Midnight Sirens: Ep. 1: The Sudden Stop at the End

I was never much of a social person, mostly liked to spend time with my own thoughts and stayin’ away from other folks drama. Sometimes in life though, the drama finds you. Sometimes you make it through, live to fight another day, and sometimes you don’t. This happens to be a story of the latter, how my story finds the sudden stop at the end. 

Today started out like any other. Woke up looking through hazy eyes, with beer stained breath and a lethargy that can only come with drinking so much the night before. That's another topic, my drinking, I know what ya’ll will say. Ain't nothin’ that I haven't heard before. Old lady’s done moved out with the kids, and the damn dog, too. Been about a month now. I’m finally getting used to the loneliness and quiet. Although, I miss having little Robbie around everyday. My fishing buddy. At least I get to see them on the weekends, if I'm sober enough. Robbie's little brother, Junior, is a riot. He likes playing jokes on people, just like Daddy. 

Last night was a rough one. Leanne bitching at me all night. Nag about this and nag about that, seems like I can’t ever do any right by her. I swear, I get nagged at more since she left than when she was here. She got mad that I got stuck working late and was late for Junior’s ball game. I guess it didn't help to tell her I stopped for a pitcher as well. After the game, she wouldn't let me take them as planned. Yeah, ya’ll know why. After that, I did what any other down trodden alcoholic would do and drowned my sorrows, numbing the reality and the pain. 

With my head pounding, I kicked empty cans across the floorboard of my work truck, to clear a space for my feet. The drive to work was long, lonely and boring. An hour and a half, one way. Sometimes, if no one else is on the road, I can speed and make it in just one. The job I can't complain about. Boss treats me fair, leaves me be and lets me do my thing. The pay makes up for the drive and there ain’t no way I'm moving to this damn city. Too much traffic, too much of too much. I like my quiet place in the country. 

It’s been a strange day here at work. The engineers were forced to change plans on a war ship we’re refurbishing, for gods know what reason. They came and pulled me from a weld job I was doing near the bow, and had me find the new kid from somewhere down below. Silly shit got lost while looking for a place to take a dump. Made the mistake of telling us on the radio. He found it alright, the can, because that's where I found him. I stepped up quietly to check and see if he had the door locked. Nope. With the force of a SWAT team member on a raid, I raised my leg and kicked through it, while yelling something about the ship sinking. Keep in mind, we’re dry docked, but that didn't stop Jimmy Sands from jumping off the pot, clamoring about trying to get the hell out as fast as he could. With his pants half way up, and a foot long trail of paper hanging out of his ass, he came running by cussing whenever he noticed me falling to my knees in laughter. 

Ultimately, the joke was on me because I got stuck training the little turd for the rest of the day. He wasn't dumb, though. After a few beginner mistakes he did ok, managing to help me get the rest of the bow job completed. After work, we stopped at the bar and shared a few pints and then I wished him well for tomorrow. I had a long ride back home and needed to get going. I stopped at the gas station for the usual packs of smoke and a 12 pack for the ride. Drinking helped get through that long awful ride and I needed my buzz, just in case my loving ex decided to put me through the ringer again. 

I knew I shouldn't have stayed in town for so long. I usually head right home this time of year, I hate getting caught in the shadows on these long dark country roads. As I came down Hickory Road and made the left hand turn over to the state highway, my eyes felt heavy. Not getting sleep the night before had kicked my ass. Only 30 more minutes to go. 

Passing Mrs. Shepard’s dairy farm, I guess I fell asleep a little. Ran off the road and over her mailbox, along with two pretty pink rose bushes. I stopped to see if any one saw or heard it. Looked around a bit, decided I needed to avoid the deputies tonight and left in a hurry. Well that did make my adrenaline rush a little bit, for maybe 10 minutes. It wasn't long after that I felt my eye lids once gain trying to fall over my tired, drunken eye balls. With all the denial I could muster, I gave my head a few shakes and kept on going. I was close to home. Close to bed. 

Somewhere along the way, in that short span of time, I drifted slowly off into medicated dreams. With no particular destination in mind, I felt myself floating into the deep deep current. This time was different, it lasted a lot longer than before. This time, nothing could wake me.

 As more mailboxes were blatantly assailed, along with fence posts and small pine trees, I dreamt. It wasn't until the momentum stopped, that my dreams turned into terror. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. That moment when my eyes awoke, I saw the ugly truth. Looking down at that sordid scene, I witnessed the fate of my own genes. What did I see that gave me such a fright? It was nothing more than the realization of my own plight. For this was the day I saw myself die, on that long dark road, the one with the sudden stop at the end.

 

Never drink and drive, drive while tired or while texting! 

Stay safe,

Paulie

paulie2coins, an American paramedic, writer, small business consultant and full-time father. Writing helps me express my art and also deal with the everyday stresses. Midnight Sirens is my new short story series based on my life as a paramedic. On the streets, we only see the very end of accidents and tragedies. I have always wondered about the events that led up to it and the people involved. Midnight Sirens is a purely fictional series that creates the prequel, the back story. I hope you enjoy

All photos in this post were taken, and are owned, by the author.