I feel my head ricochet off the window before the car begins to flip, and everything goes dark.
Atlas
My phone starts ringing right on schedule, except it’s not Maizyn’s name flashing on my phone. It’s some unknown number, so I ignore it and let it ring until it goes to voicemail. It‘s probably just a work call.
If it’s important they can leave a message, and I’ll respond to the call in the morning during business hours.
She left my house three hours ago. Usually on her way back here by now.
Just as I go to see if she texted me, I get a notification from my banking app saying my credit card was used, the one I gave her.
I chuckled to myself as I checked the transaction history.
Lucky’s Sports Bar– I should’ve known. She managed to rack up a $150 tab. That’s impressive, even for her.
She was definitely drunk and probably got a ride home. Whatever, if she doesn’t come back tonight, she’ll be back tomorrow.
It’s always the same cycle.
I wasn’t going to wait for her.
I had to work in the morning and didn’t have time for her weekly drama.
∞∞∞
I woke up the next morning to the ringing of my alarm. Still nothing from Maizyn. She’s probably still sleeping off a horrible hangover.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept most of the day, I wasn’t going to waste time thinking about it. I go about my normal routine then head into work.
I greet my receptionist as I head into my office. It’s not a traditional office, more of a room with an abundance of computer screens. This is my work space. Any meetings I’m forced to take in person are held in the board room down the hall. No one else, other than Gavin, is allowed in here.
I’m filtering through potential job requests to see if anything requires our immediate attention when my phone rings.
“Torres Security, this is Atlas.”
“Uh yes, this is Corey. I work down at Lucky’s Sports Bar. Um, we just wanted to inform you that we have your credit card here. A woman came in last night and opened a tab with it but she left prior to closing the tab…We are only able to hold it for 24 hours before we have to destroy it.”
“Thanks Corey, I’ll be there later today to retrieve it.”
I exhale as I slam the work phone down. She always had to make shit difficult. She was so drunk, she couldn’t even remember to bring my card with her. I fired out a text to her letting her know that she forgot my card, when I noticed the voicemail notification from last night’s call that I forgot about. Might as well listen to it now.
I expected it to be work related, someone inquiring about our services. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. Maizyn’s voice cracked as it came over the speaker.
“Hey Atlas… It’s me. I know you don’t want me in your life anymore. While that sucks, I will respect that, because you’re right. All I ever do is fuck shit up. I make life messy for you and you don’t deserve that, so I’m breaking the cycle. I won’t come back this time. All I ever wanted to do was love you but I can’t even do that right. So this is…”
Her voice trails off before there is an audible gasp followed by the sound of metal colliding, and glass shattering right before the voice recording ends.
Something in my chest breaks as the phone slips from my hand. I’mfrozen in place for a few moments, trying to comprehend what I heard.
Was she driving drunk?
What the fuck happened?
After a few minutes, the shock wears off and I spring into action.
I fire off an SOS text to Gavin and then I call her. The phone doesn’t ring, going straight to voicemail meaning it’s probably dead or worse.
Gavin storms in with his laptop as I try to think of what to do next. Normally I’m fine under pressure, but something has me shaken.
