DANIEL

I watched as Emily’s interview began, half listening and half trying to come up with ideas to get us out of there. Marcus still seemed calm and collected. As if this was what he expected all along.

“It’s going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.”

Gage grabbed what I assumed to be Emily’s folder, then returned to the camera. I eyed my gun still sitting beside the backpack. Unfortunately, Gage’s camera set up was right between me and the counter.

“So,” Gage began. “Tell us, Emily. What was life with Shannon like before she died?”

I felt the emotional slap from across the room. Emily’s mouth dropped open and tears filled her eyes immediately.

Marcus stood. “Gage, I’m not gonna tell you again.”

Gage lifted the gunless hand again in surrender. “My apologies. It was an abrupt start. Please, Emily. Share with us who Shannon was.”

Emily took a breath and rubbed her eyes. Shifted from the camera to look at us. She caught my eye and I did my best to convey belief in her ability to tell her story.

“Shannon is — was — my sister. She was my best friend. We were only a year and a half apart. I know a lot of sisters say this, but we were incredibly close. We shared everything with each other.” She smiled. “We were never really quite sure who owned what clothes growing up. We just swapped as needed. Usually without the other’s permission.”

“That sounds lovely.” Gage said it in a way that implied he did not find it lovely. “I noticed you keep referring to her in the past tense.”

To her credit, Emily did not take the bait. She continued sharing, doing so with the group and not the interviewer. “I’ve wanted to be a paramedic all my life. I was not one of those kids whose dream changed with the years. I’ve wanted to be a paramedic literally for as long as I can remember.

“I used to force Shannon to play the injured party. All kinds of injuries. Broken arms, sprained ankles, bleeding torso. I even made her pretend to give birth one time.” Emily actually laughed, and I realized it was the first time I’d heard her do so. “I’m not sure what was wrong with us. Anyway, I don’t want to take credit for anything, but by the time we were teenagers, Shannon had caught the bug and wanted to pursue emergency medical services too. It was a dream come true for me.”

“Yes. So great for you two. And where is she now?” Gage continued to interrupt.

Emily continued to ignore him. “We were college roommates. Took so many classes together. It was our dream to work for the same county and partner on the same ambulance. It was unrealistic, but that never stopped us. We had already drawn up plans for houses we were going to build right next door to each other. Our poor future husbands.”

She laughed again, and in that moment, I did not find the future husbands unfortunate at all.

“Emily, can you speed things along, please?” Gage was getting frustrated.

“Let her talk, Gage.” Marcus spoke but didn’t even look at the interviewer. His eyes were on Emily, and they looked a little misty from her story.

Emily paused before moving on. “It came true. We both ended up employed by the Johnson County Emergency Services. Same ambulance. Mostly the same shifts. Crazy, ridiculous calls and situations we would laugh about later. Stories to tell our kids. You have to laugh, you know? In this job, it keeps you sane.”

The tears were steady now. “On June 19th last year at 8:38pm, we got a call that would change everything forever. We were working together that night. We were called to an accident on the side of the road. Barely on the side of the road.”

I thought it an odd thing to clarify, but clearly it was important to her.

“Shannon and I were the first to arrive at the scene. It was a highway accident. A pickup had cross lanes and plowed into a sedan. They both rolled. The truck ended up in the ditch but the car was still partially on the road. Because of how the truck hit, the driver of the car was trapped inside.” Emily wasn’t looking at us anymore. Or the camera. She had a far-away look, and I knew she was peeking into those memories from that night.

“The driver was wounded, and Shannon jumped out to help him while I went to check the truck.” She paused for a long moment. Wiped the tears off her cheeks. “I didn’t see it happen, thank God. But I heard it. It’s an unmistakable sound. Metal crashing against metal.” She took another breath. “A vehicle coming up from behind us was speeding and not paying attention. They swerved around our ambulance and swerved back too soon. And too far. They… plowed right into Shannon and the stuck driver. Both were killed instantly.”

That reverent silence filled the room again. Respect and empathy. I wondered if this had been Gage’s intention or if the whole thing was backfiring.

Marcus stood and walked toward Emily.

Gage pointed the gun at him. “Sit down!”

“Give her a minute!” Marcus said. And then he wrapped Emily in his arms. She pressed her face into his chest and sobbed.

I was torn between appreciating the softness of the scene and wishing I had been the one to make that move before Marcus had.

After several moments, Gage spoke up again. “Okay, Marcus.” The hug broke and Marcus walked quietly back to his seat.

Gage continued. “Thank you, Emily. That seemed painful. Now, let me ask. Was your life not better before Shannon’s death?”

“It was better, yes. Of course I prefer life with her over life without her.”

