Sinking Down

A car crashes into an algae crusted pond late at night off of a lonely road.  Inside, a man sits at the wheel staring through the windshield as if locked into some sort of trance as the green water swirls up and around his feet.  In his mind, he thinks back to how he ended up plunging into a fetid pond, what actions lead him to this moment, what could he have done differently.

He remembers the party he was attending that his buddy was throwing for no particular reason but to throw one.

He remembers the booze…

“How much did I have to drink?” He thinks to himself while still seated in the drivers seat as the water is now up to his knees and still rising.

He arrived at the party late, not fashionably late since nothing about him is fashionable, but late since he was too busy trying to decide if he was going to make the party or not; even after he had told his buddy that indeed, he would be going and not to worry.  Once there he started to drink as was everyone else at the party but not to any sort of extreme, just in moderation.

“Something went wrong.  What was it that went terribly wrong?”

There were two drinks consumed.  Two drinks of the Jack and Coke variety.  Two Jack and Cokes that were more Jack than Coke.  Two very stout drinks that were consumed down his gullet.

That was eight hours ago, more than enough time for any drunk to have worn off, if any amount of drunk had even been achieved.  After all, it was only two drinks; two very stout drinks.

“That was it, wasn’t it?  Only two drinks?  Usually there is more, much, much more that is consumed in the course of the night.  Is it possible that during those eight hours that those two drinks was really four or five?  Were any shots taken?”

All he can remember is sitting there in the folding chair on the porch most of the night with everyone else.

“Is that right? Surely I didn’t sit there all night in that chair just being a bump on a log, could I? Was someone feeding me drinks?  Did I prepare all of my drinks, the two stout ones that I did have?”, still pondering as the water now reaches his crotch.

As time continues to pass further and further on, he continues to decipher the evening’s events.  Only to realize that he cannot remember the tiny details of the evening to be able to piece together any sort of proper timeline to be able to figure out what had gone wrong.

There was a new person there amongst the group; a new girl.  What was her name again?  Meredith?  Courtney?  No, wait; it was Angel, Angel Mareth.  A strikingly beautiful woman with long black raven hair, skin an olive complexion and a body that the world’s greatest models would sell their souls to have.  Her parents surely named her aptly, for as it does seem that she was a creature sent from the Heavens to grace Earth.

He remembers chatting her up, she seemed friendly enough and more importantly interested.  He also remembers her offering to make a couple of his drinks; a couple more than the two stout ones that he thought were all that he had made on his own.

“Could she have done something to those drinks?  Why would she do such a thing; that is, if she even did?”

At this point the water has reached his chest, with him still gripping the steering wheel and staring straight ahead, his eyes dancing wildly back and forth as if reading a newspaper very quickly.

He remembers just after saying his goodbyes to the group but just before getting into his car, she ran to him to personally wish him a safe trip with a memorable kiss.  A kiss that sent a chill through his body that caused the hairs on his arms to stand on end.  A kiss that was like no other that he had experienced before, a kiss for the ages.

The water has now reached his mouth and as he gasps for his next breath, his lungs are filled with the water.  He chokes and tries to spit out the putrid death that he has now inhaled, but it is an exercise in futility.  As he loses consciousness, all he can see is Angel.

Once he awakens, he is standing on the edge of the pond looking at the final gurgling bubbles coming from his still sinking car.  He looks to his side and there is Angel standing there, she smiles and extends her hand to him.  He takes it and they turn to walk down the dark road into the night.