Even The Traffic Lights Need To Change

A blinking right turn signal flashed lazily through the slow pour of rain. The intersection was empty beside the beaten up silver Impala waiting at the red light. Its engine stuttered slightly but did not give out. Her hands gripped tight on the wheel, breathing deeply. The clicking of the waiting turn signal set her brow twitching.

She had to let her grip on the wheel lessen when her busted knuckles throbbed painfully at the pressure. The dried blood on her skin crinkled at the movement. Her tarnished wedding ring was a golden stain on her skin. She brought one of her hands against her chest, grimacing at the pain that nestled there as well. Lifting her gaze to the rearview mirror, she caught sight of the dark bruises that framed her dimmed green eyes. Unable to keep her vision on the battered state of her face, she shifted her gaze to the other figure reflected in the mirror.

Bundled in a little pink blanket with her princess all over it, her daughter was fast asleep between the handful of bags of their luggage. She was hugging a dirty stuffed rabbit against her chest. The mismatched pajama set was dirty, her feet bare and dirt covered her soles. Her head was listed to the side, blonde hair hanging in tangled webs around her head. Her face was softened in sleep, but the occasional grimace had her fearing the little girl was experiencing nightmares over the night prior. A dark purple bruise dotted across her left cheek, marring the face of her little angle.

Turning her gaze back onto the road, she frowned at the red light which still hung overhead. Her turn signal continued to blink away, offering a freedom that was so close at hand. Every car that drove through the intersection sent her heart racing at a violent speed. She kept expecting him to show up, to have somehow tracked them down and had all intent to drag them back.

The red truck rolled through the rain. It pulled into the turn lane behind her, engine rumbling through the air. She caught her breath, doing her best to not turn and check the driver of the vehicle. There was no way he could have gotten to them, she told herself. He’d been unable to rise after she’d put three bullets into him after all. Driving through the rain and finding them would have been hard for someone with metal in their chest.

The driver of the truck remained in the vehicle. She chanced a glance in the reviewer mirror. It was a man at the wheel; a burly one sporting a thick beard and dark-framed glasses. She’d never seen him prior and she thanked any God above of that fact.

The traffic light remained red. Her blinker kept clicking away in a steady beat. She tried to match her breath to it, any attempt to calm her throbbing heart rate. The rain was picking up as it splattered against the roof of her car. As a roll of thunder moved through the air, she looked back through the mirror to her daughter in the backseat. The young girl shifted slightly at the loud noise, but paid it no further mind. She pulled the stuffed rabbit closer against her chest.

The adjacent street light flicked yellow.

Sirens poured through the air. She brought her hands to the wheel as she strained to pick up the direction the sirens were coming from. The rain had picked up, making every noise muffled and distorted. The sirens grew louder.

Her traffic light turned green. In a breath, she pressed her foot to the peddle, moving to enter the intersection.

A horn blared through the air. Her brakes were slammed, stopping her halfway into the junction. The police car veered around her, turning sharply to go down the street she’d been leaving. A second police car was a hair behind, as it too went down her street. A deeper siren was the firetruck which took up the end of the group.

The breath caught in her throat as she watched the flashing red and blues fly down the suburban street. Down the hill, smoke was fighting to break through the steadily increasing rain. She’d been worried at first that the sudden thunderstorm would have smothered the flames before they’d been given the chance to whip away her sins and destroy the blood left in that home. Her fear had been misplaced.

The clicking of her turn signal continued to hit the air.

A deep horn grumbled behind her. The truck driver was flipping her off, motioning towards the bright green light that hung overhead. Steeling herself, she slowly lifted her foot off the brake.

The traffic light flicked from green to yellow as she pulled from the intersection and onto the road. The sounds of sirens grew more distance as she went. Her daughter continued to sleep among the few of their belongs she’d managed to pack up in her hurry.

Each traffic section they came across offered a glistening green light as she pulled her battered car further from their once battered home.