Passing the Baton – July – Confused Lovers and the Situation

I was passed the baton again, by way of Marla, but Jim needed someone to pick the baton up so I grabbed it.

For those unfamiliar with this, every author here has written another portion of the story. Rules and such can be found here:

PASSING-THE-BATON STORY WRITING CHALLENGE: OVERVIEW

Any way – On to the story! My contribution is all the way down at the end.

Marla has started this story

“Drive! Get the hell out of here,” he thought as he sped down her dense tree-lined driveway. “Thank you,” he said to his car, the first time he felt truly happy his old car died. This one just needed a fob in his pocket to unlock the doors and start the car.

Since they matched on the app, their conversations had been so interesting and wide-ranging. Their first date went well too; she was even more beautiful than her pictures had shown. The conversation continued to flow smoothly, and the kiss at the end of the night removed any doubt from his mind that he truly liked her.

He broke convention asking her out again for the next week as soon as he had gotten home, and she agreed. They continued to talk every day, and he was getting more and more excited about tonight’s date as the week went on.

This time, she picked a restaurant an hour away, but close to her house, and he happily agreed. Once again, the date had gone really well and she invited him back to her house to watch the Netflix special they had discussed, and he followed her to her house.

He followed her down her long, dark driveway that wove through a dense forest, becoming increasingly anxious, but unable to pinpoint why. Finally, they got to the house and he was ready to jump out of his skin, but he decided to follow her inside anyway. That’s when he noticed…

Sadje continued the story

…that it was awfully quiet. No insects or birds chirping, no sound of any kind was heard. It was quiet as a graveyard. It felt like he was in another dimension altogether with the sound on mute.

He could see Rebecca beckoning him from her front door, her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear her words. His unease and jitteriness increased. She was saying something but…

“What?” he shouted.

There was no reply. He saw that she had disappeared into the house. The light coming out of the open doorway changed hue and was now purplish blue.

He slammed on the brakes. He held his breath, expecting impact, he couldn’t drive as he was almost blinded by the flash. But there was no impact and everything was instantly quiet again. He tried to get his breathing back under control, hands gripping the steering wheel with force, and opened his eyes.

He jumped into his car and reversed out of the driveway. The blue light was following his car.

Suddenly there was a very bright flash and he couldn’t see anything…

Christine added this part

What the hell is going on? he thought. Looking straight ahead he could see Rebecca’s house out the front of the windshield but there were no lights and Rebecca was nowhere to be seen. Hadn’t he just followed her here? What was going on?

He didn’t know if he should park the car and get out, going to the front door or if he should just put the car in reverse again and get the hell out of there. They had had a great dinner, he liked her and she seemed to like him, but this was all so confusing. He felt like he was dreaming. Was he in some sort of Twilight Zone?

Di added this section

With his breathing back to normal and the fear of what had just happened slowly starting to diminish, he had to chuckle to himself. It had to be that he had drunk too much. That was it. He was “seeing” things because he was drunk. They had shared the bottle of Prosecco before dinner had even started. Grabbing the driver’s side door handle, he pulled up to open his door to get out, but…

…the door was locked. He ferreted around for the fob, cursing the car, modern electronics, and technology. Where was it? He’d managed to get away so it had to be inside somewhere. The interior lights started to blink on and off, and of its own accord, the car started to move. The blue light was back, pulling him like a magnet towards Rebecca’s house.

There was still no sign of life there, but the door was wide open now. He decided he wasn’t drunk. He would never have gotten behind the wheel if he thought he’d had too much, so something else was playing with his mind, and he didn’t like it. No Sir. He didn’t like it one bit.

His fingers closed around the fob which had fallen into the passenger footwell. At his touch, the engine started and smoke came from the rear tires as he slammed it into reverse to get away. The force was strong, but the car responded brilliantly, eventually breaking the hold and the light went out. He spun the car on a dime and hightailed it down the wooded drive towards safety.

Suddenly, a shape materialised in front of him, her clothes in tatters, and her eyes wide with terror. It was not Rebecca.

Fandango wrote this part

Jason slammed on his brakes and the car came to a stop maybe five feet in front of the terrified girl. Jason’s hands on the wheel were shaking and he was breathing rapidly as he and the girl were staring at each other. Finally Jason had calmed down enough to open the car door, step out, and walk around to the girl he’d come close to running over. “Are you all right?” he asked her. “Who are you and what are you doing out here in the middle of the road?”

