Short Story 1 by GG

THE HORRIFYING ROAD TO PEACE
A SHORT STORY BY
GARY GREENFIELD

“I love you” were the last words Lisa’s mother heard from her. Lisa didn’t hear any
response, as her battery died on her cell phone right at that moment. That precious
moment when hearing the words, “I love you too,” would forever be a source of comfort,
warmth, and inner peace. Lisa quickly plugged her phone into her car charger to get
some life back to her phone, but it was too late. About forty seconds after the call
dropped, Lisa’s mother was struck in an intersection in her door by a seventeen year old
that just had to get that text out to his girlfriend. Lisa’s mother died instantly upon
impact. Lisa will never hear the words, “I love you too,” from her mother. That fact
devastated Lisa. Her saddened thoughts turn at least once daily to, “Why didn’t I have
enough charge on my battery that day!”
Now that her mother is gone, Lisa has stepped into the roll of caregiver for her aging
grandmother. Her older brother can’t do it as he lives on the east coast in Philadelphia,
2,600 miles away. Lisa, twenty one, is a genuinely good person with a kind soul who
deserves only good things in life.
Lisa routinely makes trips to the pharmacy which is located inside of the grocery store
which makes it a lot easier for her. One evening Lisa yelled out, “Bye Grandma. I’m
going to the store to pick up your prescriptions and some dinner. See you in about
twenty minutes.” Lisa stepped into a pair of flip flops, grabbed her car keys from the
kitchen drawer, and walked to her old small car in the cracked driveway of her
grandmother’s house. She was a bit cold as the season had recently changed from
summer to fall, and the night air had somewhat of a cool bite to it. Lisa felt she wouldn’t
be outside much on this short trip so she didn’t take her jacket. Besides, she lived in
generally warm Southern California.
At the store, Lisa picked up a ready to eat roasted chicken and a bag of salad. She
walked to the pharmacy area and waited at the counter. The pharmacist approached
and said, “Hey there Lisa,” as he handed her a bag of three medications. He added,
“Lisa, I don’t know how you do it. Caregiving isn’t easy! You’re one of this world’s good
people. Tell your grandma not to forget to take all three medications on time, its
important!” Lisa nodded her head and replied, “Thanks, I’ll make sure she stays on
schedule.” As she exited the store a man from the Rescue Mission asked Lisa if she
could donate anything to help the homeless get back on their feet. Lisa reached in her
wallet and placed a five dollar bill in the donation can. She doesn’t have a lot of money,
put she figured somebody probably needs the five dollars more than her.
As she was exiting the driveway, she looked left and saw that an approaching pickup
truck was far down the road so she made a safe right turn and headed home. Her mind
turned to looking forward to dinner, and perhaps a fun board game with Grandma. Her
focus got interrupted quickly, as she looked in the rear view mirror at the high beams of
the fast approaching truck. The truck was speeding recklessly, traveling about seventy
miles per hour in the posted thirty five zone. It didn’t take long for the truck to catch up
to Lisa with the excessive speed it was traveling. The trucks driver continuously flashed
the high beams and activated the horn in one steady honk for several seconds in an
aggressive manner. Looking in her rear view mirror Lisa could tell that the driver was a

male, maybe in his early thirties, wearing a baseball cap backwards on his head. Lisa
waived her hand intending to communicate to the angry driver she was sorry if she did
anything wrong, which in reality, she didn’t.
The truck was now just a few feet behind her, definitely tailgating, while flashing its high
beam lights. Lisa suddenly got chills as her fear level grew rapidly. She thought the
driver of the truck would not go away until he seeks some sort of vengeance that lives in
his angered brain. Lisa picked up the pace to gain some distance between the two
vehicles, but she was driving a sixteen year old, small four cylinder car. The truck’s
driver easily caught up with Lisa and was obviously following her, and mad. The driver’s
actions caused Lisa to feel cold to the point of shaking as her fear level was now very
high. Not knowing how to get out of the situation, she started to cry.
She did not have Blue Tooth in her car so she reached for her cell phone that was on
the passenger seat. She dialed 911, but as the 911 dispatcher was asking what the
emergency was, Lisa could not say a word. Before she could explain her plight, she
suddenly felt an impact to the rear causing her to drop the phone on the passenger
floorboard. Lisa frantically reached for the phone but her outstretched fingertips just
moved the phone under the passenger seat, completely out of reach. Her body
trembled with fear as she said to herself, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” She made a
quick right turn onto the canyon road that heads into the mountains hoping, actually
praying, the curves would slow the truck down.
As Lisa rounded the curves, the truck seemed to gain even more speed, as several
times her rear bumper was struck. “Is this guy for real? Is he trying to kill me because
he feels I cut him off? What kind of person does this?” Her question was answered as
the truck struck her right rear corner as she rounded a right curve, causing her to go out
of control, running over bushes on the narrow dirt shoulder. She regained control as
she crested the mountain, seeing the Pacific Ocean and the lights of Malibu on the
other side. As she tried to speed away, the truck kept pace, with the crazed driver
flashing the high beams and honking the horn.
Lisa felt if she pulled over to say she was sorry to have angered the man, his out of
control anger could lead to her death. She kept going, and she kept crying. As she
raced around a left hand curve, the truck accelerated and struck the rear of Lisa’s little
car hard enough to guide it over the cliff. Lisa’s car rolled over twice and came to rest
upside down about one hundred feet over the cliff, with its right side being supported by
a large tree that saved Lisa from tumbling another four hundred feet down. It looked as
if the tree stopping her car did not really matter as Lisa lied motionless behind the
steering wheel, bleeding profusely from several points on her head.
The man in the truck pulled over and got out of his car, but his violent soul kept raging.
Although Lisa’s car was badly damaged and over the side of the cliff, he reached behind
the driver’s seat and pulled out a shotgun. He placed a shotgun shell in the firing
chamber by raking the slide, which is a sound pretty much anyone would recognize.
Although Lisa did not die in the crash, she was near death, about to lose consciousness

