The Phoenix Motorcycle

The flash of the lightening spanned quickly across the road as the rain poured down washing away the sins of Claudia Morningstar as she stood basking in it. As she laid her head back closing her eyes feeling the droplets wash over her face, she paid no mind the Motorcycle with a Phoenix design on it embedded into the front of her Corolla. When she heard the sirens approaching, she began to cry and feign hysterics. Her act on the phone call to dispatch was believable enough.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Oh my god! The rain, I didn’t see him! I hit him! Please send someone! Oh my God, I don’t think he’s alive, I’m too scared to look, please send someone!”

She mentally patted herself on the back as the First responders and EMS began to work. One of them pulled her to the side and attempted to calm her down. Claudia was an average build, in her mid-thirties with brown hair and hazel eyes. She had gotten a few cuts on her face from the wreck, but was otherwise unscathed. When they finished bandaging her up and getting her set up for a tow the police then approached and questioned her about what had happened.

A female officer approached her, she was slender with black hair and the brim of her hat shielded her dark brown eyes from the rain hitting off of it.

“I’m Officer Hughes, this is Officer Turness.” She stated as she motioned her head to a taller male with ashy blonde hair and green eyes. “Can you tell us what happened here?”

Claudia shakily replied “I don’t know, I was driving, when I approached the cross street, I didn’t see anyone, but when I got to it the motorcycle came out of nowhere! Are they alright, I think the driver is my brother but I was too scared to check.”

“That is undetermined at this time. May I get your ID and vehicle information?” Officer Hughes asked

Claudia handed over all the information as Officer Turness observed their interactions. Claudia made a mental note not to break her charade even if she felt they weren’t watching her. After an hour or so, she was finally on her way back home. Once she arrived there she began laughing erratically. Her legs finally gave out from under her, and she slid to the floor while leaning on her door.

“You finally did it Dia, He’s finally getting what he deserves despite what everyone else thought.” She giggled to herself and closed her eyes laying her head on the door in utter bliss. The man who had, in her mind, ruined her life was finally dead. Darren Morningstar was the root of all her problems in life, she was convinced he existed only to drag hell to the real world to wreak havoc on her no matter where she went. She reveled in the memories of the last few hours reminiscing when they asked her to identify his body so she could further admire her handiwork. At this point in time her phone rang, when she looked at it, she saw it was her mother who was calling.

“Well, that was fast, gotta put on the waterworks again.” She muttered before picking up the phone.

“Claudia? We got a phone call that your brother was killed while riding his motorcycle in the storm on his way home. We were informed you were the driver that hit him. Why did you not call us? Are you alright?”

“No, I’m not alright, I just killed my brother! I know I said I thought he cursed me, but I in no way wanted this to happened to him! This is God’s way of punishing me for being a terrible sister to him! I’m so sorry mother!” She said through tearless sobs

“Oh Dia, you’re not a terrible sister, and I know you would never wish this on your brother much less do it on purpose. Your father and I will come see you tomorrow and take care of you.” She said reassuringly

“ok” She replied sniffling and rolling her eyes. They then said their goodbyes and hung up. Claudia then stood up slowly and got ready to turn in for the night. As she went about her routine she let her mind wander, and it drifted into memories of her and Darren. She remembered all the times growing up when Darren would belittle, and beat her when they were alone. Claudia was Anemic, and would bruise with little to no effort. When she would show her parents the bruises and tell them they were from Darren they would shake their head and gently remind him that Claudia was very fragile. Darren would spout a half-assed apology, and all was forgiven in their eyes, only for him to shove her into the wall on the way to her room as a reminder that no one would believe her. She went to bed that night finally feeling peace for the first time in a long time.

A few days later she was driving home from the funeral, and she noticed a motorcycle following closely behind her. She didn’t think anything of it, and continued on her way. When she looked in the rear-view mirror again the motorcycle was gone. This put a small twinge of unease in her stomach, and she was unsure as to why. She shook her head gently in an effort to shake the thought from her mind. As she began to re-focus on the road, she again noticed the motorcycle in her rear-view mirror, closer than last time. She squinted her eyes and noticed there was something odd of the helmet of the motorcyclist. There was a flat piece on it, almost like it had skid on the road. She sped up, still looking at the motorcyclist. A few moments of her focusing on the driver of the motorcycle she heard the horn of a large semi, but it was too late. She slammed full force into the back of a logging truck. When the paramedics arrived the driver of the logging truck stated that they were unaware of what caused the driver to hit them. The police took note that there was no sign of slowing down either as there were no skid marks. At the point of impact Claudia did get to see one last thing before welcoming the abyss; Darren’s Phoenix on the side of the road on his cross. Now they will get to be side by side forever more.