- PART TWO -
now

COLE'S P.O.V

Date - March 25th
Time - 11:03
Location – Highway I-10

I was honked continuously by the cars behind me. I honked back. It was a Monday morning, and I was on my way to my hometown of New Orleans from LA.

The cars behind me honked harder, and out of annoyance I rolled down the window and yelled out, "Shut up, you bastards!"

That didn't help matters.

I leaned my head back onto the seat, trying to find a decent radio channel. It was a pretty rough day for me, especially when I couldn't get neither a plane nor a train ticket to New Orleans and was forced to drive instead. Interstate 10 sucked.

It was a dead stop in that highway, with everyone moving an inch every thirty minutes. It was urgent, and the sweet Lord blessed me with traffic instead.

I felt my phone buzz inside my pocket and I slipped my hand inside to retrieve it. The screen pulsed with a single name on it,

Kathy

A sigh escaped my lips before I pressed the accept button and placed the phone onto my ear. "Hello?" I greeted uneagerly.

"Cole! Where are you? It's one hour before the burial and you just missed the speeches!" my sister hissed onto the phone.

I gripped the steering wheel a little harder. I was wearing a black shirt and pants, with my suit hanging in the back of the car. "Kath, have you checked the news yet? I-10 isn't moving a single inch!" I spat at the phone, annoyed by her obliviousness.

"You are nineteen! You should've known better to book three days in advance!"

"I was told just yesterday, Goddammit!" I yelled back, managing to advance forward. The car in front of me halted suddenly, and I hit the brake just fast enough to avoid collision. I cursed and honked furiously.

"Where are you now?" she asked me again, and I looked out to find the kilometer sign, but I was too far away to see it.

"Not quite sure, but I'll get there, I promise," I said, trying to end the conversation.

"Kathy! Kathy, is that Cole?" a small voice entered the conversation, and soon after the small voice became clearer.

"Can I talk to him please?" he asked in a sweet voice, and I heard Kathy agreeing before a rustle came and the phone was in his hands.

"Hello brother Cole!" he exclaimed in childish excitement.

"Hey Miles," I replied in feign excitement. It was hard not to sound all brotherly over him.

"Where are you? I can't find you anywhere here. It's a really big place, but I have to be quiet all the time," he exclaimed, and I laughed a bit.

Miles was just a five year-old kid, my little brother. I left for college when he was four. "Yeah, wait for me, okay little guy? I just have a little problem to get through," I answered.

"Cole?" he asked again in a small voice.

"Yeah?"

"Why is cousin Edwin sleeping in a weird wooden bed?" he asked innocently.

That name brought me grief. Edwin was my cousin and my best friend. He was two years younger than me, so I left for college before him. Edwin lived near my house, and he used to play catch with Miles ever since Miles was able to walk. Edwin died in a crash during the night when he was taking a late bike ride. It was his funeral that day.

"Uhh...he's just sleeping for now Miles."

"Why?" he asked innocently. It was hard to explain these kinds of things to someone that young. They wouldn't understand it, and they would only ask questions that you can't explain.

"He's just...just trying to become Dracula! Yeah, he's going to come back to life in a few hundred years and will roam the world forever," I replied hastily.

That seemed to do the trick. "Cool!" he remarked in amazement. "I can't wait to meet him until then!"

"Me too Miles," I said, trying to keep up the spirit.

"I wish that he could have slept after we play catch. I'm getting really bored," he complaint in childish demeanor.

It was getting hard for me to reply, so I said, "Maybe when I get there we can play catch, together!"

"Promise?" Miles asked.

"Promise," I agreed easily.

"Yeay! Oh-sister Kathy wants to talk to you," he said before a rustle came again and the phone was back on Kathy's hands.

"Whatever you do, you get here! You got that driver's license for a reason!" she whisper-shouted at me, and I sighed. I excelled my driving's ed test in the first try, but even so I was still a rookie. 

"Yes, sister," I replied solemnly.

