Dissatisfied at not seeing what she was looking for, she used her two hands to pull on her leg. Still, she could not move. She reached forward and grabbed a frame of the upturned car. She held on tightly to it and pulled. Still, she could not get her leg free.
She stopped struggling and tried to get her breath. With one free hand, she wiped away the blood that was streaming down her injured forehead.
She did not need anyone to tell her where she was.
She vividly recalled that she had been seated behind the driver as their SUV was speeding down the road.
“Boy, aren’t we going to have a wonderful time at the beach today,” she could recall saying.
Her other companions, all of them female, were laughing excitedly.
“And why are you laughing at me?” she asked.
“Since when do you know anything about having fun, Carol? You are always engrossed in studies,” one of them said.
“Now that is really not true. I do make time to relax,” she replied.
“Really? Okay, tell us when last you took time off your studies to get some rest? I mean to unwind and just have fun?”
Carol thought for a while.
“Like, seriously? You need to think about that?” one of the other girls asked.
“It’s not like you are writing a test back in school, you know,” another said.
“Well, what about today?” Carol replied.
“Today? What do you mean today?” the girl driving asked.
“Well, I am hanging out with you guys today, am I not?” Carol noted.
The driver turned around to glare at Carol. “Don’t be ridiculous, Carol. How can you count today? Do you mean that before today you cannot remember when last you relaxed?”
“Please, my mind is really muddled. And you’d better keep your eyes on the road. You’re driving, remember?” Carol protested.
The girls all burst out laughing again.
“Now what is it?” Carol asked.
“You said that I’d better keep my eyes on the road because I am driving,” the driver repeated.
Carol frowned. “What is wrong about that?”
The driver turned around again. “When last did you drive a car, Carol? What makes you think that my eyes are not on the road?”
“Please, please, stop this kind of joke. You are driving, for goodness’ sake!” Carol protested. And then the other girls began to scream.
Their sudden shouting jolted both Carol and the driver. As the driver turned around to look at what was the cause of the scream, Carol searched the road ahead of them.
They had just taken a bend and were coming out of it. At the speed they were moving, none of them had seen the huge tree which had fallen across the road. It seemed as if it had just appeared out of nowhere.
But it had not.
Assuming that their driver had been watching the road, she would have seen it long beforehand and taken the necessary steps to avoid it.
But she had not.
Frantically, she tried to apply the brakes. But it was already too late for that. They were already much too close. The collision that followed was inevitable. As their SUV hit the tree trunk, it lifted into the air like a skateboard. In the process, it began to spin and summersault.
The SUV then landed on the road and began to roll over and over again until it stopped rolling and remained upside down.
Carol had been awake all through the entire incident. She had witnessed everything. The shouting, screaming, clawing, and crying. And now silence.
She shook her head again, as if trying to clear her mind of the thoughts she had just had.
“Hello? Is anyone there?” she called out again. Still there was no response.
And then she heard it.
It sounded like water running out of a container. And it was hitting the road not far from her.
She strained her ears to listen again.
Yes, it sounds like water, she thought.
But, what kind of water would it be? she wondered. And in the middle of a road?
And then she saw it. It was streaming down the road towards the car. It was pouring out of the engine in front of her.
And that was when she realized what was happening. Because the car was upside down, it was probably water that was leaking from the engine.
Or was it?
The stench odour of petrol soon began to fill her nostrils. The odour was so strong that she began to choke. Involuntarily, she began to cough.
And then she heard it.
It sounded like someone had turned on a gas cooker. Fearing the worst, she turned to see the fire that had started somewhere at the back of the car.
No one had to tell her what was about to happen. There was fuel surrounding the whole car and there was now a fire burning in the back.
She was going to be burnt alive.
The realization of her impending fate seemed to give her sudden strength as she began to struggle again, trying hard to break free from whatever it was that was holding her leg down.
But the more she struggled, the more she realized how futile her efforts were.
And that was when the tears began to stream down her face.
It is hopeless, she thought. She knew that she was going to die.
She looked around. It was obvious that all of her friends were either unconscious or dead because of the accident.
They were not going to be alive to witness their bodies being incinerated. But she was. And the mere thought of it frightened her even more than the rapidly approaching flames around her.
“Please, someone. Anyone. Help me. Please,” she cried softly.
“Is anyone alive in there?” a voice asked.
Surprised and shocked, Carol began to struggle again and scream. “Hello! Yes, I am inside here! Please, help me out! Help!”
“Just hold on a moment!” the voice called again. By now, she could see that she had already been surrounded by flames. The putrid smell of burning flesh confirmed her worst fears: her friends were already being burnt inside the car.
