Pulse of Heroes (2 page)

The last thing Michelle wanted was to be
noticed, but it was too late. Tim turned around and spotted her
leaning against Samantha's car that just happened to be parked
directly under the streetlight. Of course he could see her,
especially since the bright blue papier-mâché crown she was wearing
was over a foot high. Tim said something to Bethany who folded her
arms in annoyance. He started walking toward Michelle. If Michelle
could have had one wish come true right there at that moment, she
would've wished to either disappear or have the earth swallow her
whole. Another choice could have been to have some gorgeous muscled
guy standing proudly next to her. Why on this of all nights did Sam
decide to disappear on her?

“Hey Michelle. Is everything okay?” Tim
asked, searching her eyes as if he wanted to ask something
more.

“Yes, of course. I’m fine.” Michelle
answered, trying to act as if everything was cool. “I'm just
waiting for Sam. She's on her way.” Tim didn’t seem convinced.

“Are you sure? I'm the last car here. You
shouldn’t be out here all alone.” The word ‘alone’ echoed several
times in Michelle’s head. An irritated Bethany called Tim’s name,
and he looked at the ground. “Do you want us to wait here till
Samantha gets back?” he asked.

“No, no. You two go ahead and have a good
time,” Michelle replied with more venom than intended. She
immediately wished she could swallow her own tongue. That wasn't
like her. She tried again, “I'm okay. Go ahead, really.” Tim
pretended not to notice any underlying emotions in Michelle’s
voice, and was just about to say something when her cell phone
beeped. It was the ‘miracle text’ from Samantha, who was having
girl problems and was still in the bathroom. Michelle used the text
as an exit strategy. “I have to go help Samantha. Thanks anyway,”
she said in her best ‘worried’ voice. Tim smiled, but remained a
bit confused at Michelle’s sudden departure. He had forgotten to
tell her that he really liked her costume. But it was too late,
because Michelle was already safely back within the walls of the
Rose & Glee Inn
.

On the ride back home Michelle couldn't stop
thinking about her encounter with Tim. She felt mortified. “I can't
believe I looked like such a loser in front of them,” she said from
the safety of the back seat. Samantha had promised to give Rachael
a ride home after the dance and Michelle had volunteered to give up
the front seat since Rachael’s costume made it almost impossible to
move, let alone crouch down into the back seat of a VW bug. Rachael
was dressed as a mermaid, and with her flowing wavy red hair and
tight hugging fishlike skirt complete with scales and huge foamy
fins, she looked like a living version of Ariel from the Disney
movie. Rachael had made the costume herself, and was especially
proud of her top, which she had created from an old swimsuit by
painstakingly hot-gluing hundreds of tiny seashells and plastic
pearls on it. She was also friends with Tim, and kept telling
Michelle not to give up on him because she was sure he had feelings
for her.

“If he has feelings for me, then why was he
at the dance with Bethany?” Michelle asked, waiting for a good
response. But nobody had the answer to that question.

Samantha was growing annoyed by the
conversation running in circles, so she decided to turn on the
radio really loud in order to drown out any more repetitions.
Michelle and Rachael took the hint and started singing so loud that
passing cars could hear them even through rolled up windows. They
were having a blast because nothing can make one feel better than
music. Every so often the girls would see a group of kids running
around in the street still wearing their costumes and trying to
extend Halloween night for as long as possible. To add a little
more excitement to the ride home, the girls would slow down next to
some of the kids, roll down their windows, and pelt them with the
tiny seashells and plastic pearls that kept falling off Rachael’s
top. Then they would speed up, driving away screaming and
screeching with laughter.

There was an especially large group of kids
to the left of the road. Samantha knew that if they wanted to hit
the kids with the shells they would have to cross over the double
yellow line into the oncoming traffic side of the street. It was
almost 12:30 AM, and the roads were deserted.

“What do you think?” Samantha asked.

Rachael looked back at Michelle, who nodded
in mischief and said, “Yeah, let's get ‘em.”

