Hit and Run

“No, mom, you don’t understand! I lost everything!”

I can barely hear her tinny reply through my phone as I reel from what happened. How long have I been walking? It’s already dark. I feel like I’m about to be mugged with every dreary alleyway I pass.

“... Matteo? Matteo!”

“Sorry, mom. I have to go. I-”

I was cut short by an eruption of light and sound in front of me. I fall back and drop my phone landing hard on my left side. Shit! I think I sprained my elbow. I struggle to my feet and look at the wreckage strewn across the intersection in front of me. I see an oddly relaxed-looking man sitting behind the wheel of one of the mangled vehicles. I run to him, but before I reach him, something draws my eyes. Instead of a steering wheel in front of him, there’s a curved surface covered in strange, weaving designs. I force my attention back on the man who’s trying to remove some sort of seat belt so he can get out. I grab onto it and pull to try and free him.

Then, like a switch flipped, the man’s eyes flash with burning rage as they lock onto mine and he growls, “No.”

He shoves me back. I trip on a piece of wreckage and fall once again on my left arm. This time I know it’s sprained. Damn it! I get back up and I’m about to say something when there’s a crack like a gunshot and a flash that renders me temporarily blinded. I scream with frustration as my vision clears.

“I’m trying to help you, you...”

As I say it, I notice that the angry man, his car, the other car, all the wreckage is gone. Am I losing my mind? No, that definitely happened. It had to. The road is scorched with streaks of black from the collision. I look around to see if there’s anyone else who saw it. A horn suddenly blares behind me.

A wild-looking old man screams at me from the car. “Get out of the road!”

I realize that I’m standing in the middle of the intersection so I hurry onto the sidewalk. My heart is pounding in my chest. I take a few deep breaths to try and calm down. I turn to the sound of approaching footsteps from around the corner. A beautiful, dark-skinned woman runs up to the intersection and looks around confused.

She spots me and asks, “Did you see anything?”

Struggling to find the words to describe what I saw, I only manage to stutter, “There was- And then it- I…”

“I heard something that sounded like a car crash, are you okay? What happened?”

She gazes at me and the empathy in her eyes breaks me out of my haze.

“Sort of. Hey, you wouldn’t be able to give me a ride, would you? I wouldn’t normally ask a stranger for a ride but I’m new to town and my car was stolen this morning, along with my wallet.”

“Sure,” she says with a little hesitation in her voice. “As long as you have a bit more story to share.”

“Yeah. Totally,” I say, just grateful that I don’t have to walk past another creepy alleyway.

As I follow her, I find that my hand is gripping the strap of some kind of satchel. It’s a few moments before I realize where it came from and how I ended up holding it. I recall trying to pull a seatbelt free from the man in the wreckage. I never let go, despite being pushed to the ground and spraining my left arm. Turns out it wasn’t a seatbelt at all.

I get into the passenger side of her car and realizing I haven’t introduced myself yet, I reach out with my right hand and say, “I’m Matteo.”

She shakes my hand and responds, “Luna. So let’s hear it. I love a sob story.”

“I don’t know if I’d call it a sob story,” I say before I tell her all about my unfortunate day.

I told her about how my car had been stolen and how I had accidentally left my wallet in my car, leaving me without any money for a cab. Then, as I told her about the accident that I witnessed, I found myself recalling unusual details about the cars involved. Like how they might not have been cars at all. They didn’t have tires or anything that looked like it was meant to make contact with the ground. Both vehicles looked like something out of a sci-fi film. I avoid some of these details in the telling so I don’t sound like a UFO conspiracy theorist.

“... and then there was a crazy bright flash of light and everything was gone except for some scorch marks.”

“Damn. I’d say you’re nuts, but I definitely heard it go down, so who knows what happened. Oh, and sorry about your car. That definitely sucks.”

For the rest of the car ride, we joke about it, almost giving it up as a shared delusion. Topics shift into less meaningful ones and I find that I like this girl. By the time we arrive outside my crappy apartment, I have her number in my phone. I walk upstairs, mind swirling with thoughts of this girl a little more than the absolute clown show of a day that I had.

Once I reach my apartment, I walk in, lock the door, and carefully set the satchel on my table. So much for being a delusion. How else did I get this? I unlatch it and open it up to find nothing but a small, leather-bound, black book. Heart pounding with anticipation, I open it up.

