(Short Story) Put Off For Too Long

Stephanie Gertie’s body is not stable right now. Her legs can’t move as much as it used to, almost as if someone put a cement platform on her feet. Both her hands are tapping on the wooden writing desk, making sounds that are discreet enough so that no one will be able to come to her. The air conditioner grew louder and louder in her ears, even though she didn’t change anything. She knows that her parents are going for another heated argument about what to do with herself, and she wants to escape from that.

Stephanie never really had a great relationship with her parents. Her biological father died from Leukemia when she was barely a toddler, and the only memory she had of him was a polaroid picture of her family being together at her one month birthday. She opens her drawer nearby and looks at the picture with a sad smile appearing on her face. She then put that little picture on her blue medium-sized luggage, along with the assortment of clothes and necessities already packed inside of her suitcase. She didn’t want to hear what her parents were arguing about this time; she just wanted to get out of here.

Stephanie still remembered the first time she saw her mother, Martha Gertie, with her current husband. It was half a decade ago at her local shopping center 10 miles away. She had just finished playing at the arcade complex and went back to the food court, which was the first time she met with Colin Burkowski, Martha’s new boyfriend at the time. She felt it was odd seeing her own mother with someone she only met a couple of weeks ago to Stephanie’s knowledge, and the fact that her mother was a widower half a dozen years ago amplifies her suspicion. 

Nevertheless, the 18-year old Stephanie at the time approached the two of them at the dining table they were in. She walks towards Colin and starts asking questions about himself. 

"Hello, my name is Steph. First of all, who the hell are you?"

"So my name is Colin, and right now I'm currently dating your own mother."

"Yeah that's right, but why did you date her when you can be with other people as well, Colin?"

"Don't be such a cynical person, sweetie. I'm here with your mom because I genuinely loved her, simple as that."

The word "sweetie" triggered her mind the instant she heard that word, both of her fist clenching in trying to control her temper as best as possible. Her breathing is getting heavier and heavier, feeling like an anvil is strapped at the back of her body. She didn’t know if this nobody can be trusted in the near future, and whether this relationship will develop into a happy one, just like when she was a toddler. She let out a deep sigh and turned her body around.

“If you really want to marry my mother, then fine. But in about a decade or so, I’m not sure about that promise being kept anymore.” Stephanie said. She then sat on a table right next to the couple, and never spoke again for the rest of the evening. She herself didn’t know why; maybe it was because of a dire future she is now living in, or that the ‘lovey-dovey’ couple just wasn’t to her liking. Whatever it was, she now has only two decisions: either endure a miserable life with her current parents, or get away from all of that so she can start a new stage in her life. “I guess I’ll go where the crow flies. I might make it, or not I suppose.” Stephanie spoke to herself.

The now 23-year old Stephanie then put the finishing touches by putting her accessories into a luggage that’s now packed to the brim with everything she needed for a long adventure to find a new lease of life. After that, she moves the zipper around the luggage to close it down and put the luggage in a vertical position. Afterwards, she grabs her grey cropped jacket that’s been lying around on her door hanger rack to accompany the dark blue knee-length dress she is wearing right now. She twists the door knob to see if Martha and Colin are still arguing in the living room. When there is no sight of them, she let out a sigh of relief in her part.

She stepped out of her bedroom without making too much noise from her feet, since the living room itself was filled with furniture. A couple of blue sofas lined right next to the green walls that she thought were outdated, along with a glass table in the middle of those sofas. The 32-inch digital TV adorned on the long drawer table is kept clean, which isn’t a surprise to her as this is usually the place where Colin would sit on afternoons, sipping a cup of coffee while watching Last Man Standing. At this very moment though, it is completely silent and bereft of coffee drops, along with the granite floors themselves picking up dust. 

Stephanie went close into her parents' bedroom, plastering her left ear to the door itself. There, she overhears the conversation and shuts her lips up the whole time. 

“Please, I just want this to end now! You’re not my husband until you prove it!” Stephanie’s mother said.

“It’s okay Martha, everything is going to be just fine.” Colin replies.

“I saw it. You and that girl in the blue sundress, holding hands with each other. Is it true you’re starting a relationship with her?”

“No, I just met her a couple of minutes ago. Had a nice chat and asked if I could guide her to the parking lot.”

“THAT’S NOT TRUE! Why did you had to-”

Stephanie heard a slap thrown into someone inside the room. Since it was only her mother and Colin in their own bedroom, it can’t be good. “I better get out of this, now or never.” Stephanie mutters as she pulls one of the drawer boxes on the table to get her car keys. She then rushed through the shoe drawer situated right next to the front door to grab a pair of white sandals she often uses for going outside, before pulling the door handle down to open and close the door carefully so as not to attract too much attention from her crumbling family.

Once outside, Stephanie ran through the cobblestone steps that lead to the front door and carried her luggage to her personal car: a 1984 Ford Mustang Convertible, finished in Light Desert Tan. Her mother bought this car as her 21st birthday present at a local scrapyard, just five minutes from her family home. Even though the car costs 800 dollars to purchase, it seemed like such a good nick at the time. There aren't too many scratches on the bodywork it seems, and there’s not too much filthiness on the interior as well. When Stephanie opened the driver’s door of her Mustang and stepped inside though, her thoughts were exactly the same as when she got into the Mustang’s interior for the first time two years ago. 

