A SELF DISCOVERY NOVEL
Lost & Found
Chapter 2: The Final Straw
“A single event can awaken within us a stranger totally unknown to us. To live is to be slowly born.” ― Antoine de Saint-Exuper
Jordan lay in his hospital bed heavily sedated and bandaged, still trying to piece together the sequence of events that had brought him to this moment.
A few hours ago, he had gotten into the car with his highly irritated girlfriend, Stephanie, who was driving a tad faster than Jordan would approve of, especially since she was in her bathroom slippers!
“So, who is she?” Stephanie asked after a few minutes of quiet but high-speed driving.
Jordan was busy looking through his emails and missed the question, and did not answer immediately. He just mumbled a few distracted words about his meetings in Cannes not being planned well by his secretary.
Stephanie suddenly swerved the car out of the fast lane into the slower lane and nearly missed a passing van. Jordan had to stop reading his emails and concentrate on the road and Steph’s state of mind. He was not used to being driven by Stephanie in general, and today her mood was not helping matters at all.
“Steph!” Jordan begged in a loud voice, “Please drive carefully and stop jumping lanes like this. It makes me feel sick.”
Jordan was worried about Stephanie’s driving today.
She was looking worse than he had ever seen her. Her therapist, whom she had recently started seeing, had prescribed some antidepressants that had a side effect of causing erratic mood swings and sustained bouts of irritability. She had also been complaining about some extra weight gain. Last week, she had booked an appointment to see a plastic surgeon as she wanted to remove a wrinkle crease from her forehead. Jordan could tell Steph was finding it hard to deal with turning 40 in a few weeks. She used to often joke with Jordan and say how she wanted to stay 39 forever.
Stephanie looked across at Jordan with contempt as he glared at her and asked her to drive carefully.
How dare he, she thought.
How dare he look so calm and relaxed when I am suffering. How dare he live his playboy life while I pine for him at home alone. He does not care about me. He cares about his awards, clients, and media parties. I bet he doesn't even remember that it’s our anniversary today. I bet he’s going to spend the night with some slut who wants to join his hotshot agency. Oh Jordan, I gave up my friends and family in Miami just for you. I thought you would love me and take care of me and spend time with me. Instead, you ignore me and avoid me and sleep around with girls half your age. Oh, Jordan, you let me down. I am so disappointed with you.
Steph glared right back at Jordan and, without a modicum of sincerity, replied, “I am so sorry, sir, I am sorry for making your head hurt, Sir. Can I do something to make it up to you, Sir? Can I maybe give you a blow job right now? Please, Sir, let me make it up to you.”
Steph sounded psychotic with her fake pleading rebukes as her manner became more and more profane.
Now, Jordan was furious.
He looked at Steph this time with apparent contempt in his eyes.
“Steph, please stop,” he shouted.
“I am not going to sit here and listen to your mad rants. We have to stop this! You cannot keep accusing me of fucking around without any real evidence.” Jordan wanted to get out and walk to the airport if he could but was trapped with her, which enraged him even more. He continued his rant,
“We have discussed this many times now. I agreed to see a therapist with you precisely because of your wild suspicions. I am doing everything I can to make you happy, but leave if you are not happy! Go back to Miami. Go back to your tantric Yoga and cocaine sniffing high society. I don’t have time to deal with your wild conspiracy plots all the time.”
Jordan glanced anxiously at his Rolex. His flight was boarding in an hour from T5, and he was still not at the airport. He needed to calm Steph enough to stop and let him drive the rest of the way.
Steph had tears in her eyes. She needed to calm down and think for a second. She slowed the car and parked it by the side of the road in the emergency driving lane, and put the emergency lights on. The engine was still running. Jordan was a bit relieved to see this. Now all he had to do was convince her to let him drive.
Steph’s hands were trembling as she rested her head on the steering wheel and started to sob. Jordan was still angry but now stroked her head to calm her down.
“I am sorry, Steph. I am sorry that you are going through a rough time right now. We will make it through. I am sure.” Jordan comforted her as Stephanie continued to cry with her head on the steering.
Steph looked up from the wheel with a sad look, stared straight at the road ahead, and said,
“I am so tired of this lousy fake life.”
And without any warning, she suddenly revved back on the road without checking her mirrors. Jordan could do nothing but stare at Steph in horror. Before he could look back, he heard a loud horn blaring that sounded like a heavy truck.
Jordan looked back, and all he could say was,
“Oh my God!” as he saw the truck ramming into the car with an ear-shattering sound. He felt a sharp pain in his head as something struck him on the side of his temple, and he passed out.
Steph also saw the truck, but she seemed less worried. She felt a sense of relief as she saw the approaching monster with its ghastly blaring horn. Suddenly she felt calm, and all her anger and anxiety seemed to fade away. She felt free of her rotten mind for a fraction of a second before the truck struck her side of the car first. She felt her body getting yanked out of the seat and lunge forward towards the windscreen. She saw something bright in the glass that seemed to make her feel at ease at once. She felt no pain as the truck hit the car as it skidded into the oncoming truck head-on.
Then she passed out.