Face What You've Done

"Late last night, David Fontaine was hit by a truck. He passed on the way to the hospital. His younger brother was in the ambulance with him. Seated in the front seat and trying to comfort him in his final moments."

"Joseph, David's younger brother, says that he kept apologizing to him. Over and over again. Why, he wasn't entirely sure of."

"As of now, the driver of the truck has not been found. But, authorities assured us that he will be caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

This made Carter's skin crawl and a stone settle in his the pit of his stomach. The kid died. He actually died and it was all Carter's fault. No...no it wasn't all his fault that it happened. If David hadn't been riding his bike on the God damned shoulder...he wasn't going to keep thinking about that. He had bigger things to be worrying about. Right now, he had to focus on not getting caught. Avoiding the police and being arrested for a hit and run. And whatever else they added on when someone died from being hit by a truck. First thing first, he had to dispose of his truck. There was some blood, broken glass, and other things tying him to what had happened last night. Without the truck, he would be a whole lot safer. Sure he would be getting to town on foot afterwards. But, it would be a whole lot better than being arrested for murder. Way better.

First thing that Carter decided to do was find a place to dump the truck. Make absolutely sure that no one would find it for a good long while. And the he wouldn't be found getting rid of it either. As he felt utterly exposed out in the open like this. That he was going to be caught at any moment. So he turned into an old road as he glanced around. Grateful that no one was out at this hour and had seen him. Or gotten his license plate. Carter mumbled,"I'm going to be okay."

"I won't get caught.",he assured himself. Feeling no more confident in this fact then he did hours ago. In fact, he was starting to feel more and more angry about it. None of this was his fault. It wasn't his fault that idiot kid was out there. Why was he out so fucking late for? He...he didn't see him. The road was much too dark. Way too dark. Stupid bastard shouldn't have been out there. Then this whole thing wouldn't have fucking happened. It wasn't Carter's fault. Not his fault in the slightest bit. Turning off his radio, Carter snapped,"Stupid fucking bastard."

"He ruined everything!",he hissed. Then he took a deep breath to steady himself. Try to calm down and relax his grip on the steering wheel. A wave of fear washed over him as he drove down the road. What would he do if they caught up with him? For fleeing the scene and all that? What would they do to him IF they caught him? Just...calming his breathing, he kept his focus on the road. The old dirt road he'd been down plenty of times. There was a turn in about twenty minutes or so. At least, normally there would be. Carter realized he had been driving for at least half an hour or so. That he missed the turn thanks to being too deep in thought. With a sigh, he looked for a spot to make a turn in. Then it slowly dawned on him that nothing looked familiar. No houses that he normally would see while taking the short cut. That was odd. What was going on? Carter kept glancing around for anything that was familiar. Anything at all. But, there wasn't anything that he could recognize in the slightest bit. Had he really been that damn distracted earlier?

It just didn't seem possible. Yet, here he was. Driven past the turn he had meant to make. With a sigh, he slowed to a stop and turned around. Driving back down the road he just drove up. Carter felt like a moron for letting himself get so worked up. So shaken and out of control. If he wanted to stay out of jail, he had to keep himself calm. While he drove, he noticed a light in the distance. At first, he thought it was a car. That he was about to pass another car. Nothing more than that. But, the light wasn't as strong as headlights. Sure, it was a fairly strong light. Jut not headlights. His brows drew together in confusion as he neared the light. Wondering just what he was coming up on. When he neared five feet of it, his heart sank and his blood turned to ice.

It was the boy. On his bike and looking horribly mangled. Blood ran down his mouth, nose, and eyes. There were horrible bruises on his face. At least, he thought so from the brief glimpse he got of David Fontaine. Carter immediately swerved to avoid hitting the boy for a second time. His heart pounding hard against his ribcage as he sped up. There was no way that he just saw that. Just no way that the boy from earlier was riding right at him. He was...wasn't he dead?

It had to be another person who looked like him. Or Hell, his anxiety and stress were getting to him. Nothing more and nothing less. At least this one was way more easy to spot. Carter took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Telling himself that he had just been seeing things. There was no way that it had been the boy from the other night. Carter assured,"It's okay. You're okay. Everything is going to be fine as soon as you ditch this truck."

It was a lie. He knew that. And it would take much more efforts than that. But, it was a step in the right direction. The other stuff would have to wait. For now, he would have to wait. All he had to do was get rid of this damn truck. While he drove, he found himself getting so much calmer. Or at least level headed enough to deal with this whole terrible situation. Things were going to be okay. He was going to be perfectly fine. It all started to make him feel a bit silly for getting so damned worked up over nothing. Just some random person on a bike. Nothing more and nothing less. As soon as he was calm enough, he noticed the road was off again. Unlike last time, he only had been driving for five minutes. The turn normally was visible at this point. Yet, it wasn't. All there was was the weird looking road. What the Hell was going on? It..no, he just drove past it again. That's all. The whole situation just had him messed up is all. Nothing weird was going on. All he had to do was turn around and pay attention.

Just turn around and consistently keep his eyes open. Carter took a few deep breaths to settle himself down. Quietly, he assured,"It's all still okay, Carter. Just a little nervous that's all."