The charcoal leather seats she is currently sitting on have massive scratches on the surface, as if someone fought a lion inside this car. She saw some of the gauges aren't working as well from the purchase itself, like the oil and water temperature gauges never moved from their positions. She put the car key on the ignition fob and crossed her fingers, seeing how she didn’t think highly of her Mustang’ reliability. She twists the key clockwise, and the V6 engine fires up on the first attempt. Stephanie’s eyes widened as she couldn't believe her Mustang could be trusted for the first time in forever. Before she can celebrate any further though, she can just hear the argument inside stopped and they are about to check into her bedroom. 

She went outside to get her luggage that is still in the driveway and put it in the trunk, before getting back inside of her Mustang. Once inside, she ties up her pair of white sandals that’s wrapped around her leg, before locking the doors for safety reasons. Just as she finished fastening her seatbelt and disengaged the parking brake, she saw her father Colin step out of the home and approach her Mustang fast.

Stephanie froze all of a sudden once she saw what her father had done. His grey dress shirt, once clean and professional, now looked scruffy with a couple of buttons untucked and his sleeves tucked in. What caught her attention was a couple of blood spots on the shirt itself and his right fist was covered in blood as well, fearing that he may end up beating her own mother to submission. She sees Colin getting closer and closer to her, before planting both of his hands on the driver’s side windows.

It’s going to be fine, honey. Come along with me. Those are the words that her own father mustered at her face, only separated by just a sheet of glass. Then, she let out a scowl in her face as a response.

“No.”

Stephanie put the gear lever into Drive and slammed the gas pedal hard, causing her car to lurched forward and knock Colin into the concrete. She heard a resounding thud outside, and double-footed the rectangular brake pedal, locking the front tires on its way to a complete stop and leaving tire marks ahead. After taking a deep breath to calm herself down, she grabbed the door handle and climbed outside of the car to see how much damage she caused to her father. She walks to him at a slower than usual pace, her legs shaking so much from the gusty winds sweeping upon her. She took one look at Colin, and covered her mouth with her hands. His now emotionless face has laid above a puddle of blood that slowly envelopes itself into the tarmac, with spits of rain drops now beginning to mix in with the puddle as well.

Stephanie, fearing that someone will witness the incident and blame her for the killing of Colin, ran as fast as she could to her car. As the rain grew heavier, she scrambled back inside her Mustang and after buckling up her seat belt again, drove away from the scene of the accident in a hurry, leaving out tire screeches behind. As she negotiates her neighborhood before converging to the main road, she starts to breathe more often and her hands are shaking as if the air conditioner had turned on in her car. I’m sorry Colin, but I have no choice. With the winding roads in front of her, her right sandaled foot pushed the gas pedal further, causing the speedometer needle to climb from 30 to 40 miles per hour.

The rain drops are getting more frequent on her windshield the faster she goes on the main road. Rattling noises coming from the engine grew so loud that her eardrums should have been damaged by this point, but the intensity Stephanie is having put them in the back burner. Both of her hands are moving the steering wheel left and right, weaving around the slow-moving traffic she encounters more often than not. Her right foot is pinning the gas pedal deep into the carpets, with the needle going up from 45, 50, 55, to 60 miles per hour. Stephanie was going so fast that she didn’t notice how many red traffic lights and intersection she run over with, though at the same time she was surprised that no police cruiser ever saw her speeding.

That all changed when she entered a downhill stretch that leads to a busy intersection this time around. She saw the speedometer needle is now pointing at 70, and it’s time to take a breather. Her right foot let off the gas pedal after a long time and plastered itself on the brake pedal. The farther the pedal travels though, the more nervous her body has become. She pushed it as far as she possibly could, until she heard a resounding clunk. She looked underneath the dashboard, and her eyes widened to find that the brake pedal went all the way to the carpeted floorboard. Not believing what she just saw, she pumped the brake pedal three more times to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

Still nothing.

She looked upwards and flipped down the wiper stalk, so that the windscreen wipers would clean the necessary amount of rain drops for her to see the road. After the wipers did their job, she can just see the traffic light has turned from yellow to red in a matter of seconds. Oh for crying out loud. Her hands tightened themselves on the steering wheel, preparing for the worst. She mashes the brake pedal with both of her sandaled feet now for six times, and all of them resulted in a clunk sound every single time. 

Droplets of tears are starting to come out of Stephanie's eye socket and trickling down through her cheek, signaling that she might end up sealing her fate in just a few moments. With her legs now getting tired of pumping the useless brake pedal for what felt like forever and the speedometer needle now reaching 85 miles per hour, she felt that karma has finally reached upon her and it's time for her to go. She clinched the steering wheel even tighter and closed her eyelids before reaching the intersection. Maybe it was true that she would never have been in this situation if she intervened ten years ago. It would have brought her closer to Martha if that fateful encounter didn't happen. But one thing is for certain, she better go out with a bang. 

Stephanie overshoots a red traffic light for the final time and overhears a truck horn blaring at her left ear. She felt a tremendous force coming from the driver's side of her Mustang, along with the shattered glass scarring her face. Even though that tremendous force is destroying her own body, she didn't care for it. She is finally put out of her miserable life. 

           She was put off for too long.