Midnight Train to Nowhere Pt. 3

May 3, 2010 at 2:11 pm · Filed under L.A.

…and still she waits. Her feet are restless. her hands, small and bird like, an agitated blur of black nail polish and silver jewelry. She stands up. Makes one lap, two laps, three laps up and down the platform. She sits down again. The minutes pass…12:37…12:45…12:53…but still, Damon is nowhere to be seen.
“He said he would be here.”, Hailey reminds herself, “and if he said he would, he will.” she tries to convince herself. “Just be patient. Just try to be patient…”
but her patience is wearing thin. And the thing is, she didn’t even have that much to begin with. Hailey had tried calling him, several times, but as always he wasn’t answering his phone.
Hailey lets out a sigh. What is she doing? Is this really what she wants? Waiting for a man who had made making her wait his specialty? No, she decides. It isn’t what she wants. It is freedom. It is freedom that she wants. From him, from his lies, from the constant and what had become quite customary disappointment of him continually letting her down. This…here…waiting for him…is not what she wants.
Hailey takes out her phone. She’ll leave him another voice mail. This time telling him not to come. That there was no amount of convincing that could sway her. Not this time. She had given him his second chance…and he had blown it.
She is just about to dial his number when the phone rings in her hand. It’s him. Good, Hailey tells herself. She can tell him not to come herself. She never did like voice mails…they were like text messages, too impersonal.
She presses the ‘accept’ button and puts the phone up to her ear.
“Hello? Ma’am?”
All the words that Hailey had prepared herself to say suddenly evaporate. That isn’t Damon. Damon’s voice is softer. More genial. This man’s voice is gruff. Gravelly, as if he had smoked two packs a day for the past decade.
“Yes?”
Hailey’s voice is a near whisper. She has a bad feeling about this.
“This is Officer Wilshire and I’m with the local police…there’s been an accident.”
The words come tumbling out.
“An accident? What kind of accident? Where? Is Damon OK? How did you get his phone?”
“Please calm down ma’am. Mr. Sawyer is hurt but he is okay. We were able to recover his phone as we pulled him out of the wreckage. Yours was the last number he called. It appears as if he was side swiped by a garbage truck. Ran a redlight. It Seems as if he was in a hurry to get someplace.”
The last sounds like an accusation. Officer Wilshire obviously knows that Damon was on his way to see her when the accident happened. Hailey takes a moment to think.
“Where did the accident take place?”
“The intersection of 45th & Quentin Avenue.” The police officer answers dutifully.
Hailey sucks in her breath. That is just up the street. Hailey hangs up the phone without the slightest hesitation. Jumps up from her bench, slings her bag over her shoulder and bolts for the stairs. She takes them two at a time. Within seconds she bursts from the belly of the earth and into the night. It is a chilly one. The air is crisp, the wind whipping her hair around her face. She brushes it carelessly out of her face.
She can see the red and blue lights. The police cars, the ambulance and the small crowd that has surrounded the scene. Everyone loves a good show. Even at 1 o’clock in the morning. It makes her sick. She hurries over, trying her best not to break out into a full out run. The phone rings again in her hand but she is too distracted to even consider answering it.
She reaches the crowd. Manages to push her way to the front but is stopped by a perimeter of yellow tape and the watching eyes of a number of police officers.
Shit! She thinks. How am I going to get past this thing?
Then she remembers the ringing phone in her hand. She answers it.
“Mrs. Sa-”
“I’m here.” Hailey cuts in before Officer Wilshire can say anything.
“Where?”
She can see him. Turning, trying to find her.
She waves her arm to make it easier for him.
“Over here. Just behind the yellow tape.”
He turns. Sees her.
“Seen you.” he says and hanging up his phone, walks over to her.
He is a tall man. Lanky with a slightly disheveled look about him. Like he hasn’t seen a bed, a shower or the sharp end of a razor in quite some time.
“Hailey?” he directs at her. She nods.
“Come with me.”
He holds the yellow tape up for her as she passes under it and then beckons her to follow him. His strides are long and she struggles to keep up.
“Where is he?” Hailey asks, readjusting her bag.
Officer Wilshire points.
“they’re just putting him into the back of the ambulance. I held them as long as I could. Hurry and you’ll be able to go with him.”
Hailey’s gaze follows the police officer’s outstretched arm. A group of paramedics are placing a stretcher into an ambulance.
“Come on.” Wilshire says to her, walking over to the ambulance.
“Where’s Jared?” He asks one of the paramedics. “This is her.” He indicates Hailey.
“And who is she exactly?”
Both Wilshire and Hailey turn. Walking towards them, his uniform blood splattered, his hair ruffled is who Hailey can only assume is Jared. The thought that the blood splattered on his clothing could be Damon’s make a shiver run down Hailey’s spine.
Stuffing her hand in her pocket, Hailey digs for her ring and manages to slip it onto the right finger without removing her hand from her pocket.
Wilshire gives Hailey a little nudge with his eyes.
“I’m his wife.” Hailey manages to blurt out.
Jared’s eyebrows seem to arch up in interest. “Hmmm,”, his expression seems to say. “So this is her.”. He gives her a quick up and down. His probing gaze making her uncomfortable.
“Okay…” Jared says after a moment. “Your husband is stable Mrs. Sawyer but he does need to get to a hospital as soon as possible. So if you would like to come along you are more than welcome to but we need to leave like right now.”
Hailey nods. “I would like to go.”
Jared claps his hands together, “Then let’s get a move on. Climb into the back.” Turning to Wilshire, Jared offers his hand, “Thomas,”
Wilshire takes it, “Derek.”
“Pleasure as always,”
“Yeah, I just wish it wasn’t always in such situations.”
“The curse of our work I guess. Have a good one.”
“Go save a life. And oh, before I forget, give this to her would you?”
Wilshire holds out Damon’s phone. Nodding, Jared takes it.
“Will do.”
Offering one last salute, Jared climbs into the back of the ambulance, following Hailey, two officers slamming the double doors behind him…
Hailey feels sick. There is just so much blood. The scent of it tickles her nostrils, the sight of it rubs at her eyes. She feels faint. She feels light headed.
Noticing how pale Hailey is, Jared takes a second to take her hand. Squeezes it.
“Every thing’s going to fine.” He tells her. “Every thing’s going to be just fine.”

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