She didn’t say anything but started pointing back in the direction of Rebecca’s house. Jason turned to look behind him and he could see the blue light slowly moving in their direction. “Shit! Quick, get in the car,” he said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the passenger side of the car. She resisted, but she was small and he managed to open the car’s passenger door, and literally throw her inside. He then ran around to the driver’s side, but she had engaged the automatic door locks, and with the fob still inside the car, he wasn’t able to get into it.

“Unlock the goddam door!” he yelled. “I’m trying to get us both to safety, don’t you understand?” He started to look for a rock to break the car door’s window, but it was too late. The strange blue light had engulfed Jason and the car with the girl inside of it.

Sicilian Storyteller wrote this part

Jason felt as though he were being sucked into some sort of vortex, spinning wildly out of control. As he was drawn in deeper and deeper into the whirlpool, objects and images flew by him and he held up his arms to keep from crashing into them. In this dizzying state he was still able to recognize some of the debris that was swirling around him, memories and people from his past.

The eddy began to spin faster and faster; Jason felt like he was about to be catapulted out at any moment when he suddenly bolted straight up in bed, drenched in sweat. He looked around and did not recognize the room he was in. Quickly he looked to the other side of the bed; it was empty. He didn’t know why but he was relieved.

Getting up, Jason walked around the room, hoping something would look familiar; no luck. There was a large window on the opposite side of the room, covered by a curtain. In two strides Jason reached the window and pulled back the curtain, not knowing what he would find on the other side. Beyond the window was a scene that bewildered Jason and he stood there staring like an idiot. The view was a sun-filled garden with beautiful fruit trees, a freshly mowed lawn and neatly-planted flowers edging the driveway. And there were two young children happily playing on swings that hung from a large oak tree off to the side. The children gaily waved at Jason and he waved back, perplexed.

Where was this place and who were those children?

Suddenly Jason became aware of a scent – the unmistakable aroma of coffee and bacon – and his stomach involuntarily grumbled. He followed the delicious fragrance to an unfamiliar kitchen. There was a slender woman in a sundress, her blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail, standing by the stove, cooking and softly singing along to a tune coming from a radio. Her back was to Jason. Just then she turned around and Jason was stunned to see who it was.

Mister Bump’s part

His mother, but younger than he had ever known her. And sitting at the breakfasdt table, his father. A mere youth, too, but unmistakeable.

Impossible. Both Jason’s parents had died years earlier.

“Come on, honey, your breakfast is going cold. Hurry up, dear, or you’ll be late for school.”

School? What is this? What are my parents doing here? And where is “here”?

But Jason’s thoughts were interrupted by an enormous CRASH, he hurtled across the room and as he struch the wall, his world went suddenly black.

Coming to, the room was still. And empty. Well, that was something, at least. Seeing his parents at the breakfast table was… unusual. But then, this had been an unusual day.

Groggily, Jason stood, needing to find his bearings, and staggered unsteadily to the door. Though still summer, every tree had been uprooted by the impact, and the girls on the swings were nowhere to be seen.

At the edge of the now dishevelld garden, however, Jason saw something reflecting in the strong sunshine. Gingerly, he approached the mysterious source, and as he grew closer, Jason made out… a pair of ruby slippers!

Sanjeet from Science is our Home

Jason woke up. This time for real. But his head was throbbing. Rebecca was calling his name, and he could faintly see her blurred face. He put both of his hands on the ears. The noise shut down. He closed his eyes. Rebecca sat there on a chair beside the hospital bed. It was a horrible night. Horrible, but not enough for her to hate this dude.

Jason finally moved, taking his hands off his ears and opening his eyes. Slowly.

“Hey, hey, Rebecca. It’s me.”

“Shut up,” Rebecca said, calling for the nurse and the doctor as she finally confirmed that Jason was alive and somewhat back to his senses.

“Oh, look who we have got here. 4 and a half months. That’s how long our appointment has been due, Mr. Jason,” the doctor said, looking at Jason with a visible smirk on his face.

“I know you are confused and want answers, Ms. Rebecca. The doc’s here, so I guess you three can now sort this out,” the nurse said, looking at the doctor on the way out of the room.

“So, Ms. Rebecca. You told the nurse when you brought Jason here that he suddenly passed out just as he was about to lock his car to follow you inside the house.”

“Right.”

“Well, I am sorry that you had to spend the night here waiting for him to wake up. I have seen 4 of his friends do this for him before. Not a new.”

“Shut the fuck up, doc. Where’s my privacy?” yelled Jason, but he instantly felt pain in his chest.

“Calm down. When you trouble a woman like this, there’s no scope for privacy anymore. She needs to know why she had to spend a miserable night when it could have been her best.”

“Doctor, I am losing patience here now,” said Rebecca.

