his chest.  Jordan, trying to concentrate as hard as he could on driving, was having a hard time.  Coming up he saw a green light turn yellow, and then red.  He tapped the breaks, starting to decelerate, but Sara had other plans.
         “Run it, you know you want to,” she whispered. “Besides, I can make it up to you.”
         He hit the gas, knowing that he just couldn’t wait to get to the park. My parents would be angry if they knew I ran a light, but it’s the middle of the night and no one will see me. As soon as he got done justifying his misdemeanor, he saw a flash of light in the intersection ahead. A car had just pulled into the area he was zooming into.  Sara screamed.  Honking his horn and slamming on the breaks, he tried to avoid the innocent car but to no avail. The two motorized vehicles slammed into one another, a thunderous jolt of momentum jerked both passengers forward. Jordan, wearing a seatbelt, under the force of the strap heard a pop in his shoulder but stayed in his seat and his face smashed into the airbag.  Sara was not so lucky, being she had not been wearing a seatbelt.  She had been practically in his seat, caressing him and whispering in his ear. At the time of impact, Sara was thrown through the windshield with such force that when she finally hit the ground, she had passed completely through the other car. She would never get off the ground.  Jordan, his adrenaline still pumping, tried to open his door but the impact of the crash had bent it shut.  He reached over to what had been Sara’s door but stopped due to a terrible pain in his shoulder. The seatbelt must have broken my collarbone. Then Jordan realized how drunk he had been, for the passenger door was completely gone, ripped off by the other car.  Managing to climb over into the other seat without too much pain, he left the wreckage of his own car to inspect that of the other.  I wonder if they are alright.
His first impulse was to go see if Sara was alright, but stopped at the other car first.  In his peripheral vision, he could see what should have been his red light, turn green.  Oh my God, I don’t see anyone moving. In the darkness, it was hard to see much of anything so he got a closer look by going to the side of the door.  It was a couple, a large man and his wife. They definitely weren’t moving.
“Are you OK? Hello? Can you hear me?” he cried.  Nothing.
Then he noticed something that sent his heart beating faster than before the adrenaline hit.  His stomach leaped into his throat as he vomited on to the asphalt.  His car had collided with that of his parents.  They had been out looking for me and I ran into them? After regaining control of his stomach, he raced back to his car to find his phone and call 911.  Sara had thrown it in the back seat but he found it outside of the car.  Punching buttons, he thought that he had called 911, but through his tears, had accidentally called his voicemail and didn’t realize it until the third and final message his mom had sent him came on.
“Jordan, please come home, we love you so much and we just want you to be alri— OH MY GOD!!!”
                                       *          *          *          *          *
The black and white pulled up to the scene which had been called in by what sounded like an extremely distressed boy.  As the high beams flashed over the wreckage, Sergeant Brandon Walker saw an adolescent boy on his knees, rocking back and forth.  Stepping out of the car, he hurried over to the movement.  He could hear the kid saying something to himself that sounded like:  “They’re dead, they’re all dead, and I can’t do anything, I’m sorry.”
As Sergeant Walker neared to comfort the boy who he assumed had been the only survivor of the wreck, the boy moved with unexpected quickness and hit the cop with a low tackle his coach would have been proud of.  Before Sergeant Walker could respond, the boy had unholstered his firearm.  Fear struck him as he thought he was being attacked, but instead the child turned it on himself. The flash and report that ensued lit up the night.  Blood splattered onto Sergeant Walker’s uniform and face. Battle hardened from his years in the military, angry and unfazed, he got up.
“He must’ve had one helluva bad day.”