The Writers' Circle

***Warning***(Please be warned that this short starts in an evil situation for the main character. I do not advice it for younger readers.)***Warning***

You have been warned.

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Stephanie was a good driver, but driving with a crazy man holding a gun to the back of her head was proving difficult. Every corner she took was wide or narrow skimming the curbs or nearly hitting parked cars. She feared the man would shoot her for driving so poorly. She feared the man would do worse. She could only think of the gun, death, evil the man had in mind, and things she wished she had done with her life.

She had more random thoughts of Josh during the drive than she figured she should have. She remembered his smell after an evening of surfing. She remembered a long hike they took to the mountains that ended romantically. She remembered her mean comments when she broke up with him last week. She remembered that she loved him. She realized it was too to tell him again.

"Right!" the man spit out with a wheezing cough at the tail end of the word. After Stephanie completed the turn, he reminded her of the gun by running the barrel softly around the back of her ear. Stephanie's worst nightmares were now crashing in on top of her memories of Josh. The man had nothing be evil in his mind, evil with eyes only for her.

She started to cry harder knowing she would never see anyone again. Her vision was badly blurred with tears cascading down her cheeks. 

"Was' mader sweet thing." He mocked from the back playing his games. Stephanie tried to pull up happy memories, but they were blocked by the sound hot alcohol tainted wheezes inches from her left ear.  She could not block him out with happy thoughts anymore.

"I said was' matter!" he yelled into her ear almost causing her to drive off the road. He then plopped back into the seat laughing at his own sense of humor, which to a normal person would cause fear, soaked in pain. Each burst of air escaping from the man pulled her down deeper into dread. She barely noticed when she urinated on herself during his reverberating laughter.

"I'm  .. sow you thing .. two." As he said this, he fell forward into the back of her seat. He reached around grabbing her neck and pulled her face off the road to meet his. She closed her eyes out of fear of seeing the devil. She tried to scream, but her panic levels were beyond sound. Her fear was digging in deep at the pit of her chest. She was unable to breathe and her heart forgot all sense of rhythm. 

He slapped her face restoring consciousness just before the blackness took her. 
"Keep moving!" His words were slowly creeping out like he was thinking of something else. "Take t'is nsked exit." 

"Where are we going?" Stephanie heard a new voice say.

The man slid the gun from her neck down her chest. He used his hands at times but still held the gun; he preferred to use the gun. Stephanie sank deeper into darkness with each passing second until she was hidden deep inside her own mind.

***

"Stephanie, are you with us today?" a man in a white coat with a blue tie asked as if he already knew there would be no answer.

"Where." The only thing Stephanie could say, managed to get man's attention.

"Stephanie, Stephanie can you squeeze my fingers. Squeeze my fingers." The man was quite excited that she was squeezing his fingers. Nothing made sense to her about the situation. She tried again to find out where she was, but only managed mumbling sounds.

"You're going to be okay Stephanie just keep fighting." She heard the familiar voice of someone she knew, but could not quite figure it out before the blackness took over again.

***

"She was awake for a moment this morning." The same familiar voice as before, but Stephanie still could not place it. He did not sound happy about her waking up.

"Did she say anything to you?" A completely unfamiliar voice inquired without much caring behind it.

"Listen, she can't get anywhere. You don't have to come here every time she shows signs of progress." The familiar voice sounded angry. She understood that his anger was directed at the other people now and not her. 

"I understand. We'll come back when she shows more progress." The cold uncaring voice answered. Two sets of footsteps could be heard walking away.

"I don't know what happened Stephanie, but I hope you have the right answers." The familiar voice said under his breath as he sat back down and held her hand. She squeezed it a little before she was out again.

***
 
Stephanie had managed to put the pieces together during her moments awake. She somehow ended up in a hospital, but she doesn't remember how it happened. She was trying to remember when she heard the two nurses come in. They had that he-said-she-said gossip tone about them. They made their way into the room and began casually checking the machines, but focused their real attention on Stephanie. 

"So, this is the girl?" The curious nurse asked.

"Yeah, she doesn't look like much, but she's the one." The obviously in-the-know nurse informed the other.

"What did she do?"

"I don't know, but I wish she'd come around. Those agents are in the way, all the time."

"I heard they question the doctors every day."

"Yeah, we better leave before they find us here. I don't want to be questioned about what this girl might have said."

"Good idea, let's get out of here."