Waving frantically at the street car as it passed by, I felt utterly alone.  That was the first one I'd seen in hours. My car, my pathetically old car, had broken down miles away.  Walking alone deserted streets at four in the morning was no way to spend your first day of freedom.

I was going out of state to live with a friend. Now, without a car, getting to the bus station was my only hope. I had to get away from my family. I just had to. Where did that land me, though?  In the middle of a deserted city street miles from home, with nothing more than a dead cell phone and an almost empty wallet.

I had seen people on television get stranded by their cars, but never thought that would happen to me.  Now I knew what it was like to feel alone, vulnerable, and weak. 

As I began walking along the darkened street again, I heard the loud sound of a gunshot behind me.  And the last thing I remember was the clattering of my skull on the asphalt.  Not how I intended to die. But, who gets to pick those cards?

Matthew Shuemake [Longmont, CO] has been writing for several years. Shuemake always had an interest in writing, as well as other things. Visit Matthew at his myspace page: www.myspace.com/vahn_caskin

© 2008 Matthew Shuemake. Original for CCF (Shuemake grants CCF first electronic rights for one month; CCF may archive the material indefinitely and include it in an eBook anthology).