Attempted Murder

Greg Dodgen
Jul 27, 2017 · 5 min read

It’s been almost a year. This is based on a true story. I only took liberties with the beings of light and dark. I think they might’ve been there, but I didn’t see them…..


It happened on a Saturday, a few hours after lunch. He started the car and opened the moonroof to help the air conditioner push some of the summer heat out of the dark interior. The drive would be a little under two hours, if traffic was normal. He took a drink from his ever-present water bottle, plugged in his phone, and selected some music to pass the time during the trip home.

As he navigated the traffic lights between the restaurant and the on ramp for the northbound interstate highway, his mind wandered from the music, to the weather, to tomorrow’s grocery list, to that nice sports car in the next lane, to whatever the kids were doing, and to any and everything else that occupies one’s mind as a routine trip begins.

He didn’t notice the five dark beings hovering over the car. They flitted and fidgeted, seeming to argue at times. If he had been able to see them, they might have reminded him of a murder of crows, arguing over a pile of scraps fallen from the weekly garbage removal in his neighborhood.

Murder. It’s what the dark beings wanted. Somehow, he’d made their master’s list. Today was his unlucky day. They kept bickering as they flew above the car, their aggravation growing as they increased speed to maintain their vigil. The place was further north. The place where they would do their master’s bidding. The place where he would end.

He navigated the traffic with little thought, given the familiar roadway and short duration of the trip. He looked forward to being home and out of the car for the day.

The beings of light followed, at a distance. There were two, and if he’d been able to see them, he would have marveled at their obvious power. It radiated from both of them, and not just in a physical sense. They seemed to carry an implicit sense of peace, normalcy, things just being right. Even if he’d seen them, he couldn’t have explained it easily to another. Yet, they kept some distance. They had their orders. They were always prepared, but the choice was his.

Choice. From the beginning of time, it had always been about choice. The true Master, Creator of the driver and the beings of light, built it into His plan. The plan always contained choices, and consequences.

The dark beings grew more agitated. They had no choice. Their master operated via deception, lies, and punishment. It didn’t matter. They were five. They couldn’t fail today. The thought never crossed any of their wretched minds. Their minds remained filled with murder.

He turned on the wipers, a soft but steady rain falling as he made his way through the city. It was mid afternoon, the time at which almost everyone on this road wanted to be somewhere else, anywhere else, especially if it was raining. As the highway lanes started to converge away from the city, he signaled a lane change to the right, preparing for the final ten or so miles towards home.

The dark beings moved. One grabbed the roof of the car, pulling up to lessen its weight upon the road. The other four each pushed on a corner, just as they’d practiced. The car, traveling at close to sixty miles per hour, snapped almost ninety degrees to the left.

“No!”, He thought. “How can this be happening?!”

“Father, please don’t let it end like this. Not today.” He prayed, perhaps for the first time that day.

The two beings of light moved, at nearly the speed of light itself. One grabbed the rear of the car and held on tightly. The other took a brilliant, flaming sword from a place unseen and sliced each of the five dark beings in half. It seemed to happen all at once, and they vanished in small, sooty clouds that smelled of sulphur.

He tried to turn into the skid, as the drivers education long ago had ingrained. Steer…no gas…no brakes…just steer into the skid. He noticed the sound of the tires, sliding sideways, as they were not designed to do. Time seemed to move more slowly, but he heard the tires.

The first being of light opened his mighty wings to slow the car, holding onto the rear as it slid across the traffic lanes. The second one turned to the traffic in the rear, gently guiding first one car, then a second, safely around the driver whose protection was now their only goal.

The car continued to spin, and snapped ninety degrees to the right. He saw the far right wall approaching, rapidly. The sound of screaming rubber still filled his ears and he gave up on steering and, with no other options, pushed the brake pedal to the floor.

The first being of light planted his feet as his wings filled again, acting as a giant speed brake attached to the rear of the car. The second powerful being, satisfied that other cars were on safer paths, jumped to the front of the car. His wings, somehow even more broad than his brother’s, wrapped the front of the car as it approached the wall. He dug in his feet and braced for the impact, his wings now covering every window in the car.

The car met the wall at an angle just oblique from head-on, still traveling over forty-five miles per hour. His seatbelt worked as designed, pulling him tightly into his seat. None of the airbags deployed. There was a crack in the driver’s side windshield, caused by the roof twisting so hard that it pulled a dent just behind the moonroof. Both front frame rails immediately bent to the right, deflecting the remainder of the impact force onto the radiator and the wide front tires.

Both beings of light stretched their wings and took a step away from the car. This wasn’t over yet.

As he turned the key to shut off the engine, he realized the hydroplane-induced spin had resulted in him facing back into the curve. As he looked at five lanes of traffic rounding the curve, in a gentle rain that brought the grease and oil to the roadway’s surface, he prayed again.

“Father, help me get home.”

Both beings of light jumped in front of the car, barely over the painted line in the far right emergency lane. They crossed arms, opened their mighty wings again, and stood patiently until help arrived. Their wings formed an impenetrable barrier, but they could sense the driver’s relief and thankfulness. Without saying a word, they both hoped his conversations with the Creator would continue anew.

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