"A very much more responsible sister," she emphasized before I ended the call.

I slammed my phone on the dashboard and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel, trying to find some way to get out. I was located on the right, far side, so I was near the fields. I checked my phone for navigation and found a small road just over the field that could take me to New Orleans as well. Best part was, it didn't have any traffic.

Just a meter ahead was a hole made from the broken fence after the last accident. It had not been repaired, due to the increasing traffic in the I-10.

"Come on, come on," I murmured under my breath as the cars in front of me advanced little by little. I stared back at my watch and saw to my horror that I had only twenty-five minutes before the burial, and I was determined to say my last goodbye to Edwin.

Five minutes later and the entrance was open to me. I switched gears and made a hard right and out of the hole, followed by a stream of loud honking. The bumper hit the grassy ground hard enough to make a dent, but it landed safely so I didn't care that much. I was free from the traffic.

I sped up through the grass fields, navigating my way with my GPS. It was an off-road adventure, and I couldn't help but give out a yell of victory.

"Eat that, suckers!" I yelled out of the window with a fist in the air, whooping again in glory.

In the distance I could see the stray road that my navigator showed me, and I cranked up the speed of my car, listening as the engine hummed in satisfaction. I kind of knew that I could get arrested for that, but the police won't be able to get to me from that traffic.

I was waiting for the right moment to drive up and onto the road, looking from left to right for any other cars. I saw a turn just to my right, but it wouldn't be a problem.

I placed my foot on the accelerator and the car drove itself up to the road, making a right turn. The road was small, almost as if it was made to only fit one car.

With a start I realized my mistake, but it was too late. A heavy truck carrying cows drove out from the turn, and in despair I try to brake as the driver honked at me loudly.

It was too late for any of us to brake, and the inevitable happened.

I felt the nose of the car catch impact with the truck, and the airbag taking action. I gave a panicked cry and closed my eyes, waiting for that killer blow.

It never came.

I opened my eyes, and saw that everything just stopped.

The phone that I placed on the dashboard stopped mid-flight, the herd of cows stopped baying, the driver of the truck stopped mid-convulsion, and the air bag in front of me stopped inflating. I looked down to my watch to confirm my suspicion. I was correct, time had stopped and I was the only one moving.

I watched before me a scene before the two vehicles meet their doom. My front bumper was dented in by the truck, the truck's cow cargo was tilted, near from falling and toppling over. My car was also lifted, but only in a slight angle that no one would have noticed.

I was able to save myself.

I breathed in a sigh of relief, took off my seatbelt and was prepared to get out and take shelter when I heard a small, buzzing sound, and I halted. I was breathing heavily, perspiration streaming down my face as I turned my head towards where the sound had originated.

It was my old radio, and I watched in panic as the channels switched all by itself, going up and down until it finally stopped in one channel, a channel that I was not familiar to. It was all zeros, 0.00 channel, a radio station that shouldn't exist.

"Hello Cole Devin," a male voice creaked out from the radio, sending a spasm of shock through me and I started to climb out of my chair when the voice interrupted, "If you get out now, time will move again and you will die."

I stopped moving, leaning myself back onto my chair slowly, my eyes steady on the radio. "Who are you?" I asked slowly.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," he chastised, "is that the way to thank me for saving your life?"

A lump formed inside my throat, and I swallowed it nervously. "Well, you did threaten to kill me again."

A static laugh came out from the radio. "Oh don't worry about that Mr. Devin, if you are who I was promised to be, then you will live."

"Who promised you?" I asked, suddenly alerted.

"Oh, let's keep that a mystery, for now," he said. "I was promised that you will do great."

"Great in what?" I asked, feeling tense all over.

He hummed in delight, savoring the fear in my voice. "My, you are very curious indeed."

"Great in what?" I asked again, fiercer this time, and he laughed.

"Let's play a game, shall we?" the voice slurred from the radio. "It's simple really, just try to find me someone."