“Yes,” said Rachael, “Go for it!” And both of
them began to cheer, “Go for it. Go for it!” Samantha looked up
ahead and saw no oncoming traffic. She thought it would be safe to
drift over to the other side for just a few seconds. “Okay get
ready,” she said, and steered the car to the left, parallel to the
kids. Rachael leaned over Samantha so she could reach the driver’s
side window, while Michelle reached over Samantha's left shoulder
so she could also get a better aim. But before the girls had the
chance to throw the stuff, they were bombarded by a storm of
raining eggs. The eggs shattered everywhere; the car was covered in
yellow yolk and bits of eggshell. Some of them even flew in through
the open window. One hit Samantha head on, sending slimy yolk down
her face, while others broke against the windshield, dashboard, and
rearview mirror. The girls screamed, and Samantha swerved back onto
the right side of the road. Immediately, they heard loud horns and
screeching tires. Samantha panicked and lost control of the wheel,
and the car swerved across the shoulder and down into a small
ravine, violently jolting to a halt mere inches away from a large
oak tree. Michelle’s head flew forward right into the back of
Samantha’s seat, than whip-lashed backwards. Rachael and Sam were
luckier; their seat belts prevented them from the same fate,
although the belts tightened and the pressure could be felt right
down into their bones.

Michelle had never been so scared in her
entire life. Her heart was pounding so fast and loud that she
thought she was going to, or maybe had already had a heart attack.
Her body was shaking from the adrenaline, and she felt disoriented.
All three of them were stunned, and it was quiet because nobody
could muster up the courage to say anything. Finally, Samantha was
able to speak.

“Oh my gosh!”

“What happened?” Rachael asked, her voice
shaking.

“There was no one on the road. I don't
understand.” Samantha said, and she was right. There was no other
vehicle coming up ahead towards them. But what Samantha had failed
to do was look behind to make sure that the road was clear for them
to merge back over safely.

“I checked in the rearview mirror. I don’t
understand,” she said. Samantha looked up at the mirror and
realized that not only was it cracked and covered in yolk, but it
was also pointing in the wrong direction. The eggs must have hit it
with enough force to swivel it downwards. So when Samantha checked
the mirror to make sure that they were no headlights approaching
from behind, the blackness that she saw was not the empty road
behind them, but the interior of her own car. In reality, there was
already a car in the space that she was trying to swerve into, and
that driver had to slam on his brakes in order to avoid being
sideswiped by the VW. Luckily, the large semi-truck that was
traveling behind that car was far enough back to realize the
unfolding situation, and slowly came to a stop before ramming into
all of them.

Slowly, Samantha stepped out of the car. She
wanted to see if there was any real damage done. But all she saw
was the goopy mess that the eggs had left. She heard movement in
the brush up above and turned to see an older man rushing towards
her. “Are you all right?” he asked. Michelle and Rachael watched
Samantha speak to him for a moment.

Rachael was nervous. “Michelle, what do we
do? Should we get out of the car?” But Michelle was still in shock.
She could hear Rachael's voice, but it sounded like it was coming
from far away.

The man peered in through the open window.
“Girls, are you ok?” Rachael nodded, but all Michelle did was look
at him, her eyes as large as saucers. “What about you back there?”
he asked. Michelle still felt like the man was talking to someone
else, maybe somebody seated next to her. Before she knew it, two
sturdy hands were pulling her out through the open car door. Once
outside, Michelle noticed another figure looking down at them from
the main road, but all she could make out was a shadowy silhouette,
as the bright streetlight behind obscured all detail. It looked as
if the figure itself was radiating beams of light, and she thought
that maybe she was dead and an angel was coming for her. She slowly
turned towards the older man, and seeing true concern in his eyes,
she told him that she was all right, although she did bump her
forehead. He suggested that they all walk up to the main road where
there was more light so he could look at Michelle’s bruise, which
they did. Under the streetlights, Michelle could see that
Samantha’s hair and face were covered in wet yolk, and wondered if
she had suffered the same. Rachael seemed to be in better shape
than either of them, although she did have to take off her mermaid
skirt in order to climb back up to the street. Luckily she was
wearing boy shorts, so it didn't look too bad.

The nice man looked to be about 55 years old.
He was tall and wore a perfectly tailored wool suit. He told them
that his name was Xander. Once he confirmed that the girls were, in
fact, physically sound, he relaxed some, but at the same time he
made sure to let them know that he was angry and very disappointed
in their immature driving choices. “You could have all been killed,
young ladies,” he scowled. He just couldn't understand why they
would take such a chance for something that amounted to no more
than mere child's play. “Do you have any idea how quickly a human
life can be extinguished?” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that,
in less than a heartbeat.”

