Death's Contest Entries

Taxi! (#SafeLove Contest)

JACK Nelson wasn't a morning person.

Especially not when he had to weave through the early traffic and stop for minutes, as the slow line of kindergarten children crossed the path in front of him. If he showed any signs of impatience, the people on the road would shoot him with unpleasant glares.

So he would bite his tongue every morning and go about doing his job - picking up people and dropping them off to their destinations. If he was lucky, they would even spare him with a few extra dollars. However, he hadn't been that lucky recently.

As he drove through the busy streets of New York, his sharp blue eyes looked around, hoping to spot his first customer for the day. He paused beside an old woman who was standing by the pavement and she waved him off when he rolled down his window.

"Good day to you too," he said with a tight lipped smile as he started his search again. "If you don't want a taxi, then don't stand on the pavement, looking around," he mumbled under his breath. This day was already starting to get good.

He drove through the streets again, hoping someone would signal him. You'd think that since the big city was so full of people, it would be easy to get people but that wasn't really the case. People weren't stupid so instead of spending money on a cab, they would either walk or buy a new bicycle. With the prices skyrocketing, people wanted to save up as much as possible. At least, the middle class people were trying to. But the filthy rich?

No, they don't ever seem to worry about the notes in their fat wallets. But they were too fancy for an ordinary cab so they had their own cars with their own chauffeurs. Jack shook his head. Business was bad.

He was just thinking about how he would be able to get more money when all of a sudden, a woman jumped onto the road from the pavement and waved her arms.

Jack cursed under his breath and pressed onto the brakes. The woman stood her ground rather fearlessly and Jack sighed in relief when he managed to stop the cab just a few feet away from the woman. He could've killed her...

As he reflected upon that, the woman jogged up to the passenger door and pulled it open without any hesitation. Jack didn't even have the time to say anything because she was already sitting next to him and closing the door. A silent second went by when the woman looked up at him and said, "Drive. Now."

He did as she said, snapping out of his trance and started the car up again. A few seconds later, he glanced over at her and saw her looking outside the window. Her light blonde hair was open and messy as if she'd just gotten up and she appeared to be wearing, what seemed like, a fancy black party dress. The dress was strapless and clung to her thin body and ended above her knees, showing off her long legs.

This wasn't bizarre to Jack. Seeing her unusual party clothes and her state, he could easily guess that she had gotten drunk at a nearby bar or club last night and had passed out somewhere and was now catching a ride home. He had customers like that almost all the time. But the way she jumped in front of his car like that was weird and dangerous. He wondered if she was still drunk enough to do something like that.

She sighed and laid back on the seat and closed her eyes.

There was an awkward silence in which Jack continued to drive, not knowing where he was going.

"Um," he cleared his throat. "Where you headed?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him. For a moment, she didn't answer which caused him to look sideways at her. Her hazel eyes seemed to be clouded with confusion.

"Uh..." She started. "Just keep driving."

"What?"

"Just keep on driving," she repeated, pulling out a wrapped ball of green notes and holding it to his face. "Trust me, you'll get your money, just keep driving."