Electric Impulse

chapter 41 | damsel in distress, waiting room VI

My car won't move forward. I'm confused as I press the gas. I need to keep moving but the tires spin with no results. My car still works fine, but the tires, they're spinning in midair.

What's going on?

Looking down a few feet at the ground, I try to gain perspective. I'm sitting pretty high. This weird angle is very scary. Glad I wore my seat belt. How in the world is this possible? When I look left, at Phoenix's house, fear penetrates every cell in my being. I've got to get out of here! This must look crazy! Sirens ring inside my head. To my right is the condo community and then, it dawns on me; I've driven my car onto one of the boulders that sit at the entrance of the parking lot! These boulders are tall! My car is suspended at least four and half feet in the air!

This will not end well! You're in serious trouble!

My car is suspended at a forty-five-degree angle, over four feet in the air, at the parking lot entrance, directly across the street from Phoenix's front door! Flashes of heat travel through my body as I sit here not able to fully wrap my head around what I've gotten myself into. I'm so embarrassed. I could die right here. Dying would be easier than living through this.

God, please don't let his neighbors come out! Please don't let anyone leave their house right now. Get me out of this, please!

Try rocking the car, maybe the tires will gain traction and you can drive right off this rock.

I put the car in reverse.

Good. We're moving back.

I break, then quickly put the car in drive.

OK. We're moving forward. Now do that faster!

I do it again, this time faster. Too bad I end up the same place I started. Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Maybe a kind neighbor will take pity on me and help me.

It's two in the morning. What neighbor is gonna get out bed to help you, you big dummy!

It's worth a try! I have to do something! Phoenix can't find me like this!

I jump out of my car and ring the first doorbell I see. I wait impatiently tapping my feet. This is urgent! I bang on the door, hoping someone will come. No answer. I go to the next condo. Ring the doorbell. Wait. No answer. I go next door. Ring the doorbell frantically. Wait. No answer.

God, please help me!

For the next hour, I ring the doorbell of every house in the entire neighborhood, save Phoenix's house and not a single person answers the door. I'm toast! Phoenix is an early riser. He'll be up soon!

What to do? What to do? What do you do?

I call Mia. I call Penelope. No answer from either one of them! I pop the trunk and pull out my jack.