Free Story Friday part 2

You get two for the price of one!

Watershed

by G Dean Manuel

This is part of a contest. Click here.

It was a night like any other. My friends and I had had many of these nights. We were on Mass. St. in Lawrence. It was the one of the hot spots on a Friday night. I was finally twenty-one. Woohoo! Legal, right? I will be honest, I was the best student. I wasn't horrible but I certainly didn't apply myself like I should have. I wasn't outright failing any classes but there were some pretty low mark. My class load was a joke. I was going on my parent's dime, so I didn't care.

Anyways, we'd been bar hopping. We were in the Granasty with its thumping techno music. The place was basically rave-light. Dizzying lights, a sea of undulating bodies, and easily accessible drugs and alcohol. Basically a layabouts wet dream. I was grinding on some chick, never caught her name. She didn't look particularly present. I didn't know what she was on or did I really care. She was just someone I could dry hump. Maybe even hook up with in the bathroom. I was a bit of a ass back then.

Anyways, the night was finally winding down and my friends wanted to head back to our spot. It wasn't much but we were college kids with our own apartment as sophomores. Life was good. My friends had apparently rounded up several girls that wanted to our place and keep partying. Most of them looked cute so I was down. The girl I had been grinding on was long gone. She had disappeared and never showed back up. No big loss there.

Life can change in matter of seconds. My friends were crossing the street when an older Asian lady stopped me. She laid her hand on my arm and asked if I would be kind enough to help her across the street. Now, I may have been many things but deep down, I had been raised with manners. I felt compelled to help her out. My friends hadn't even noticed as I typically walk at the back of our group. My friends had started across and I was busy helping the old lady gather up her bags, there were quite a few.

My friends were nearly half way across when it happened. Drunk driver out of nowhere. Clipped my friend Gary. Brushed him really. He was thrown forward but escaped injury. Then it dawned on me, a thought that would haunt me for weeks. Something that would change the course of my life. Gary was at the back of the group... If I had been walking with them, the man would have hit me head on. That would have been it. Sayonara me. I would have been a road pizza in the middle of a dingy street.

The old woman snapped me out of my shock when she said I should check on my friend. I jumped into action. Gary was all right. When I turned back, though, the older Asian lady was gone. None of my friends had seen her, they hadn't been paying attention. They thought I was just too drunk.

I couldn't get her out of my head or the thought that I could have been dead. I wasn't sleeping. I went to classes but I was only half there. My friends didn't understand but then they hadn't seen there death!

Two weeks after the incident, I changed. Started studying in earnest. Taking myself seriously. Dressing better. Eating healthier. I never looked back. Graduated, got a job, got a house, got a raise, got a girlfriend, got a bigger house, married the girlfriend, promotion, kids, bigger house...

My friends don't believe that she ever existed but I know she does. I've never told anyone beyond them this story. People would just think I'm crazy. That little old lady not only saved my life; she changed it for the better. What is really freaky is that I think she meant to.