Fiction

The Damsel in Distress, The Hero, and The Villain.

Appearances can be deceiving

The young woman in black approaches the door, and a man in a suit holds it open for her. She thanks him, not looking in his eyes for fear of misleading him with false encouragement.

He enthusiastically says, “You’re welcome.”

The older woman behind her expresses to him how offended she is that he thinks she is incapable of opening her own door.

The polite, suited man contritely says, “I am sorry. It is how I was raised.”

“Well, maybe it’s time to change,” she angrily retorts.

As the the woman in black walks to the elevator, the man in the suit approaches quickly behind her and holds open the doors while others, including the woman in black and the angry woman, fill the elevator. There is no room for him and the disheveled man next to him.

He salutes them with a smile and says, “No problem. I’ll get the next one.”

The man in the suit calmly looks over at the other man, restlessly pacing next to him.

At the next elevator, he holds the door for a man in a wheelchair who had just arrived. The disheveled man who missed the first elevator rudely jumps in front of a man in a wheelchair, and begins frantically pushing the button.

The polite man catches the door before it can close and holds it for the man in the wheelchair.

The man in the chair yells, “I am not helpless, I can get my own elevator door.” The kind man apologizes and says, “I am sorry, it is how I was raised.”

“If I wasn’t in this chair, I’d kick your ass,” he bizarrely retorts, getting in the elevator and blocking the door. The man apologizes again, while he watches the elevator door close. He goes to the stairs and runs down 6 flights to the basement parking lot.

As the woman in black approaches her car in the parking garage, her hands full with briefcase and a cup of coffee, she beeps her car unlocked with the keys in her hand. She senses a presence near her and turns. She sees it is disheveled man who earlier missed the elevator and feels fear as he emerges from the shadows.

As she struggles to juggle the objects in her hands to open the door, she hears a breathless voice behind her. Startled and afraid, she turns quickly.

The handsome man in the suit says, “My apologies, ma’am. Please let me get the door for you.” Before she can speak, he reaches over and opens the door, then discreetly backs away, towards the other man, who made sure he was seen and who has crept back into the shadows, out of sight. She quickly gets in her car and shuts and locks it.

“Have a nice day, ma’am.” he says, and walks away, looking back until she pulls out of the parking spot and heads towards the exit.

She watches him walk away, towards the woman who yelled at him earlier. The woman is attempting to get in her own car. She rolls down her window a few inches so she can hear what is said, in case the woman needs help. Oddly, she hears the man ask the older woman if he can help, despite the tongue-lashing she gave him a few minutes earlier.

The woman responds loudly. “Get away! If you come near me, I’ll scream for the police!”

The handsome man in the suit sees the disheveled man walk out of the shadows towards the woman. The handsome man says to the lady, “My apologies, ma’am. It is how I was raised.”

As the handsome man quickly turns towards his own car, she yells, “Are you so stupid you don’t know not to approach a lone woman in a parking garage?”

As the man walks quickly towards his own car, he thinks of his sisters and his mother. He wonders at how they make it through each day, being so fearful.

Just then, a car with the disheveled man driving it squeals out of a parking space and heads towards the exit, stopping just before he gets to the rude lady. The disheveled man waits until the man in the suit leaves, not too far behind the woman in black.

The disheveled man is working. It is getting dark. He finally finds the woman in black and her disabled car on the side of the road. He sees a car pull in front of the woman’s car and the man in the suit get out and approach her. He is the same man from the elevator, the one who held the door for the man in the wheelchair. He gets close to her and she backs away. She pulls out her phone, the man slaps it away. The suited man overpowers the woman, and drags her towards his car.

The disheveled man abruptly pulls his car in front of the suited man’s car and blocks him in. He leaps from his car and approaches the man and woman. Recognizing the disheveled man, the woman is unsure what his intent is. She is frozen with fear, two men now threatening her. The suited man releases her and backs slowly away.

The disheveled man walks past the woman in black and fearlessly confronts the handsome man in the suit. The man in the suit threatens the new man and throws a punch. The disheveled man blocks the punch, grabs the man’s arm, and takes him to the ground. The woman screams.

The disheveled man handcuffs the man in the suit and shows the woman his badge. The woman gasps in relief. The bad man is the same man who helped her earlier. The disheveled man is the one who scared her.

The woman thanks the new man with sobs of gratitude. The disheveled man says, “You’re okay, now. He won’t cause you any problems. Besides, it is how I was raised.”

The disheveled man stays with her until all of the other officers leave with the bad man going to jail. His presence comforts her.

After her car is fixed by the tow truck driver. The disheveled man calmly escorts her to her car and asks if she is okay to drive home. Her eyes sparkle as she says, “Yes, thank you.” He closes her door and watches her drive off.

She watches him watch her in her rear view mirror, wondering what might have been if he hadn’t stopped. . . if he had asked her out. Then she smiles at the memory of him taking down the bad guy, tears of relief tracing down her cheeks.

The good man watches her drive away. He is thinking of his sisters and his mother. How proud of him they will be, and how he hopes other good men will help them if they need it, despite the fear they will feel.

As he gets in his car, he wonders how it might have been if he hadn’t seen the man following her at the elevator and the parking lot.

As he pulls onto the roadway, he thought of the woman’s smile and kindness to him, and wonders how it might have been had they met under different circumstances.

Chuck Roast is a writer and humorist (“humourist” for those of you who like the “incorrect” spelling)for the publication Illumination, a Top Writer in Satire and Humor, owner/editor/writer of his own Publication, Dad-Bods, which is currently sitting idle while he develops his social media skills and gains more exposure through manipulation of said social media. He is branching out to try and take Top Writer awards in other topics from other writers. He was recently curated for the first time, in Poetry of all things, for his poetic story, Remember the Founders and Their Reasons.

Here are the links to his accounts, LinkedIn, Twitter. Comments are always appreciated. Thanks for reading. Write On!