"You gotta keep it together, man. Otherwise we're gonna get caught.",he scolded himself. Things could be worse. There could be cops on his ass. Someone could have gotten his license plate. But, luck seemed to be on Carter's side for once. Well, sort of. Instead of lingering on it, he turned his truck around. Starting to drive the way he had been a while ago. Eyes wide open as he looked for the turn once again. As he drove, a light bobbed in the distance. Sort of like before. It made his eyebrows raise as he saw a light like before. Some person on a bike. That was odd. Why were there so many folks on bike tonight? There rarely were this time of night. Slowing down a little, Carter mumbled,"What in the world is going on tonight?"

"Why're folks on bikes out so late right now?",he asked his empty truck cab. This was beyond strange. Soon as he slowed down and the person caught up, his heart leapt into his throat. David was in front of him once more. Bloodied, bruised, and looking absolutely broken. Carter swerved once again as the person drew closer. Near the passenger-side of his truck. Opening his bloodied mouth and letting out a horrible scream. It sort of sounded like he shouted,"OF A BITCH! YOU DIRTY FUCKING COWARD!"

"OWN UP TO WHAT YOU",was all he heard. No, he didn't have to own up to anything. Nothing at all. He didn't do anything. Carter felt his stomach twist as he sped up. Not caring about the damn turn anymore. All he thought about was getting away from..whatever that thing was. It couldn't have been a...he had to be imagining things. Carter decided it was time to ditch his truck. Go by foot instead.

Walking to Belfast would be way better than this. Not being able to drive how he wanted to. Carter pulled off to the side. Parking nearly immediately and got his key out of the ignition. Snapping his house key off as quick as posible. Not wanting to be locked out of his home. Soon as he did, the light was coming straight at him. Just like it had before. His eyes went wide as David pulled right up in front of him. A big menacing sneer on his face as he stood there. Neither of them moving for the longest time. Then David got off of his bike. Taking a shaky step towards the frozen Carter. Moving so slowly and shakily. Eyes trained on him as he took more teps in his direction. Coldly laughing as he stared straight into Carter's eyes. When his hand touched the door handle, Carter unfroze. Locking it a he stared deep into the strange person's face. Stomach twisting as it pissed the person off more. Glaring daggers deep into the older man's eyes.

"FACE WHAT YOU'VE DONE YOU HORRIBLE BASTARD!",David bellowed. Shaking his entire truck with the force of his rage. Hand slapping against the driver-side window. Nearly breaking the damn thing as Carter shook in fear. His bloody hand left a horrible print on the glass. Causing Carter to scream loudly as he shoved his key back into the ignition. Trying to start the truck to pull away from the monster near him. But, it wouldn't start. It didn't even turn over and there were no sounds coming from the truck. His heart pounded even harder against his ribs. Like a trapped bird trying to escape its cage. This was it. This was how he was going to go.

Death by...by whatever the Hell this thing was. His mind refused to call it a ghost. Ghosts weren't real. They just weren't. Whatever this was couldn't be it. It just couldn't be. Carter turned his key one more time and, the truck finally started up once more. Nearly making him weep with joy as he drove off. Right over the thing's bike. Or at least, where he thought it had been. As when he drove forward, his truck didn't roll over anything. In fact, Carter didn't even see the blasted thing. But he knew that 'David' left it there. So, why hadn't he ran it over? Then he noticed another thing, the road was becoming much more recognizable. As were the houses. His heart rate finally started to slow as he saw the turn. One that he had made so many times before. A small smile came to his face as he made it. Nearly laughing with relief as he did so and tears ran down his cheeks. Pulling over and behind a very run down house. Then he used his fabric handkerchief to wipe off his fingerprints from where he could. Doing the best that he could as he stated,"See. You had nothing to worry about. All of that was just your nerves getting to you."

"Nothing more and nothing less.",he added. Taking quite a few deep breaths to get himself entirely calm. Then he unlocked the driver-side door and got out of the truck. Figuring that what happened before was just his stress messing with him. Nothing more and nothing less. Shutting the door behind himself, he didn't notice the blood that was still on the driver-side window. Or that there was a bike laying in his truck bed. All he could think about was the long walk to Belfast before him. How tired he was going to be when he got to Circle K. And just how much money a taxi was going to cost him. Stuff that Carter felt that he could live with. Could have lived with. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't hear the footsteps behind him. Nor did Carter really hear the strange wheezing until it was right in his ear. Blood dripping onto his shoulder and against the side of his neck. And nearly screamed in fear as the person bellowed,"YOU'LL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Before he could turn around to face whatever this was, his vision turned dark. Pain was briefly present as he felt himself collapse to the ground. And the very last thing he saw was the road before him.

______________________

Two nights later, Carter Burns's body was found. All of his limbs were broken and twisted. And so was his neck. It wasn't visibly obvious who or what had done him in. Since there wasn't any signs of a second person with the man. But, no one really cared. As David Fontaine's D.N.A had been found all over his truck. There was also footage from someone who found David of Carter fleeing the scene. The police were already on the look out for him when they stumbled upon his body. His death wasn't mourned.

He was buried a few weeks later. Everyone content with what happened. Feeling that he got what he deserved.