The girls apologized profusely, over and over
again, and Michelle took it upon herself to take the blame. “It was
really my fault. I was the one that encouraged Samantha to swerve
over to the other side. It wasn't her. She's a great driver,
really.” Xander wanted to call Samantha's parents, but she begged
him not to. Michelle hoped that if she took the blame herself
Samantha wouldn't get into as much trouble. Xander finally agreed
that since they were all completely sober, and since the car had no
real damage, that he wouldn’t call the police or Samantha's
parents. He told the girls to stand there while he walked back to
his car for a minute. He leaned into the window and it was obvious
that he was talking to someone, probably whoever it was that
Michelle had seen earlier. Michelle thought it was strange that
this person had obviously seen what had happened, yet gotten back
into the car rather than rushing to their aid. After a moment,
Xander walked down the street to the semi-truck that had its engine
still idling. He spoke to the driver, who proceeded to climb out
from the cab and walk to the rear of the truck. And after a few
more minutes, the girls heard the roar of a powerful engine, and
watched as a large excavator slowly made its way off the semi-truck
and headed in their direction. Xander pointed to where the VW was,
and within about ten minutes the excavator appeared from the
ravine, towing the little bug behind it.

The girls couldn't thank Xander enough for
letting them get a pass on something that could've turned out so
much worse. And a few moments later, both the car and the semi
truck were long gone. For Michelle, the next dilemma was what to
tell her father when she walked through the front door of her home
an hour and a half late. She knew all too well that he would be
there, in the living room, sitting on the couch, wide awake, facing
the door and staring right at her.

Michelle did manage to send a text to her
father letting him know that she was all right and on her way home,
but she knew it wouldn’t placate the situation. When she arrived,
both her parents were waiting up for her. It was obvious to
Michelle that no amount of arguing or pleading was going to clear
the state of affairs. And with that thought in mind, she didn’t
raise any objections to her punishment. She was to be grounded for
an entire week and was forbidden from using her cell phone.
Michelle knew that she had disappointed her parents, and really did
feel guilty about not telling them the entire truth. She only told
them about the egging part, conveniently omitting the part where
the car ran off the road after almost smashing into another
vehicle, although she did conclude with honesty about going to the
public carwash and helping Samantha wash down the VW.

By the time Michelle cleaned up the horrible
mess of eggs, makeup, and sweat, she had a horrendous headache. She
glanced over at the clock and sighed at the numbers that read 3:10
AM. Her headache only got worse when she lay down, so she decided
to sit up in bed and wait for the pain to subside. She thought
about the dance, and about Tim, and of course about the mistake
that could have killed them all. How stupid she thought to herself,
to risk a life in order to throw foolish shells at 12-year-olds.
Eventually, Michelle’s mind began to drift, and with her headache
less severe she lay back down and managed to fall asleep. During
that early morning she had the most strange and vivid dream that
she could ever remember…

In her dream, Michelle was standing on an
unfamiliar seashore. It was a warm sunny day, with a bright yellow
sun and white fluffy clouds passing along the bluest of blue skies.
She could see the footprints of her bare feet stretching out a long
way behind her. She was holding some sort of a pail or bucket, and
began collecting shells that were strewn along the sand. Most of
them were still closed and she tried prying a few open, but to her
disappointment they were all empty. She then looked out across the
water and saw gentle foamy waves in the distance, but the water in
front of her feet was amazingly clear. She waded out and began
picking up more shells and placing them into her pail. From the
corner of her eye she saw a very large yellow shell, and decided to
wade in deeper to reach it. She tried to pull it out of the sand,
but it wouldn't budge. She knelt down on her knees in order to get
a better grip, and she managed to pull it free from the sticky
sand, but slipped backwards and fell head underwater. She panicked
a bit, but then realized that the water was clear and sweet to the
taste. She stood up and opened the palm of her hand, only to
recognize that what she thought was a shell was not a shell at all,
but rather a large starfish, which suddenly began to pulsate and
shine. Then, the starfish disappeared in a flash of bright white
light. Michelle immediately looked up at the sky to see a bright
star pulsating with immense brightness. She said one word to
herself, ‘pulsar’. She then turned to face away from the water,
with the pail still in her hand. To the right of her feet, she saw
an iron arrow stuck in the sand. Thinking that maybe it could be
used to pry open the shells, she pulled it out of the sand. But
just then, Michelle noticed a large armchair on the beach a few
feet away. The chair looked very familiar, but she couldn't tell if
anybody was sitting in it, so she decided to walk up and take a
look. When she reached the chair she saw that it was empty, but
upon closer inspection she observed a small pearl sitting perfectly
in the middle of the worn out cushion.