Fix Me

Hit At First Sight

     He had hit a person. The brakes were hit, curses were screamed, and last-second swerves were made, but that horrible THUMP was felt through his bones anyway. Theo sat motionless for a whole second because his brain was unable to process the intense shock that instantly overcame him. He had hit a person.
    
     And what the hell was a person doing out here, in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the worst thunderstorm he had ever seen in his life?
    
     He burst out of the driver’s seat as soon as the momentary stupor loosened its grip on his nerves. Angry raindrops immediately slapped his dark tufts of hair against his face. Teeth chattering, Theo pulled the raincoat hood down and made his way toward the partially illuminated human frame. He knew this person would most likely be not-dead since he was going 10 MPH and was pretty sure he slammed the pedal just in time, but he was terrified anyway. Theo could almost visualize the blood and gore painting the forest ground deep crimson and mixing unevenly with the mud. What has he done?
    
     But there was no blood and gore on the ground. Only a floundering person struggling to get up, very much alive. He physically felt his heart unclenching.

     “Hello? Are you all right? Jesus, I’m so sorry, I…” His voice came out thousand times more panicky, he realized.

     The fallen figure was saying something to him, but it was difficult to make out because of the roaring rainfall. Theo brushed the soaked strands out of his eyes and stooped down to hear them better. The guy turned, and he could finally see his face thanks to the headlights. The first thing he noticed was the open wound across his cheekbone. Theo’s heart dropped, thinking he had caused it.

     “I-I’m so sorry,” he croaked out. His soggy brain couldn’t think of anything better to say.

     For some reason, the stranger bizarrely stilled as their eyes locked. Like he’d seen a ghost. Theo envisioned himself spiraling down a rabbit hole of nightmares as that was exactly how it felt to be living this night.

     “Sir?”

     “You’re…,” the man muttered before stopping himself.

     What? An attempted murderer? “I’m sorry?” He asked, one dialogue away from crying.
    
     “I’m okay, it’s okay.” The man sobered up without a warning and waved his hands in the air. Then he noticed his arm.

     “Oh my god,” Theo cried, paling. “Your arm, sir. I’ll get you to a hos—shit, the bridge’s down.”

     The only bridge that linked his remote little haven to civilization had been submerged under the flooded river—he couldn’t possibly cross it without drowning himself with the car. That’s why he was heading back to his cabin in the first place. The unforeseen storm had cut him off from the outside world; the weather forecast was off by a million miles. He couldn’t get out, nothing could get in. And that poor fellow’s arm needed medical attention now.

     “Damn,” the man blurted, just noticing his oddly bent left arm. “It’s all right, I just need…” Then he was at a loss for words. The pain seemed to be finally registering in him because Theo saw his face contort for a brief moment. It was obvious he was suppressing the burn and the panic, which only fed Theo’s ever-swelling guilt. He had to do something.

     “Do you have any company, sir? I can get you to—”

     “No, I was…hiking alone. Got lost and uh—storm,” he explained, looking a little disoriented.

     Theo nearly drew blood from his bottom lip and willed his heart to calm the hell down. He would get through this. He would… “Get him to my cabin,” he whispered to himself.

     “What’s that?”

     “Uh, let me take you in. I have a cabin down the road and I can treat your injuries,” he shouted over a particularly raucous thunderclap. Oh god, he was getting punished for this. Any minute now, Zeus would strike him down because Theo had hit a man—

     “Please do, and thank you,” the man responded after a pause. Theo hoped he didn’t give off serial killer vibes, driving out on a mudslide that’s barely a road in this rainstorm of madness with an obscure “cabin” as his home. Literally a random dude living in a Cabin in the Woods. But as there was no other option for the man, Theo would do his best to not appear as a homicidal maniac.

     He scrambled around to help the man up, but surprisingly for a guy who had been hit by a Jeep Wrangler on a forest road, the injured could carry himself pretty well. Theo stopped trying to support him once he realized he was more of a burden than a walking stick. Yet he watched the stranger safely situate himself in the shotgun seat before climbing in the car himself. The best thing was that he hadn’t crashed the car into a tree trunk or accidentally hurled it down the steep slope on the left which was basically a cliff. And the dryness. It was nice to be shielded from the tidal wave dropping from the sky. Where was this, a tropical rainforest? But then a rainforest would at least have thick canopies to filter the rain. This was worse.

     Theo attempted three times to turn on the ignition. Typical, he thought miserably. His hands were visibly trembling from both the cold and the nerves. He would never be the lone survivor in a horror movie.

     “Hey,” the stranger said. His voice was serene, almost fond. “Take your time. You’re okay.”

     He’s nuts, was Theo’s first internal response. Or a serial killer. Maybe he’s the serial killer. That was when the car coughed to life. The engine was on.

     “Thanks,” Theo acknowledged awkwardly. He slowly steered the car away from the oak tree inches ahead and got all four wheels back on the road. They had to get home fast because the tires were beginning to dip into the sludge. Choosing Wrangler over a cheaper sedan was possibly the best choice he’d made, he mused.

     Once they were relatively safe on the way and the drums of the rain were reduced to rhythmic background noise, the man broke the silence. “I’m Elias.”

      “Oh,” Theo said stupidly. “I’m-I’m Theo. Theodore, but just call me Theo. Everyone calls me Theo. Except for, well, you don’t need to know that.” He huffed out a nervous laugh. God, he was rambling. His only justification was that he hadn’t exchanged more than five words with a human being in a month.

     But Elias didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. Instead, he murmured to himself, as if testing how the word tasted on his lips. “Theo, Theo…” He sighed softly. “Nice to meet you, Theo.”

     Definitely a serial killer, Theo concluded.

***

Hi everyone (who am I speaking to lol), it's been a while. I'm still writing and I actually have a big project going on. I think it'll be my life's work and I'm very excited about it. While I won't be posting that one up because I'm aiming for print publication, this story will be uploaded as a light side project. I hope someone out there finds it and reads it 😂
Please consider voting and/or commenting if you liked it, thank you💓