| Courtesy: themoraltimes.com |
Today’s
Prompt:
Christina Cruz and Scott Peters meet after a
failed experiment. One of them is seeking revenge. Write their story based on
this quick plot: “Patient turns murderous after a near-death experience.”
Word Count: 1,113
Christi
negotiated a curve and spotted a sedan parked on the curb. She zoomed in on the
license plate; the owner of the sedan, she was sure, didn’t run out of gas far
from that, he didn’t just happen to be visiting with a neighborhood friend.
He
was there for her.
“You chose a fine night to pick
a fight, Scott,” Christi said as she pulled in behind the sedan and turned off
the ignition. She got out of her car and walked over to the other vehicle. She
didn’t have a clear view of the driver’s side so she wasn’t sure anybody was
inside.
“It never crossed my mind,
believe me. But now that you mentioned it, it won’t hurt to talk, would it? A figure
rose into view from the opposite front-end side of the parked Toyota Cressida.
He held a towel and he was wiping grime off his hands with it.
“Oops! Sorry, thought you were…
eh… you know.” She shrugged.
“Waiting for you?” Scott Peters
finished her sentence for her. “Is it a crime to fix flat tires around here? Think
maybe, I’m here to terrorize your neighborhood?”
A
strong gust of wind blew through the empty street, scattering dead leaves in
its wake.
“A storm is coming,” Scott said,
watching the leaves rushing down the road like a procession of mad men. “I
thought we were all in this together? I thought you had my back?”
“I did and I still do.”
Christi
and Scott were both scientists at the National Research Laboratories. Scott was
this close to losing his job as Top Scientist as a fall out of a report documented
by Christi who was also one of the scientists-on-duty when an experiment fell
through.
“Why do I get the impression you
are out to ruin my career? We been in this shithole of a laboratory through
thick and thin twenty some odd years. Why now and why this?”
“And why here?” Christi said.
“Because you pushed me to the
edge of my patience. You and your nagging conscience. You knew you’ve been bad
and you wore the guilt on you like a blasted badge. It’s the single reason you
got all offish the second you set your sights on my damn car.”
“Nobody is out to get you,
mister. I am the scribe of the team and that’s means I document the processes involved
in every research—every single thing that goes down—whatever happens, it’s my
responsibility to prepare the reports.”
“And so you documented the end of Scott Peters’ career. Who pushed you to it,
Christi? Tell me Cruz, how do you sleep at night?”
The
question fazed Cruz only for the length of a second. “My sleep is peaceful and
void of nightmares, thank you. Look Scott…”
“Dr. Scott to you. Since the
verdict has not been served, I will not be stripped of my title on the curbs,
Dr. Cruz.”
“Very well then, Dr. Scott. I
got a home to get to and a much-deserved rest. If you’re done, I’m going to go
back inside my car and drive on home.”
“Oh, you’re free. I ain’t holding
you. Just stop thinking every one parked on the curb is out to get a piece of
you. There’s something called a flat tire,
you know?”
Several
months later, the two scientists bump into each other at a mall out of town.
Dr. Scott had been relieved of his duties and guess who filled his spot?
“Guess it makes you more excited
than a hog in mud that you finally got my job.”
“Don’t be cruel, Dr Scott. You
had it coming.”
“Hey, I like the change in attitude,
Dr. Cruz. Whatever happened to I’m doing my job? It’s my responsibility?”
Christina
made to walk on by past Scott. Scott reached out and grabbed her. “Let go of me,”
she said through clenched teeth.
“I found the report, bitch. The genuine report.” He hissed the words in
her ear. “You took me down now I’m taking you down and it’s all the way.”
Christi
wasn’t in a hurry to get out anymore. “What report? I have no idea what you’re
babbling about.”
“The new assistant you were dicking
around with? You know, the one who ditched your butt without saying goodbye? He
was my toy? He laid hands on the original report and faxed it to me. I got you
impaled on your own spear, bitch.”
Christi
bristled with murderous rage. “Just out of curiosity, since I don’t believe one
itsy bitsy thing you been trying to push off on me. What do you think you know?”
“For the record, I know you
planted the flesh-eating bacteria in the poor fellow’s meal. And you stood by
and watched it consume her flesh; observed him torn piece by piece, documenting
a daily account. I know how you tried and managed to shut him away from the
world, from medical check up so he wouldn’t be diagnosed on time.
“I used to think highly of you considering
how you always took the time to clean up the mess after you. But maybe, I rated
you a little too high, sick backstabbing bitch. I expect you to send in your
resignation first thing Monday morning and this shit can go down low-key.”
“You expect no such thing.” But her voice was rid of conviction.
According
to details Scott collected from former colleagues, Christi had sent in her
resignation on Monday morning. Her house had been cleared out and her office,
too (somebody suggested she came in on Sunday evening to clean up the office).
She’d said in the letter that she was calling it quits because she
intentionally withheld crucial information concerning the research and it was
her fault that her former boss (Dr. Scott Peters) got the boot.
Cruz
could not be contacted for further information. Her phone was switched off and
nobody knew her present location. Her former employer put out a notice for
anybody with information about her whereabouts to come forward.
Three
days later, her body mutilated almost beyond recognition by flesh-eating
bacteria, washed up on the banks of a river on the outskirts of the state with
a note pinned to her shirt. Her patient had found her first.
When
Scott bought a daily on Monday morning, the headline said it all. He had not
sent in his findings to the management of National Research Laboratories but he
had emailed a PDF version to somebody who needed it much more than he wanted to
save his own face. Somebody who had been mutilated for undeserved promotion.
Patient turns murderous after a near-death experience.
Eneh Akpan
June
14, 2013
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