Do Miracles Happen?

Short Story - Dilemma

2023

UK

The headlights pierced the gloom, creating a portal through which the raindrops flashed by like bullets which shattered into more droplets as they strafed the windscreen. Gale slowly increased the pressure on the accelerator of the rented SUV as the attention of Mindy’s roving hands awakened his desire. It was a short journey to the Motel and Gale’s longing increased, pushing him to drive faster down the deserted, two lane highway. A sign flashed passed but Gale ignored it, his attention firmly on Mindy as she lowered herself towards his crotch. The car lurched as his foot slipped on the accelerator, the wheels slipped a little on the slick roadway, but he kept the car steady and regained control. Renewing the pressure on the accelerator he ignored the speed limit in his rush to satiate his desire. Tearing his eyes from Mindy’s cleavage he forced himself to concentrate. Peering through the windscreen he realised that he was struggling to navigate the road as it wound its way around the mountainside. Dense trees on either side sporadically plunged the road into darkness, it was pitch black outside, with not even one star in the night sky, the moon’s cloud veiled light and the small square beam of the headlights were the only things that gave any clarity to the road ahead.
Outside the vehicle, the rain was coming down in torrents, the windshield wipers whipped back and forth over the window, attempting to clear away the large droplets clinging to the glass however all they seemed to do was blur Gale’s vision even more. The car slipped again, aquaplaning slightly on the roads wet surface. Glancing out of the side window, Gale uneasily noticed that trees had become denser. They formed a forest that walled them in on both sides.
Suddenly, two blinding lights blazed in the road ahead like two shining eyes trying to pierce the impenetrable darkness – and with a jolt Gale realized that those lights belonged to a car – a car that was speeding towards them from the opposite direction, as the distance between them closed in a blur he realised that the car was in the centre of the road. Again, Gale’s eyes flitted to the wall of trees on either side – he had no room to veer either right or left out of the oncoming vehicle’s way. Slamming his foot down hard on the SUV’s brakes in a panic the SUV’s tyres squealed in protest but could not find traction on the sodden surface. Fishtailing wildly the car slewed sideways, dangerously close to the trees. As he frantically tried to compensate, Gale fought with the steering wheel, but the rear of the SUV clipped one of the trees on the edge of the roadway.
The car was thrown rapidly back across the highway. Gales hand, caught in the gap between the wheel braces, was forced back beyond breaking point and he howled in pain as the bones of his wrist gave way. Mindy’s head was violently thrown back by the force of the jolt. Blood mixed with her spittle and tainted the taste in her mouth as her head flew back pulling her away from Gale and narrowly avoiding severing his exposed penis as her jaws snapped shut with enough force to shatter her teeth.
The car turned in a brutal pirouette, so the passenger’s side was to the oncoming car as the two came together. The sound of screeching metal shattered the immense silence of the rain sodden forest as the impact came. The SUV was thrown high into the air and for a brief second Gale felt numb, then a cacophony of sounds assaulted his ears, muffled explosions rent the air as the airbags deployed, splintering screams cut through him as did fragments of metal torn from interior by the force of the impact. The ridged plastic covering of the airbag struck him on the bridge of his nose with the force of a prize fighter, momentarily dazed, images flashed across his mind - images of his family and friends and clips of his life flashed past like a comedically speeded up slideshow.
Suddenly, he was torn away from the images as a huge blow hit him from the side. Struggling to breathe as the air was forced from his lungs, he was briefly aware of being once again in Mindy’s embrace, confused by her weight as it seemed immense. She screamed, not this time with ecstasy. Her face distorted and battered, she screamed at him in pain and fear before she was tossed away only to be slammed into him again and again. The vehicle continued to roll, pinned by his seat belt vomit spewed from him as she was slammed around the vehicle like a rag doll, her seat belt discarded in the prelude to passion. Her tortured screams were abruptly silenced as her head collided with the side window. The last thing Gale saw was a waterfall of glass cascading like a torrent of crystalline colour before everything went black, and the immense weight was lifted off him as he seemed to float away into complete silence and utter darkness.

