Angel Unchained

Samantha:

Music blasted through the old 21st century car speakers, thumping against my chest as we diverged through the streets.

I pasted on a smile and hoped it didn’t come out as a grimace while the extra-terrestrial student driver beside me whizzed down the road.

Please don’t crash, please.

My boss made a killing taking credits from aliens wanting to learn how to drive old-timey human cars while visiting Earth. Me? I mostly got migraines and near heart attacks. Too bad I was only a human and not a Tronx with three hearts. 

“Turn left at the light,” I said, hoping to get this training session done quickly.

Suburban homes and scattered trees dotted both sides of the road. Which would be more enjoyable if we weren’t blaring music and skating too close to the speed limit.

“What?” the Nebobite teen shouted over the song. His second set of ears twitched while the fur on his hands stood up like a scared cat. He had white tufts of fur that ran down his back and across his shoulders and stuck out through his spacesuit. His pin-prick pupils set in bright yellow flicked to me and a smile showed off his double fangs. 

I flipped off the radio for the third time and tightened my seatbelt. “Left at the light.” 

The Nebobite jerked the wheel, not even looking in the rearview mirror, cars honked, and brakes squealed behind us. The scent of burning rubber filled my nostrils. I made the sign of the cross over myself with jerky movements. 

The intersection light ahead of us switched to red, but he wasn’t slowing down. 

“It’s red!” I shrieked, bracing myself. My foot stomped on the invisible brake pad. Damn Mr. Simmons for not paying extra for dual controls in this vehicle, or at least an extra brake for the instructor—me. 

Then again, I had this job because Simmons didn’t like robots or automated cars. Both were trying to take over his business, and he feared losing money if the nostalgia of old Earth waned. Tons of aliens even made replica homes and lived in swaths of villages, like Volt City with its imported trees and cut roads. Shops dotted the outside of town with brick houses twisted through the inner core. Cloned flowers lined the artificial grass, because not everything had been saved with Earth’s destruction during the great wars. Bethel was as close as scientists had found to mimicking Earth despite its two moons and purple-colored oceans. Tourists pushed the economy here, including living as a human for a week rentals and learning to drive a car. 

“Left is okay on red, right?” Izon asked in a mocking tone like he was testing me and not the other way around. 

“No, no, no.” I hung onto the door as the vehicle slung wide, one of the back tires bumping into the curb. Two Bjoms walking their knee-high lizards jumped backward. Their shrill cries as they waved their fists at us pierced the air and I covered my ears. 

Once we were far enough away from the Bjoms, I lowered my hands from my ears. The Nebobite teen straightened the wheel and we blasted down the road.

“Watch your speed,” I managed to croak out, but with him humming loudly like he couldn't care less, I had no idea if he heard me or not. 

Pedestrians jumped back onto the sidewalk instead of using the crosswalk. My stomach lurched into my throat. I'd had bad student drivers before, but Izon was setting a new bar.

“I’m good at driving, huh, Ms. Clemmons?” He smacked his chewing gum, staring over at me. 

“Eyes on the road.” All six of them, I wanted to add, but being rude to the clients never worked out for me. Once I had enough money, I could be my own boss, and wouldn’t have to bend my ideals for a paycheck. 

“You know, you’re pretty for an old lady.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Too bad you’re not teaching flying spaceships, like the X90.” 

Old lady? I huffed. I was twenty-six. But I guess to this sixteen-year-old, I might as well be eighty. Wasn’t his fault. I remembered being that young and thinking that thirty-year-olds were ancient. 

“You got nice legs and bigger boobs than my kin—” 

“If you talk about any part of my anatomy again, I’m going to forbid you from taking this test ever again, Izon.” Aliens were trouble and I’d known too many friends who were left high and dry by one or two-night flings. Fucking a human was considered a right of passage, something to brag about, but these same ones refused to marry our kind. 

I straightened, clicking the pen on to mark X’s on his driving, though he had already failed by my standards before the come-on. What was it with my love life? The only men interested in me were either married or too young, like my student here. I had to have a neon sign over my head that said: Any unavailable men, here I am. Just once, I wanted to meet a guy close to my age who was available. Besides, love wasn’t real. It was a made-up notion by sentimental humans because if it did exist, I’d have stumbled at least to the edge of the abyss long ago. 

I glanced up at the road and a ball darted in front of us. A little boy raced after it, not even looking.

My heart slammed into my throat. 

There’s no time to warn him. 

I reached over, yanking hard on the steering wheel. No way could I reach the brake pedal from my seat. Izon yelled, fighting me, but I held on. The car slid sideways, throwing us into a tailspin. 

“Brakes, brakes!” I screamed, swerving again. 

Izon jammed his foot on the brake. We jerked back, the tires screeching, but we were going too fast. The car skidded right, then left. But we weren’t stopping. Oh god! Why weren’t we stopping? At this speed, we rushed toward a streetlight. 

Had we missed the kid? Oh, God, oh please, oh please let us have missed him. 

The streetlight rushed closer and I knew we weren’t going to stop in time. I had to relax or the wreck would make my injuries worse. But my arms and legs had locked up. My breathing was high and stuck in my chest as we veered sideways. 