“Alright,” said the doctor.

Jason closed his eyes once more as he knew what was coming. This could have been avoided.

The land slid beneath Rebecca’s legs when the doctor told her…

Added by Jim

Rebecca was mad at Jason for not letting her know about his functional neurological disorder (FND) which the doctor explained to her.  She lashed out at him saying, “Your lapses in memory are very serious and you need help, as you go into your own fantasy land which is much worse than having a senior moment.  I was frightened all night until I ran into your doctor who filled me in and said that you are not keeping up with your treatments.  While I sat by your hospital bed, you were talking to yourself, and you really sounded like a crazy person.  What is the strange blue light and who is this girl you were talking about that you said was not me?  It was very frightening when you yelled out that you were being sucked into vortex, or a spinning whirlpool and you were engulfed along with your car and this mysterious girl.  Then you seemed to calm down and you were talking about smelling breakfast cooking and seeing your parents.  I thought that things were going great for us and I had decided that last night I was going to give myself to you after you followed me inside of my house, but instead I had to watch you blackout and start speaking gibberish.”

Jason apologized to Rebecca for not taking his meds, but he knew that the Prozac, Zoloft, and other assorted drugs were libido killers for him and he wanted her to be happy with him.  He promised to pull himself together and become the man that he thought she would love if she could give him one more chance.  Rebecca said, “That sounds really sweet, but you don’t even know who you are and I can’t take a chance on dating another crazy person.  It is possible that you may get your shit together some day, so maybe we can still be friends but tonight was too much for me.”

Jason said, “Something is better than nothing and I realize that I can’t have everything.  Please stay with me because I am out of my head without you, and I am very close to going out of my mind over you.  I am probably both at the same time and when I pull myself together again and find out who I am, I’m gonna know just what to do.”

Rebecca said, “Seriously I always seem to get the crazy person and I need to take a break from being in any type of relationship.  I hope that you can get the help that you need, but please lose my number and don’t call me again.”

And now for my part:

Jason lamented that his condition caused him to blow it with yet another beautiful woman. He spent days sitting in the darkness in his apartment, recovering from the trip he had taken but also wishing Rebecca had not told him to lose her number.

He meant to stay on his medication. But as the days and then weeks went by, he knew it was hopeless. He was never going to find another woman like her.  He simply slipped out of the habit again.

One evening after work, something called to him to hike the local woods, a trail that overlooked the river.  He had not been here in years.  He wondered why he felt so drawn to this place today of all days.

He slipped his phone into his pocket and began to walk.  He got about half way down the trail, wheezing a bit from the effort, when suddenly he heard a scream.

He jumped and turned, trying to scan the surrounds.  Nothing looked familiar.  Even the river, which was a bit muddy usually, was dark and sinister.

Jason reached for his phone to draw it out.  But his hand did not close around the phone in his pocket, but rather the hilt of a sword in a scabbard at his side.

“What the-?” he began to mutter.

Suddenly, there was an eerie shriek and he pulled the sword from its sheath and began to wield it, unsure of his actions yet somehow, innately he knew how to swordfight.  There was the sounds of metal clanging and clinking that sounded as though it was drawing nearer and nearer to him. 

He watched with terrible apprehension as a figure garbed in a black hoodie, black pants, and black leather boots fought with two mechanical beings that gave off a purplish-blue glow.  The figure fought with gusto and force, successfully blocking every one of the robots’ attacks before finally dispatching one, then the other with a distinctly feminine roar.

As the second robot crashed to the floor, its alarming sounds fizzing out, the hood fell down on the figure, revealing gossamer curls that Jason had so longed to touch.  The figure turned her face towards Jason, still standing in the trail holding his sword defensively, and blinked with those eyes Jason had so longed to stare into.  Those lips were ones he had kissed and wished for more.

Rebecca was standing in front of him.

But how did Rebecca get here? And how did she learn to fight so well?

“Rebecca!” he stammered out.

The figure looked at him and her eyes narrowed into glares as she scowled.  “I am not Rebecca!” she shouted in a voice that was otherworldly. 

Before either could say anything, there was another shriek in the forest and the Rebecca-but-not-Rebecca pulled the hood back up around the beautiful head of curls and took off running towards the noise.

As Jason started to move to follow her, he realized his sword was buzzing.  He looked down to find that the sword was now his phone, buzzing with a series of text messages as if he just turned off the airplane mode in an airport terminal.  He was standing in the middle of the trail, the evening sky awash with color as the sun began its descent in the west. 

He looked down, confusedly, to read the first text message, which said……

I’ve asked Dawn to take up the baton, so stay tuned!

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