Suddenly, she felt something or someone grip her arm. The smoke was already too much, obstructing her visibility. She began to cough as she was being dragged out forcefully. At one point she had to scream out again as her previously stuck leg broke free from the obstacle that had been holding her down.
Soon, she had been dragged free from the burning wreckage. From that distance she could see the upturned SUV burning away, as the hungry tongues of flame devoured it with so much fervour.
“It seems like you were the only one that made it out alive,” the voice said.
She could still smell the odour of burning flesh as she nodded. “None of them was responsive,” she managed to reply.
“That is just too bad. Who were they?” the person asked.
“My friends. My best friends from school. I cannot believe that they are gone, just like that,” Carol muttered.
“Bad things happen all the time, miss. You should be grateful that you are still alive.”
She shook her head. “How did you find me?”
“I heard your call for help,” the person replied.
“My cry for help?” she repeated. “Was I crying for help?”
“Well, it was more like a prayer for help,” the person replied.
“A prayer?” she repeated. At that moment, she turned and looked up to see who her rescuer was.
For a man, he was quite tall. He was wearing a dark suit, a dark pair of trousers, and a black hat on his head. Because he was standing and towering above her with his back towards the sun, it was not possible for her to see his face. The black hat with wide brim was shielding his face from view.
Although she was immensely grateful, she could not understand something about the man.
“Who are you?” she asked as she tried to make out the features of the person standing next to her.
“Someone who just saved your life, Carol,” the man replied.
She gasped. “How do you know my name?”
“I know a lot of things, Carol. A whole lot of things indeed,” he replied.
“But I never told you my name. How come you know my name?”
“You amuse me, Carol. I have just granted your wish, and all you are bothered about is why I know your name.”
“My wish? What wish are you talking about?”
“Your wish to be alive, Carol.”
“My wish to be alive?”
“Yes, Carol. Or maybe you can call it a prayer. Whatever you choose to call it, I heard you, and I came as you wanted. Or are you not happy that I came?”
Carol shook her head vigorously. “No, no, no. Don’t get me wrong. I am happy. I am just confused. I just wish my friends made it out as well.”
“They couldn’t have. None of them called out for help. None of them was alive.”
“How did you find me?”
“I was passing by.”
“Passing by?”
“Yes, we always pass by such incidents. You know, to find out if there are any survivors. Especially those in need of immediate assistance.”
“Okay. You are with one of the emergency service providers?”
“Emergency service providers? Well, you could say so. At least I was able to rescue you without any delay, didn’t I?”
“I am grateful to you, sir. What is your name?”
“Don’t worry about my name, Carol. I’ll soon be around to see you.”
“Wait, are you going to leave me here all alone?” Carol asked. When she heard no response, she looked up and saw that he had gone.
She turned and began to look around. There was no vehicle on the road whatsoever.
Who was he? she kept on asking herself until the ambulances, fire service, and police cars began to arrive at the scene.
Soon, she was being carried onto a stretcher by some medical personnel. Eventually, tired and exhausted, she closed her eyes and everything went black.
CHAPTER 2 The flickering of the fluorescent light was what woke her up. As she sat up, she shielded her eyes from the glare of the light.
She was lying on a white bed inside a white room. Everything she could see was white. The walls, the windows, the floor, the chair.
The chair?
There was someone seated on it.
“How are you feeling, Carol?” the person asked. Carol squinted and tried to make out who it was.
But the glare from the flickering fluorescent was effectively blocking out her vision. “Who are you?” she finally asked after giving up on guessing the person’s identity.
“A friend,” the person replied. “A friend? All my friends are dead,” Carol replied flatly.
“Yes, we know that already. But you are still alive. And you should be grateful for that, Carol.” “Grateful to whom?”
“To me, of course,” the person replied.
She spun her head around and took a closer look. Yes, it was him again. The same person who had rescued her from the burning SUV. “You again?”
“Please. Don’t make me feel unappreciated,” he said, adjusting the wide-brimmed hat on his head.
“You left so suddenly back then. Why?” Carol asked.
“I had to because I was not needed there anymore. I was required elsewhere.”
“Elsewhere?”
The man nodded. She could tell he was nodding only from the motion of his head and hat. For some reason, his face still remained hidden from her view. “There was someone else in a situation which was similar to yours.”
“A situation that was similar to mine?”
“Yes. Someone had a wish to make.”
“A wish to make?”
“They wished to live and not die off.”
Carol sat up in the hospital bed. “What do you mean? Please, who are you really?”
“But I’ve told you before, haven’t I? I simply make people’s dying wishes come true.”
Carol blinked. “You make dying wishes come true? But how is that possible?”
“How is that possible? Well, how about the fact that you were not burnt alive, just like your dead friends? Is that enough to convince you that I am real?”
“I don’t know. Why do you go about making dying people’s wishes come to pass?”
