As Fate Would Have It

Tracy St. Clair, Brittany Jungck, Chris Hewitt

Shit Happens
By Tracy St. Clair

Mary was glad that it was finally Friday night! She knew exactly what she was going to wear to the Singles Nite Out Dance at the Elks Club. She took a quick shower, shaved her golden tan legs, and put on a tight red dress with a plunging neckline. She looked in her full-length mirror to check herself out.

I look pretty hot! Now I need to do something about these nerves. Men are like dogs; they can sense fear. Mary, you need a dose of liquid confidence and courage, so you will be able to attract the great looking smooth ones. I will be ready to dance and carry on; they will never know what hit them! She raised her eyebrows, smirked at the mirror, grabbed a beer, and applied an additional layer of lipstick and mascara.

It was time to go. She grabbed another tall beer and her purse with her wallet, cigarettes, and her long coat. She wiped the snow off her shiny red Toyota Celica coupe and sped off. She was pumped and hopeful that this would be the night she would meet Mr. Right.

It was around 8:30, and it would take her around forty-five minutes to get to St. Cloud—maybe more due to the snowy weather. By that time, the dance would be underway. From experience, she had learned to be a little late, aiming not to come across too anxious or too hard up, and yet early enough to get a chair at a table, a place to keep her coat and purse. She hoped her sacrifice of driving through the nasty weather would pay off.

She pulled out another cigarette, and sang along to “You’re So Vain.” Her mind flashed back to the past men she had met throughout the many years of determination. Overcome with disgust, she recalled all the men that she had given a night of sex, only later to find there was absolutely no chance of a relationship. She couldn’t understand. Why couldn’t she get a man that was handsome, funny, sexy, and would be good to her, able to commit, have things in common with her and would spend weekends antiquing? She marveled on what a good package she had to offer to a man Why hadn’t she found someone with the same package—there has to be a man out there for her—tonight may be the night where her life changed forever!

As she was driving through snow-covered streets in the small town of Angelton, she detected a burning odor. Glancing down she saw that her cigarette had burned down too far. She turned on the overhead light and noticed some ashes had fallen on her silk dress and burned a hole. “Shit!” she yelled as she simultaneously slid on the slippery street. Screech! Her body quickly jolted from the impact on the passenger side. “Shit!” She said again—not believing what just happened!

Oh my God, what should I do? I can’t go back. I’ve been drinking! How much damage have I done? Did anyone see me hit that car? How can I go to the dance now—my car is bashed and my dress has a hole in it!

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When You Get Tattooed
By Brittany Jungck

Mindy watched the road in the rearview mirror as she carefully applied a fresh coat of Mary Kay’s latest shade. It wasn’t her favorite, but it was the only thing she could find in the glove compartment. Her mom really needed to open a Cosmo once in a while, but this is what she got for taking the family minivan on a road trip.

All of a sudden the van shook, and Laura gasped from the passenger seat.

“Keep your eyes on the road, lady,” she said as she smacked Mindy on the arm. “That’s the second time you biffed the curb.”

“Gimme a break,” Mindy responded as she rolled her eyes and cleaned the lipstick off her teeth. She tried to focus a little harder on the road, though, because she saw that flurries were falling again.

They were on their way to an adventure that they had been conspiring about for months. Their parents fell easily into their plan. After all, some of the best colleges were upstate. But Mindy and Laura weren’t going upstate. They were going to Angelton, a suburb a few miles outside the city.

“What street am I looking for?” Mindy asked.

“Um…I think 9th…the guy said that it is next door to Harry’s Foods, and if we get to the school then we have gone too far,” Laura answered, “Have you decided what you are going to get?”

“I think a lightning bolt on my shoulder. What about you?”

“I’m not sure. I want to see what they have. Something that I can hide, though.”

They found Ink Addiction with little trouble and were in and out in less than an hour. Laura was pumped about the heart she got on her thigh, but Mindy was having a little bit of buyer’s remorse. “Are you sure it looks, okay?” she asked her friend as she took off her jacket and slid the strap of her tank top off her shoulder. She revealed the sharp outline of a two inch gray lightning bolt, outlined in black, and a little swollen.

“It looks fantastic!” Laura reassured her friend, “Are you sure you are going to be okay to drive?”

“I am sure I’ll be f...” but before Mindy could finish her sentence, she felt her head jerk forward and the next thing she knew, a warm liquid was spilling down her face. The steering wheel was harder than she thought. She tried to look around to see what had hit them, but the only thing she saw were the tail-lights of a sports car.

