Scene 1 - Inter State highway
Patrol Officer: Hey! This is Sullivan, Patrol 21 from the Inter State highway. I have a burned down SUV, 10 miles from the over bridge. Do you hear me?
Control Room: Copy that officer. I am sending the paramedics and the forensics right away. Do you have an ID of the vehicle?
Patrol Officer: Jesus! Its fucking burned down. I don’t think the paramedics will be of any use. Send the forensics asap. I see three different boots with various degree of burns. All of them heavily burnt. The forensics should be able to give us a better insight on the number of casualties. We might have at least 3-4 dead people give or take.
Scene 2 - Elsewhere in the state
Car radio playing soft music
Rhea: If you want you can change the music. It needn’t always be my choice. I will get used to loud brats yelling on top of their voices.
Ryan: *smirks* It’s ok. I’m fine.
Rhea: *Stares out through the window*
Ryan: So what are you worried about? What’s eating you?
Rhea: Nothing.
Ryan: Nothing?
Rhea: Yeah! NOTHING.
*Minutes of awkward silence*
Ryan: Typical *Coughs*
Rhea: Excuse me! Did you just say ‘Typical’?
Ryan: Yeah! You heard me. You haven’t changed even a bit. Have you? You seem bothered but you are hell bent in keeping it to yourself. You have always been like this. You never say things face to face. If you’d done that, we wouldn’t have lost all these years you know. Unless you say things, how the fuck will I know? I am not a mind reader.
Rhea: Oh! Please Ryan. I can’t believe that you are throwing that on my face after all that had happened.
Rhea: And in what capacity you accuse me Mr. I-am-afraid-of-commitment-I-need-time?
Ryan: I’d just lost my job for god’s sake. I was broke. I was weak and I was worried about us.
Rhea: *Stares out through the window*
Ryan: So, tell me about Dave? Was he any good? How did he treat you? Given the pace at which things happened, I never really had the time to know him.
Rhea: You know what Ryan; I am not in a mood to talk about this right now. Can we talk about something else?
Ryan: Ok! Ok! Easy there.
*a brief pause*
Rhea: He was a Pig. When I first told him about you, he acted as if it was no big deal. He pretended to be Mr. Cool. But soon, he became one heck of a monster. He used to burn me with Cigar stubs *sobs*
Ryan: I’m sorry. Let’s talk about something else.
*a brief pause*
Rhea: No! I have to get it out of my system. There was no passion between us when we made love. All we had was meaningless sex. Over a point, we started doing it like yet another mundane chore. To top it all, he used to ask me if I thought about you when he was inside me. Insecure son of a bitch.
Ryan: Did you?
Rhea: Did you what?
Ryan: Did you think about me when you both .. you know..
Rhea: You are one sick bastard.
Ryan: Rhea, Come on!
Rhea: You wanna know it. You really wanna know it. At first, NO! I really wanted the relationship to work. I wanted to get back at you by sleeping with some bastard but after a while I couldn’t think about anything but you. The moments we shared. *shudders* Sigh! Oh! My god. Why am I becoming so cheesy? Promise me that you will never do this to me again.
Rhea: So how was Anne? Did you like her?
Ryan: Aah! Right from the first meeting I had this feeling that she was with me for my money. Then she started becoming hysteric, obsessive and loud. My god that women could shout or what?
Rhea: How sad are we? Huh!
Ryan: I need a break. We have a long road to cover. I am gonna pull over. Up for a drink?
Rhea: Since when did you start drinking while driving?
Ryan: For a while now.
Rhea: I will have one.. *Ryan interrupts*
Ryan: Extra-large JD with Ginger ale.
Rhea: You remembered.
Ryan: You are the best and you deserve the best.
Rhea and Ryan sat on top of a hillock sipping their drinks and gazing at the sun hiding behind the mountains. The weather was unusually cold that evening. The hillock was quiet and serene except for the sound of the wind gushing across. She held Ryan’s arm and she closed her eyes.
Ryan: What if we had never met at the super market?
Rhea: *Looks at Ryan*
Ryan: Do you think they both deserved to die?
Rhea: Why are you doing this to me Ryan?
Ryan: Do what?
*a brief pause*
Rhea: With all the cigar burns that I bore, yeah. That sick bastard had it coming.
Ryan: What about Anne? I could have asked her to sign the papers. Throw in some bucks as alimony, you know. Anyways, she loved me only for my money but to burn her to death. Was it really necessary?
Rhea: I can’t live with the constant fear of you having another woman in your life and the possibility of her wanting to get back with you. I never stopped loving you. I never want to lose you again Ryan. Promise me that.
Tyres screech as they both start their journey ‘Again’ with a long road ahead and a painful past.
Note: No matter what happens, we humans don't have the right to take other's lives. And like always, characters mentioned above are purely fictional.
~ Cheers.!