Gage nodded as if this were the answer he was expecting. “And would you prefer to return to your life before her death?”

Emily thought for a minute. “Yes. I mean, I guess so. My life certainly has not been better without her.”

Gage showed his stained teeth again. “Good choice. Thanks. You may return to the table.”

“Are you sure, Emily?” The question came from Marcus. “Are you sure you’d prefer to go back? I am not belittling the wonderful memories you have with your sister. What a lifetime the two of you got to have, though far too short. I’m just curious… Is that really what you want? To go back? To repeat those spaces, beautiful as they are, knowing what’s to come?

The questions were deeper than anything I’d heard Marcus share before. I didn’t know what to do with his perspective.

Emily seemed unsure as well. She tilted her head to the side as she considered.

“Because you can’t go back and only have the good times,” Marcus continued. “And you can’t go back as the Emily you are now. Those things don’t work backward like that. There would be a lot to lose. I don’t mean that as a threat. I just want you to be aware of what you’re choosing. I’d hate for you to miss out on that husband and that house. Even if you don’t have Shannon there with you.”

It didn’t seem manipulative or flirtatious. It just seemed… kind. Compassionate.

Emily seemed to weigh the words carefully. “You know… that’s true,” she whispered. She looked back at Gage. “Maybe not. Maybe I wouldn’t.”

Gage stared at her, disbelief on his face. He faced the table. “Marcus! May I have a word with you?” He walked a few feet away from the table, closer to the diner door.

“Sure.” Marcus walked over and joined him.

If they intended to be out of earshot, they would have had to go into the kitchen. As it was, I assumed Gage still wanted to be in a place where he could keep an eye on us. Which meant we could overhear every word.

Gage crossed his arms. One hand still holding the gun. “You have to let them choose, Marcus. You know that. Those are the rules.”

“I established the boundaries, Gage. I do not need you to remind me what they are. I am letting them choose. But I’m absolutely going to tell them the truth.”

“If they choose to go back, I get to take them back. That’s how it works.”

“And so far no one has chosen your path.”

“Because you are messing things up.”

“The truth is the safest place for them to be. I’m going to be honest with them. No one should make this choice based on lies.”

Gage pressed the gun into Marcus’s chest. He lowered his voice but I could still hear him. “Your lack of fear does not make you immortal.”

“And your use of it to manipulate does not make you a king.”

They stood there, toe to toe, for several moments.

“Is this a game?” Denise’s voice was so foreign to me that I had to turn to see who had spoken. We all did. And then we turned back to the argument.

Gage shoved Marcus out of his way. “Yes! Finally. The smart one gets it. That’s exactly what this is.”

Denise spoke to Marcus. “Is that true? Is this a game? Are we some sort of chess pieces you and Gage are moving around, each trying to defeat the other?”

“Yes,” Gage answered.

“No.” Marcus stepped toward us. He looked at every person individually. “Absolutely not. None of you are a game to me.”

“But… you guys were just talking about the rules,” I noted.

“Gage was talking about rules. I said boundaries.”

“What’s the difference?”

He stared at me with those blue-green eyes long enough for me to feel like he was looking right through me. “Everything.”

I still wasn’t quite sure what was going on or what universe I had fallen into since walking into this diner, but in that moment, trusting Marcus seemed like our safest bet. Odd as my interactions had been with him, so far he had been nothing but helpful. Even protective. Whatever this whole thing was, Marcus represented the opposite of Gage.

At least I hoped so.

“Let’s get back to it.” Gage walked over to his camera.

But Jason, the boy who had been nearly silent during the interviews, was not ready to let this go. “You’re different, huh?” He was staring at Marcus. “You’re not like us. You’re… special or something.”

Marcus winked and returned to his seat.

“If we could, please.” Gage was getting irritated again. “Denise, you are up next.”

“No.” Brett’s response was fast and sharp.

Oh no.

Though he did not stand, he did challenge. “Whatever you are, with your coat and your unwashed hair and cliche villainy, you are not going to put my wife through that.”

Gage smirked. “Then your son can go next.”

I watched Brett struggle, wanting to stand but counting the cost. He stayed seated. “No. I’m done. I will not watch you torture my family like this.”

“Your family? Those are lofty words for a man knowing what will come out in these interviews.”

I watched, waiting for Brett to explode. He didn’t. His next words were deliberate. “I’ve watched two of these. I know how you interview. I’m fully aware of my secrets and what could come out. And if you want to put me up there, go ahead. I’ll sit through it. I’ll answer whatever you want. I’ll deal with the fallout.” Brett’s voice tightened. “But you are not, you are not, going to put my wife and son through that.”

