THE FAST LANE

Sorry to say this is not fiction.

Kent’s eyes blinked open to see the ceiling of his dormitory room. In a fog, he lay there taking stock of the reality that was slowly ordering its self in his befuddled brain. Things weren’t right, but his mind was not able to wrap around what was wrong. One thing for sure was Kent’s body was aching from head to toe and he still had his clothes on. Gingerly he rolled onto his side as his body screamed out, “Don’t move!! Please don’t move.” Again he blinked his eyes open to see a small twig, not three inches from his face. “What the f**k,” was the only thought his ravaged mind could come up with. Cautiously he pulled the covers back and painfully titled his head forward to view the length of his body. From head to toes he was covered with dirt, twigs, and bits of grass. Again all he could come up with was, “What the f**k!” Completely baffled, he lay there in a daze straining to piece together how he came to be in his present condition.

 

Tijuana, Tijuana…that name Tijuana slowly emerged from the dark recesses of his bewildered mind. “Oh yea, went to TJ last night.” The rest was a complete blank. Tijuana had a knack for bewildering the mind of young college students. Only a week before one of Kent’s male friends woke up in his room after a night in TJ with a pair of women’s panties on and had not a clue how that phenomenon came to pass.

 

Tijuana was a place where it could be very dangerous to lose control of your faculties. Earlier that school year a young coed from Kent’s university was involved in a serious auto accident in Tijuana. She died two days after the accident. Before her parents could retrieve her body they had to pay two thousand dollars. When they finally got their beloved daughter back she still had on the clothes she was wearing during the accidents. Makes you wonder what kind of care she got in the hospital before she died.  

 

Kent gingerly swung his legs over the side of his bed and immediately felt the blood rush out of his head. Now dizzy and disoriented he layback down as the ceiling twirled over his puzzled mind. After a minute or two, he attempted the same maneuver again, this time with more success. Bracing himself against the wall he managed to navigate to the communal bathroom. Looking into the mirror a stranger stared back at him through two blackened eyes. For the third time, Kent thought, “What the f**k!” Not only did he have two dark shiners, he still had on one shoe, his pants were torn, and there was congealed blood on his shirt from a wound on the left side of his neck.

 

As he stood there reeling, Tony entered the bathroom and took one look at Kent and was in awe that he was able to stand considering the condition he was in. Gingerly, Tony helped Kent back to his bed.

“Damn Kent you’re a mess. Do you know where your car is?”

 

Kent looked at him and at first was too confused to speak. He finally managed to squeak out, “No.”

 

            “Well my friend, your car is presently on the hill coming down from the gym upside down, looking as if it had rolled over several times.”

 

Kent couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He had absolutely no recollection of rolling his car the night before. In fact, he had no recollection of anything from the day before other than he had been heading for TJ. Obviously, Kent had come home stinking drunk, rolled his car, and then managed to crawl out of it and maneuver his ravaged body to his dorm room bed. The university I attended at the time had zero tolerance for consuming alcohol, so Kent had a distinct possibility of being kicked out of school hanging over his head. One of our other classmates, Allen, had already been kicked out that semester for having a souvenir bottle of wine in his room that still had a quarter inch of wine at the bottom. Despite the merciless policy of the university, Kent managed to eek by and was not booted from school. There was no way to prove Kent had been drinking despite the fact his car was sitting a hundred yards from his dormitory bed upside down.

 

Kent’s story does not have a happy ending. Despite being a great guy, he had demons he was not able to control. He was obviously ans alcoholic, but heroin is what killed him at a very young age. 

Reviews

[Barbara Walker]

THAT is scary, waking up and not remembering what happened. Happened to me one time and to say it was disconcerting is putting it mildly! It's sad that kent couldn't get control of the demons. Happens to too many good people.
You told the story well. Just a few edits with syntax and diction-
first paragraph- "itself" not its self, ..."from his face" not form his face.

Third paragraph- "clothes" not cloths.

Last paragraph- "an alcoholic" not and alcoholic.

Great write!