The car smashed into the pole on my side. Metal crunched and my window shattered. Glass sprinkled across me.

The airbag punched me in the face and chest. I smacked my head against the side of the door, pain whipped through my skull. 

A rippled effect warped through the car and my body was flung back and forward against the airbag.

Sharp pain exploded all over my body, then everything went dark. 

Samantha:

From somewhere beyond the pain and blackness came a swishing sound. It was bright behind my eyelids, and I ached all over. Then everything came rushing back into my mind. Izon driving. The wreck. 

I opened my eyes to a stark white room and beeping machines. My mouth tasted like dried jerky. The scent of super cleanser choked the air and groaned as a wave of dizziness and nausea flooded me. 

A nurse checking the machines beeping beside my bed, gave me a small smile. “Glad to see you’re awake, Ms. Clemmons.” 

“What happened?” I licked my dry, cracked lips. “Oh, my god, the kid…is he okay? The one who ran out in front of us.” I couldn’t bear it if something had happened to him. My chest tightened. 

She placed her hand on my wrist, then stared at her watch. “The child is fine. A little shook up from the near-miss, but no injuries.” 

I squeezed my eyes shut, letting out a sharp breath. Stupid Simmons! If I had an upgraded car, this wouldn’t have happened. Never mind that this job was the only one I’d been able to keep in the past six months. Waitressing hadn’t worked out. I could never balance the trays of drinks and food, constantly dropping them on customers or the floor. Retail made me want to kill people. And blood and guts made me want to barf, so being in the medical profession was out. Teaching aliens to drive ancient human vehicles had paid the bills until now. 

“It’s that teenager you should be worried about.” The nurse typed in some numbers on the small laptop in the room, which I guessed she was making note of my elevated blood pressure. 

“Izon?” I scrunched up my face because I was never getting in any motorized anything with that alien again. “But he was driving and the car hit on my side. Other than soreness, he should be fine.” 

“I’m not talking about that.” She closed the laptop and went to the door. “Why don’t you rest? I’m going to go get you some medicine for your blood pressure. Are you allergic to anything?” 

I shook my head, and stopped when the room started spinning from the movement. “No.” 

“Good.” 

“What’s wrong with Izon?” I searched my mind for any injuries he might have sustained from the wreck. “Is he here in the hospital too?” 

“No, he was fine, minus some aches and pains. Got discharged already.” She made a face like she’d licked bitter m’kons. “No, it’s him and his folks you gotta watch out for.” Before I could ask what she meant, she continued. “Seems like they’re suing you and your company for the wreck and his emotional trauma.” 

“What? That’s crazy.”

* * *

Three months later, I had to go to trial about the accident and putting Izon, who was driving, in danger. I ended up in an even worse predicament than before.

My lawyer was sweating so bad I offered him my scarf. 

Izon was dressed in a suit and wouldn’t even look at me. His parents, both lawyers and well-paid by their attire, rattled my two-cent pro bono attorney.

“Mr. Simmons, your employer, has given evidence that he had required all driving teachers to use the state-of-the-art vehicles complete with an automated robot that can sense an accident before it happens and act accordingly.” The prosecuting attorney wrinkled his brow, causing his swollen eyelids to open wider, revealing his double-iris eyes. 

“What—that’s not true,” I said, standing. 

“If the judge would permit my client to speak—” My lawyer wrung his four hands, dabbing at his sweaty forehead with the fifth. 

“Overruled,” the judge waved me off like I was an irritating bug. 

“If Ms. Clemmons had listened to him and taken one of the newer cars, this wouldn’t have happened,” Izon’s mom continued. “Our Izon wouldn’t have sustained a neck injury that gives him daily pain.” 

I let out a bark of laughter. “Daily pain? I have a metal plate in my freaking hip because he wasn’t watching the road.” Not to mention physical therapy and weekly Beta zaps that I had to pay for out of pocket. 

The judge smacked his gavel on his desk. “You do not speak unless asked a direct question.” 

I wanted to leap over and slap Izon and his entire family’s smirks off. Even Mr. Simmons was sitting on their side and I wondered how much they had paid him to side with them against me. “What about the kid he almost mowed down? I hel—” 

“That is enough,” the judge shouted, spit spraying out of his mouth. “I’m ready to make my decision.” 

“No, you can’t,” I said, ignoring my lawyer tugging at my arm. “What kind of judge are you? I haven’t even taken the stand yet.” 

“I’ve heard and seen plenty.” The judge scowled but gave Izon a nod. “These are upright citizens and you put a student in mortal danger.” 

“That’s not my fault. He was the one driv—” 

“I think you will learn your lesson on Xerlon.” 

“No! Y—You can’t.” There were horror stories about that prison on a far-off planet. My knees wobbled. This time, my lawyer yanked me down hard into my chair. 

“Stop, before they send you somewhere worse,” my lawyer snapped. 

Again, the judge smacked his stupid gavel on the desk, the sound vibrating through my bones. “You will pay out your debt in full.”

And just like that—my world and all that I knew—ended.