The Traffic Terrestrial

Gallons of rain tore through the atmospheric precipitation as thunder cracked through the sky, lighting up every drop with a spark of electricity. Far down below the rain bombarded the rooftops and roads of a seaside city. On the streets cars accelerated, swishing their moist rubber tyres through overflowing watery roads. Drain lids wobbled by the curbs from the flood filled pressures of the water that came from below & above. Windscreen wipers on car windows turned the downwards pouring rain into sideways smears. Fog lights were turned up to full beam while horns were honked purely to just let other cars know where they were in the blindness of the rain.

At a crossing, a young man stood drenched in a high vis jacket. The traffic lights shone brightly through the darting drops of rain, the drops flying past it changed in colour as they went through the path of light which shifted from green to red, making the passing rain resemble blood. The pedestrian symbol switched from a red man to a green one. The crossing pedestrian stepped out into the road, he looked left to right, no cars in sight. He was deafened by the pitter patter of rain tapping continuously, drenching his hood.

His squelchy wet shoe plunged into the ankle deep stream that made up most of the road. He took another step which submerged his other unfortunate foot. Fog lights of an approaching car illuminated in the distance. He lifted his foot up again to take another step, his shoes now filled with water weighing him down. As the fog lights came nearer he realized the car was not slowing down. He tried to run but the tide was up to his ankles, he only risked falling face first if he tried rushing. The car honked its horn and hit the brakes as it saw him, wet rubber tyres sprayed up gushes of fluid as the car swung round sideways on its brakes, offering a bigger target of impact to the man on the crossing. He jumped out of the way, his feet leaving his shoes as they remained rooted in the weighed down waters. He dodged the car as it skidded past, but a crackle of lightning struck him in the chest, the shock of the energy sent him flying into the traffic lights which sparked on impact crackling against his high voltage body. Everything went black.

He sat up panting, thinking it was all a dream. He felt his chest, it felt uninjured. He felt naked, and cold lacking in a duvet to keep him warm on what he thought was his bed. He felt for the ground with his feet and the surface he laid upon, but couldn’t actually feel anything, it was as if everything around him was nothingness.

He looked around hoping his vision would adjust to the dark and glimpsed a spec of distant light which seemed to outline the end of a tunnel ahead of him. The man got up and walked over to the distant light, it was the only obvious thing he could do.

At the traffic lights an ambulance pulled up, sirens blaring, blue lights flashing, paramedics dispatched from the back of the van and went straight over to the man’s body, checking for injuries and feeling for a pulse.

The man in the darkness eventually reached the edge of the tunnel, half expecting to meet some otherworldly being or a loved one who had been lost. But to his horror he looked down the length of a disjointed dented pole. He could see his dead body laying in the wet gutter surrounded by paramedics.

If any of the people around happened to look at the symbol for the green man they would’ve seen it switching on and off, each time taking a new pose as the man trapped inside tried kicking, smashing and shoulder barging the glass to get out and escape. He screamed and wept as he watched the paramedics zip up his body bag and take it away.