Transporter
“Who are you running from? Everybody?”
The alley woman didn’t respond, just limped behind her shopping cart. Her mangled hair stretched down her back and her dirty coat stretched to the ground.
“It’s hard to pretend you don’t hear me, isn’t it? We’re the only two people in this alley.”
Debbie pulled out her cell phone, just to check. She had power and bars, but when she pushed a button the number didn’t appear on the screen. She put the phone away.
“I kept looking through these stores, trying to find who was doing it, but there was no one common to each store and the effects seemed to move. It took me a while to figure out the source was in the alley.”
The woman finally stopped. She hesitated and then abandoned her cart. Debbie trailed her at a trot.
“I can get you help for that limp.”
“Leave me alone!” a worn voice said. “No one can help me.”
The woman was near the end of the alley, when a car stopped dead on the road. Debbie watched as the driver tried to restart his car, failed and pulled out a cell phone. He then looked as if that had failed too.
The alley woman backed away from the road. “You see what you made me do?”
Ahead, the man got his car started and moved on. Debbie moved up, stood right next to the woman and looked her in the eyes. There, Debbie could see a lot.
“You haven’t been on the street for more than a year or two, and you used to live a very domestic life.”
The woman looked away. “That’s a fine trick, but you should get away from me, before it’s something inside you that stops working. I promise I’ll move on tonight, when there are no people around. It’s just that I didn’t know it was going through walls.”
Debbie gave a compassionate laugh. “Don’t worry. It won’t break the barrier around me until I let it. What happened to you?”
The woman studied her. She soon became satisfied with whatever she was assessing, nodded and looked away.
“At first, it was just inanimate stuff that stopped working wherever I went. Then it was my husband’s heart. It didn’t kill him, but I knew I had to get away.”
Debbie placed a hand on her back. “I can take it from you.”
“Then you will have it.”
“Yes, but only for a while. This kind of thing won’t leave the world, but I can control how it comes and goes in me.”
“So you’ll be okay?”
“Yup. I’ll be fine. I’ll drop it off soon enough.”
“No! Don’t curse another person with this.”
Debbie chuckled. “I know a man who specializes in child racketeering. His business associates kidnap children and sell them in foreign countries. There’s big money in it. He’s well connected and well lawyered, untouchable by the police, but not untouchable by me.”
The woman now looked angry, but not at Debbie. “Will it work?”
“Oh, yeah. I can take it out of you.”
“No. I mean will it work on him. Will the things around him stop working?”
Debbie smiled. “I guarantee it. Just give me your hand, and I’ll take it out.”
The woman hesitantly stuck her hand out and Debbie took it. She relaxed her body first and then relaxed the shield inside her. She felt the darkness flowing from the woman and into her. When the last of it had come in, she let go of the woman’s hand.
“Is it gone from me?”
“Every last bit. Go test it, though. Walk around for a while until you’re satisfied. Then, by all means, go find your family.”
The woman smiled, but she was obviously not convinced. She could not feel the darkness like Debbie could; she could only see the aftermath. She would test it.
“And you?”
Debbie laughed. “I’ll make my delivery tonight.”
Interesting idea, Joshua. I have to admit that I was a bit suspicious about Debbie at first.
Maybe there are more stories in you about how she first got this ability and what other adventures she’s had.
Comment by Rish Outfield — March 4, 2009 @ 3:32 pm