The rainstorm that should have died weeks ago, decided to hold up for another night, it’s raining… and by that, I mean with a vengeance. My night wasn’t looking very good – true, it was long after the rush hour, but when it rains, you can bet your bottom dollar that cars will accidently collide, and I’m the only emergency medical technician (EMT) left in this area. The rest of the team have already gone off, it’s my turn to cover the hour-long void in the cross-over. Still I can’t really complain. I’m sitting in my ambulance, drinking a cup of hot chocolate. I like chocolate, it helps me relax. Tea and Coffee just give me headaches, I’m just wired differently than everyone else I suppose. Being a paramedic means breaks never last long, and being wired differently helps so, what the hell, I make the most of them.
The call will come I just know it will, but for now I get to stare out at the dark clouds and get lost in my thoughts; It’ll be Valentines soon, I don’t expect much but something would be nice, we’ve been a bit distant lately but I’m sure it’s just a minor thing, we’ve been under a lot of pressure recently, a new town, a new job, it all adds up. The pressure mounts and being a paramedic doesn’t leave a lot of time for anything other than work and sleep but I know he understands …
My premonition was right: The call just came in, rudely interrupting my reverie. I finished my chocolate in one gulp and put the mug down in the storage compartment. It is now one o’clock. Only five hours to go, and the rain’s easing up a little. The radio crackled into life reporting that there was a collision a couple of miles away, on the forest road. Turning on the siren, I peeled out of the layby and took off. The ride was rough. Visibility was poor and the road was wet. For some unknown reason, the cars seemed to be a little reluctant to make way at the sound of my siren, and it was hard to go at full speed, but once I turned off onto the Forest road the traffic petered out and I got there in four or five minutes. As I approached, I sucked in a breath, it wasn’t pretty. There was an SUV on its roof against a tree on one side of the road, and what was left of a pickup truck on the other. Not a very nice combination.
I parked my ambulance and got out. It did look bad. The driver of the pickup was a teenager, by the size of him and his clothing. He’d been thrown through the windscreen; he had landed a few feet from the side of the road. I ran up to him and was about to ask him if he was alright when he fell unconscious. I checked his pulse and breathing rate. Normal. His left arm and leg were broken, so I take it he must have fainted from pain. Other than that, he was lucky, his condition wasn’t so serious; I made my way over to the SUV.
I was a couple of meters away when I recognise the driver. I didn’t believe it at first
“Gale?” I whispered not wanting it to be true, what was he doing out here? The forest road only went up to the Motel, I couldn’t make sense of it but I still ran the rest of the way to the car, skidding to a halt by the shattered window.
Pushing my thoughts to one side I forced myself to calm down and as I looked in to the wreckage the Paramedic side of me kicked in, time for emotion later.
Gale was held in his seat by his seatbelt, I could see broken ribs sticking out of his chest and instinctively knew that it wasn’t something you couldn’t just put a bandage on. It wasn’t very different from getting stabbed by a knife. Maybe I could slow down his death by… a minute, maybe?
Don’t be pessimistic, I chide myself. In an emergency, every second matters! I turned my attention to the women. Woman? Why is there a woman in the car with my Husband? From her looks, she must be about Twenty-seven or Twenty-eight years old. She’s certainly younger than me. She’s alive, badly injured but alive. She’s having a hard time breathing, she’s bleeding profusely from both knees, and her heart is beating way too fast. I’m not that worried about the truck driver, he’s awake again now and rambling. I can hear him yelling and saying all kinds of bad stuff about car drivers – The guy must be drunk. I can even see him pointing his crooked finger at me and demanding that I go assist him.
That’s when the realisation hits me, the forest road only goes to one place. Tears begin to roll down my cheeks, but they are hidden by the rain. I stand looking from one to another, The drunk, My husband and his lover. My job is to save lives and help people. I do not care if those people are mean or nice, ugly, or pretty, criminals or perfect law-abiding citizens. They are people, fellow human beings in crisis who need help. That is my job. But this? This is different. It doesn’t take long to decide.

Gale never regained consciousness. I sat with him as he took his last breath and wondered how we had come to this, where had we gone wrong? It hurt as I said my goodbyes but even that was tainted.
I looked over at her, where did she fit into our lives I wondered? then I noticed She was still. She wasn’t breathing. When accidents happen, the weak and fragile individuals usually end up dead. But my job is to save lives and help people, so I began to treat her, and I prayed that more help would arrive soon. I didn’t know how long my conviction would last. After all, we’re not gods. Maybe she’ll get lucky – who knows, miracles do happen on some rare occasions.