“Because I am mandated to do so. At a price, of course.”
“A price? What do you mean ‘at a price’?”
The man chuckled for the first time. “Come on, Carol. Even you should already know by now that nothing in this life is free. Or don’t you know that?”
Carol nodded. “I do. But what has that got to do with your rescuing me?”
“Everything, Carol. Everything has a price.”
“I am still confused. What is the price of rescuing an accident victim like me?”
“Another life.”
“Another what?”
“Another life, Carol. Another life would be required to replace yours.”
“But how is it supposed to be another life? I mean, as the cost of rescuing me?”
“It’s simple, Carol. When you made your request, you were at the verge of demise and dying. And at that moment, somewhere, your soul was being expected. When you make the wish and it gets granted, another soul would have to be sent to replace yours that is no longer coming.”
“Soul? Expected soul? What is all this supposed to mean?”
“You are indebted, Carol. You owe them one soul. Either yours or any other person’s.”
“But wait, I never entered into any deal with anyone. How come I now owe whoever it is a soul?”
“You still don’t get it, do you, Carol? When you make a wish for life at the point of your imminent death, you must make arrangements to submit the soul of another person.”
“But I never knew about this arrangement!”
“That is what a lot of people say when they are confronted with the reality of the situation. However, ignorance is not an excuse, especially when it has to do with such matters as life and death.”
“I think this is all crazy. And what if I don’t do whatever it is that is expected of me? I mean, what if I refuse to get the soul that you are speaking about?”
“That is simple. The previous status quo is restored, and you would be faced with the situation that would have led to your imminent death.”
Carol chuckled. “Now I know that all this is really nothing but nonsense. Faced with what stupid situation?”
“The situation that would have led to your imminent death,” the man repeated.
Carol shook her head vigorously. “That is impossible.”
“Is it, Carol? Do you really think it is impossible?”
“Of course it is impossible. How can you suggest that I would be faced with the same situation? You mean that I would be stuck in the SUV again, or what?”
The man did not say anything. Rather, he raised his two hands and clapped thrice.
“What are you clapping for?” Carol asked.
Immediately, there was a sudden gush of wind. Carol felt the room begin to spin all around her. The walls, windows, furniture, and even the bed on which she lay all appeared to have been sucked into a vortex or a whirlpool. The experience was unnerving and frightening for her. She held on tightly to the edges of the bed, fearing the worst that was about to happen.
And just as suddenly as it started, everything suddenly disappeared.
Carol blinked and turned to look around her. It was as if she had just woken up from a deep slumber.
Where could she be? she wondered as she looked around.
She tried to get up, but discovered that she was stuck in a twisted and uncomfortable position.
She squinted and tried to focus on something, anything at all.
That was when she gasped. She was upside down.
She freed her hands and felt around her body until she caught the seat belt around her.
Carol could feel the coldness and chill of fear as she suddenly realize
d where she was. She was back in the upturned SUV, the exact spot where she had been not too long ago.
The spot where she had been saved by her unknown rescuer.
“No, no, no, this cannot be happening!” she cried, struggling and tugging at the seat belt. But even as she struggled, she could not help but notice the sickening feeling inside her stomach. She knew that it was going to be futile. She was not going to be able to break free.
And then, like a movie which had been watched over and over again, she watched helplessly as the events she already knew so well began to unfold.
She heard what sounded like water dripping in front of her. She looked around and saw it soak the road ahead of her and begin to trickle down. In time, the odour would envelope the entire interior of the car. The unmistakable, choking odour of fuel. And then, there would be a loud
whoosh as a fire would be ignited from somewhere at the back. And then the putrid smell of burning flesh would hit her nostrils and she would begin to choke on the smell, as well as the smoke.
By now she was crying and wailing. She knew what had just happened. Somehow, she had been transported back in time, back to the same spot where she had last been – the scene of the accident.
There was no point trying to find out if any of her friends had survived. She already knew that they were dead. And she was about to join them if she did not act fast.
By now the tongues of flame were already encircling her. Carol closed her eyes. “Please, help me. I need your help. I am sorry. Please help me out of this situation,” she cried softly.
“Are you sure you want to live, Carol?” came the response.
Immediately, she opened her eyes. She tried to look around but the smoke and fire were getting into her eyes, stinging her in the process. She coughed and struggled as the flames were catching up with her.
“Yes, I want to live. Please, get me out of here! I don’t want to die like this. Get me out. Please!” she cried.
“Okay. Hold on a minute. I will get you out right now,” the voice replied.
But rather than be pulled out like the last time, Carol saw that she was suddenly back inside the vortex. The SUV, the fire, the smoke, everything around her was now spinning around very quickly. She grabbed onto her seat belt and closed her eyes tightly.
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