Every page is covered in strange handwriting. None of it is English. I’ve never seen a language like this at all. Interspersed amidst the writings are drawings and diagrams of strange, indiscernible things. Then, as I turn a page, I notice something to escalate the strangeness factor. One of the drawings, a complex, asymmetrical symbol, seemed to move when I turned the page. I flip back and watch it for a minute. Nothing happens. I rub the symbol with my thumb and my heart skips a beat. The image distorts, parts of it following my thumb in a strange rotating pattern.

I slam the book shut and walk into my kitchen to grab a beer, hands shaking. Thinking better of it, I put the beer back, grab a bottle of whiskey and pour myself a double. I down it one go and take a few breaths. As my chest warms from the liquor, I pick the book back up and flip to the page with the symbol that moved under my touch. I swipe my finger across it, watching as the symbol shifts and swirls. The symbol looks as though it was drawn with ink and it’s definitely dry. This shouldn’t be possible. It makes no sense at all. I wonder again if I’m losing my mind. I push the thought away. I take my finger off of the symbol and I watch as it slowly resets itself into its original shape.

A thought strikes me. What if I can move the symbol into a symmetrical form? After a while, I manage to bring it into something that resembles an intricately designed archway, and the image locks into place. It begins to glow blue and I can hear a strange warbling sound.

In front of me, where normally I’d be looking into my small kitchen, I gaze into a vast landscape scattered with vegetation that’s all the wrong color. I step from my apartment’s carpet onto some sort of crimson moss or grass. I look up and see a sky of gold with a large reddish sun hanging over the horizon. Did someone spike my whiskey?

Against my better judgment, I shut the book, put it in my back pocket, and wander into the otherworldly landscape. I see many trees with strangely reflective leaves which seems counterproductive to me. How can something so mirror-like absorb sunlight? I pluck a leaf and gaze at my own reflection. The surface adds a blue tint to the world it reflects. I stare at it for a while and then I see something that makes me jump to the side.

Searing pain lances my back. I turn around to see, in full clarity, a man holding a sword. The same man I tried to pull from one of the burning sci-fi cars. This is how he thanks me for trying to help him? I see a slight glint of red on the end of the blade from when it nearly split me open. I turn and run.

I pay no attention to where I’m going and I don’t spare any time trying to look back. I run until I’m so tired that I nearly fall over. I spin around to try and glimpse my pursuer. I can’t see him anywhere. I’m surrounded by a forest of mostly the reflective trees that I was looking at before. To my left, I can see a clearing and within it, there’s some sort of large mass. After a few moments, I realize it’s some sort of cabin constructed from the surrounding trees. An animal walks out from within the cabin. It resembles something like a really small bear with scales instead of fur. Despite the odd mashup, it actually looks a lot less fierce than a bear. The creature looks in the direction from which I came and I see what it’s looking at. The man caught up.

Out of breath and unprepared for further flight, I hide behind the trunk of a very large tree. Listening carefully, I hear the creature make a throaty call. Then, the man responds in a similar way and I realize that the creature is talking. Talking! I venture a peek through a bunch of leaves. They exchange more strange words and the creature begins to back away. It looks scared. In the blink of an eye, the creature is bisected at the waist. I quickly pull all the way back behind the tree as the creature wails in its death throes. Time slows as my mind races, trying to find a way to escape.

“Ah! There you are! Come on out! I can see you in the leaves!” the man jeers.

I look up and see the man reflected in a leaf. Knowing I don’t have the energy to run, I step out from my hiding spot.

“What do you want? Why are you trying to kill me?”

“The book. Give it back.”

I reach for my pocket but it’s empty. Shit! I’m screwed!

“I- I dropped it back there!” I stutter and point.

“Whatever,” the man says and raises his sword to kill again.

I fall back and cover my eyes, waiting for death. A swooshing sound. An agonizing second of nothing, and then a thump. I open my eyes, alive, and see the man on the ground beside me, headless. Above me is a hand reaching out to help me up.

The hand belongs to a kind-looking man without a weapon. He looks ageless, with golden hair that faintly suggests luminance. He radiates power. I reach out to let him pull me up. Suddenly, I’m back in my apartment and I look to see the portal closing. The book lays on my table with an envelope on top of it.

Inside the envelope is a note that says, “Thanks for the help. You seem like a trustworthy guy so I’m leaving you the book. Keep it secret. Keep it safe. I sent you something for your trouble. Check your bank account. -The Wanderer.”

I can’t help but laugh at the reference as, with hands trembling, I open my banking app and sign in.

“Transfer from unknown. $20,000.00”