“Oh my God, Mindy! You’re bleeding!” Laura gasped from the passenger seat. She was unharmed. The driver’s side seemed to be the sole source of impact.

“I’m fine,” Mindy reassured her friend as she grabbed a wad of McDonald’s napkins from the floor and pressed them to her cut. All of a sudden, the reality of the situation hit her, “Shit! What are we going to do? What I am going to tell my parents? They just bought this van a couple of months ago!” she panicked.

“Maybe the damage isn’t that bad. Let’s see…,” Laura offered.

“Okay…” Mindy agreed as she yanked on the handle and kicked the door open with her boot. Although it was pretty dark, the girls could tell that they weren’t going to avoid punishment. There were red streaks down the entire left side of the vehicle and the door was pretty caved in.

“God…I can’t believe this…And that asshole didn’t even stop!” Laura commented, “Here…you probably need this…” she added, as she handed her friend her cell phone.

Mindy took a deep breath and dialed the number to her house… “Hi, Mom…It’s me…Umm….You probably aren’t going to like this…”

Laura felt uncomfortable eavesdropping on her friend, so she gave Mindy some space. I hope we don’t get in too much trouble for this; I have a date with Adam tomorrow night. I wonder if Mindy will tell her parents about the tattoos? She better not sell me out! What is that guy with the beat-up truck staring at? It looks like he wants to come over. I hope he doesn’t. He looks kinda creepy. God, my toes are numb. I knew I shouldn’t have worn these shoes. It’s starting to snow again.

She was shaken out of her daydream by the sound of plastic hitting the ground. Laura turned to see Mindy lying, unconscious, in the street.

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One Dark Night
By Chris Hewitt

Max flipped up the collar of his hand-me-down leather jacket as he got out, picked up the small duffle bag off the seat next to him, and locked his weather beaten pick-up. It was one of the coldest nights in recent memory. The snow had stopped falling about an hour ago, but there were still a few short bursts of wind and sleet, as if the storm was trying to get a little more out before the end. He had driven thirty minutes north of the city into the small town of Angelton. He parked in the local school parking lot and began to walk along the road of the little town. “Well, I didn’t come here to admire the scenery,” he thought to himself. The school was about three blocks from his destination.

He wandered through town for about an hour; he looked around and laughed to himself as some children were playing in the deep snow in front of a house. It was almost eight o’clock, but it was a Friday night so there wouldn’t be school tomorrow and the children could stay up late. They slept better that way. I wish it didn’t have to come to this, but welfare doesn’t work as well as they think, he thought. I am already working twenty hours a week and trying to finish high school and we still don’t have enough money to pay the rent and put food on the table. Ever since Dad was shot, he hasn’t been the same. Those DAMN PUNKS. They are the only reason things are as bad as they are. If they just hadn’t run, if they hadn’t shot at Dad he would not be this way, and I wouldn’t have to be here. I guess fate isn’t without a sense of irony. Max was walking down the side street that would take him to the back of Harry’s Foods. He grasped the handle of his father’s old, police issue Berretta. The grip felt cold and icy in his hand, a feeling that bled through his weather beaten leather gloves. It had never been fired at a person before, and Max hoped it stayed that way.

When he arrived at the back of the store, it was getting close to nine o’clock. The store would be closed. He dropped his duffle bag and pulled out a beat up ski jacket, ski mask, ski goggles, and some thick gloves. Putting them all on, he deposited his jacket in the bag. Please let everyone be gone. That way no one gets hurt, he thought to himself as he started to pick the lock. He heard the latch click and slipped in, leaving the bag outside.

The lights were dim, and the back door led into a back office. No one was inside; he breathed a sigh of relief and slid the handgun inside his pants pocket. He carefully searched around and found the day’s earnings in a zipper bank bag in a desk drawer; he could break the lock later. He slipped the money into his bag outside and left. He changed his coat, removed his mask and placed them both in his bag as he started the trek back to his truck. As he got back to his truck he tossed his bag into the passenger seat and was just about to climb in when he saw a little red car clip a big mini-van. The little car bounced of the van like pool ball on the edge of a pool table. It paused for a minute as it came to a stop, then it took off. Max shrugged, It is winter, asshole! You need to slow down, he thought to himself. Then the driver-side door opened and a teenage girl spilled out.

Max sprung up and out of his truck, but then froze. His eyes darted to his truck, then back to the girl now climbing to her feet. What would he say if he stayed? Why shouldn’t he just leave, she didn’t look that hurt. He felt the wind pick up. If he was going to do something, it had to me now.