John
Chapter 1: Life
His mind worked as if thoughts past through a maze; there were many options to choose by only one outcome. “The road is wet, he is driving too fast” the physics simply equaled catastrophe. They were in a dangerous situation, or so he reasoned. His heart fluttered, his mind raced until his hand was covered by dark, porcelain skin. She grinned “relax; we are going to be fine…” Riding in a car had never been his strong suite; in fact not being in control was something he always tried ardently to avoid. Airplanes were a nightmare, trains a monstrosity, but his greatest fear of all was riding with one of his peers. Her smile seemed to be the only thing that always relaxed him. For some reason that his analytical mind could not grasp, when she touched him every problem was gone. He found this fact baffling, confusing, but the truth remained that she was his only method of relaxation.
There is a strong chance that her beauty had something to do with it. Lindsay was petite yet strong, naïve yet wise, intelligent but certainly not beyond humor. Her eyes were like gazing into the forest, her hair like reeds windblown with golden air, and her skin was the color of a summer sunset. Aesthetically she may as well have been Aphrodite, yet nothing in her knew of this beauty, or the control which her personage placed on his mind. She was simply a woman of love, compassion, and admiration for the flawed man who she had given her love too.
For many this car ride was like any other, simply a trip to go see family, and an economical decision to share a care with another couple. John fiddled with his left hand ring like a child forced to sit through mass, his entire mind solely focused on his and Lindsay’s escape from their speeding, hydroplaning prison. His psyche was exploding while his face remained as stoic as Easter Island. “How much longer do we have” he frantically muttered under his breath. “About half an hour, why, do you need to stop John?” “No, just drive… slower” John replied.
The driver of the car had been John’s schoolmate for years. They had conquered the formidable tasks of undergraduate and medical school labs over the last six years. Yet their acquaintance was only extended in formal settings. John found Luke disorganized, reckless, and far too intelligent to be either. In the eyes of John, Luke may as well have been the world’s greatest disappointment. Luke’s potential was limitless, yet his lack of work ethic and desire for extracurricular affairs had left him as only an average student, and in the car driving to his parents’ home with a woman whose name he consistently couldn’t remember. The fact of the matter remained, however, that this woman’s name truly did not matter. It was an essential law of nature that she would be replaced within the next two weeks.