It was the first time I had seen his humanity. Denise grabbed his hand. Jason stared at his father. If there hadn’t been a gun pointed at the table, we all probably would have cheered.

“I am so tired of you.” Gage set the gun down on a nearby table. Grabbed one of the chairs and lifted it.

And swung it directly into the back of Brett’s head.

The force of the blow knocked a leg off the chair. Screams filled the diner. Brett toppled into his wife, knocking them both to the floor. Jason seemed frozen. Gage dropped the rest of the chair. I instinctively looked at my gun on the bar. This was the first time Gage had laid his gun down. If I could just–

The gun was back in Gage’s hand before I could react. Denise was screaming her husband’s name. Emily had moved from her position on the other side of the table and was kneeling beside Brett, fully in paramedic mode. Blood started pooling on the floor.

I moved around and knelt beside them. “Brett, you awake?”

He groaned and then spoke “Yeah. Barely.”

I watched Emily move carefully, the way I assumed she had hundreds of times. Denise was attempting to hold her husband. Emily asked her to let go so she could examine the wound. Brett flipped onto his stomach so Emily could examine things.

I looked up at Gage, fearing what he would do next. But he seemed to be watching the entire scene passively.

“Brett, I need you to breathe,” Emily ordered. “And stop moving as much as possible. Let me look.” She used her hands to turn his head and he groaned. “The cut is right across the base of your skull. It’s not deep, but we do need to get the bleeding stopped. Charlie, grab a clean rag from the back. Marcus, can you see if you can find something that I can use to clean the wound?”

“On it.” Both Marcus and Charlie left the table, unimpeded by Gage.

I was still trying to see exactly where the blood was coming from. Denise was blocking my view.

“Hey.” It was Emily, trying to get my attention. She nodded over my shoulder.

I turned. Jason stood there watching, white as a ghost.

“Hey buddy, come over here with me.” I grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him away, to the other side of the table where he couldn’t see. But that meant I couldn’t see either.

Marcus and Charlie returned with their requested items. Emily immediately set to work cleaning the wound and attempting to stop the blood flow. She shook her head. “You’re gonna need stitches,” she said.

Gage, apparently now bored with the chaos he had caused, moved back to his camera. Evidently he intended the show to go on. I tried to divide my attention between watching Emily and keeping an eye on Gage to make sure he didn’t do anything else reactive.

When I turned to look back, Emily was staring at me with a wild look on her face. “I have a suture kit in my ambulance.”

I was confused by the comment and the look on her face.

Then she nodded toward the window and mouthed two words: my radio.

Of course. If one of us could go out there for the kit, we could radio for help.

“I’ll grab it.” I rose.

“No.” Gage stepped back into the scene. “Emily can go. You stay here.”

I wondered if he had seen my exchange with Emily.

She rose before he could say more. “Ok. Fine. I’ll get it.” She motioned for Denise to take over. “Keep as much pressure as you can without causing him any more pain.” She moved toward the door.

“Emily.” Gage looked at this watch. “It’s 1:47 now. You have two minutes. Two. That should be plenty of time. I want you back in this building by 1:49. You take any longer than that or try anything funny, I won’t even go for your boyfriend. I’ll shoot the kid.”

It wasn’t the time or place to correct the boyfriend comment and we both let it go. Emily glanced at Jason nodded. “I understand.” She ran out the door.

***

EMILY

The bell clanged loudly as she slammed through the door.

Two minutes. It should be enough time.

Thankfully, the kit she needed was located up front near the radio. She glanced back at the diner. Gage was staring at her from one of the windows. Watching every move. She’d have to be careful.

She unlocked the passenger door and climbed in, staying low to the ground in an attempt to remain out of Gage’s view. She grabbed the kit. With her other hand, she shoved the key into the ignition and turned it just enough to have some power. The radio crackled to life.

Emily grabbed the mic. “Cory? Cory! Are you there? Can you hear me?”

Silence.

Then static.

Then some other kind of noise. Almost a voice. Almost a person.

“Cory!” She tried again. “If you can hear this, please send help. I’m at a diner. Out in the desert off 23. It’s called… Glory Days or something. We are trapped. There’s someone here holding us hostage.”

Static. And then…

“Em? Emily, is that you? You sound really far away.” Cory’s voice was distorted.

She almost started crying. “Yes! Cory! Help. Please. There’s a madman. You have to call the police. Get someone here. Now.”

“I missed that. What did you say? Where are you?”

“Cory!”

Static.

Only static.

She didn’t have time for this. She replaced the mic. Lifted her head just enough to peer through the windshield. Gage was looking out at the ambulance. Then he looked at his watch. Then he walked away.

Emily glanced down at her watch just in time to see it change to 1:50.

© 2020 Andy Brodrick