due to internal bleeding. When she heard the sound of the shotgun being loaded, Lisa
yelled to the man in one last effort to save her life, “Please! I didn't mean to cut you off!
I am so sorry!” Her attention was quickly diverted from the man by the now visible
flames coming from the engine. Lisa yelled, “NO!” as the flames worked their way
closer to the passenger compartment with each passing second.
She unbuckled her seat belt and attempted to crawl out of the now broken driver’s side
window of her upside down car. Although in tremendous pain from the crash and
fearing the crazy shotgun man, she tried to move but something was holding Lisa back
from leaving her seat. She looked at her right leg and saw that a jagged plastic piece of
the dashboard about seven inches long had lodged into her right thigh, with the other
end still attached to the rest of the dashboard. Tears ran down her face as she said,
“Grandma, I love you. Mom, I may be seeing you soon.” Lisa felt she was about to
pass out, but mustered up enough energy to one last time, try to free herself from at
least the burning car. She took a deep breath and leaned hard towards the driver’s
window area hoping her bodyweight would help free her leg. Her leg moved a few
inches towards freedom but she could not get her leg completely free. At this point the
flames had entered the cabin, and Lisa burned her left hand as she swatted the flames
away from her face. She thought of giving up, and the pain level and exhaustion told
her to, but only for a moment. Despite the extreme pain, she tried one last time, pulling
away from the dashboard as hard as she could, screaming in tremendous pain, but
freeing her leg and rolling through the window onto the ground.
She rolled away from her car, ending up on her back on the dirt hillside. The flames
rapidly engulfed the interior, and in a matter of seconds, the whole car was on fire. The
excessive bleeding from her leg injury coupled with internal bleeding caused Lisa to
shake uncontrollably from the onset of shock. Lisa heard the crazed man’s footsteps
get closer as the leaves and small plants underfoot got stepped on. The man got to
within twenty feet of Lisa and shouted in an angry tone, “You will never cut anyone off
again!” Lisa looked to the right and saw one of her flip flops in the dirt, thirty feet away.
She looked to the other side and noticed the bag of Grandma’s medication laying in the
dirt a few feet away. The site of the medication gave Lisa a little energy, and hope, but
she had nowhere to run, even if she wasn’t injured. She was shaking so hard her teeth
chattered intensely, and it felt like ice was in her arms and legs due to fear and shock.
The truck driver walked to about ten feet of Lisa as he raised the shotgun. Lisa said to
herself, “Grandma, I tried,” and closed her eyes in anticipation of the shotgun blast. She
heard a loud shot ring out and then she heard nothing, felt nothing.
Within a few seconds, Lisa heard a sound. “Lisa, Lisa,” the voice called out as she felt
a hand on her shoulder. She thought, “So thats what God’s voice sounds like.” She felt
God was talking to her as she crossed into heaven. Lisa again heard her name and
then felt the hand on her shoulder shaking her, attempting to regain her consciousness.
Lisa was able to only open her right eye, as she suffered a big cut above her left eye,
which was now swollen shut. Through her barely open right eye she saw the shine of a
police officer’s badge. Her face made a slight smile which is all the pain would allow for,

as a tremendous sense of relief came over her. Paramedics arrived on scene and
transported Lisa to the hospital.
Lisa was rushed into surgery where doctors were able to remove broken glass, metal,
and plastic from her abdomen, and more importantly, stop the internal bleeding. They
also gave her one hundred and thirty three stitches to close her thigh wound. The next
morning the on scene officer met with Lisa at the hospital. He explained the gunshot
she heard was his, just prior to the crazed man about to pull the trigger of his shotgun.
The officer further told Lisa the 911 dispatcher was able to track her through the GPS on
her phone, and respond the closest officer to her location. Lisa said to the officer, “I am
sure glad my phone didn’t drop the call.” Lisa’s mind immediately raced to the thought
of when her phone dropped the call, unable to hear, “I love you too” from her mother
right before she died. That old familiar feeling of sadness came over Lisa until a few
minutes later, Lisa’s next door neighbor Mark, arrived in Lisa’s hospital room escorting
her grandmother. Lisa’s face lit up and she had an overwhelming sense of happiness
and love in seeing her grandmother, which she truly thought she would never do again.
The police officer advised Lisa he went to her grandmother’s house last night and told
Grandma about the incident. He also contacted neighbor Mark who kindly stayed with
Lisa’s grandmother last night, and gladly agreed to care give until Lisa’s brother arrives
in the afternoon from the east coast. The officer told Lisa he saw the bag of
medications laying on the dirt hillside, and gave them to Lisa’s grandmother so she
would have them and stay on schedule.
Lisa could not thank the officer enough for saving her life and for making sure her
grandmother was okay. She also asked the officer to thank the 911 dispatcher for
staying on the line and coordinating the police response that saved her. The officer felt
warm inside, knowing he did a great thing for a person he didn't even know. He smiled
and replied, “Glad to help Lisa! Glad to help.” He continued, “Oh, I left the chicken and
salad in the wilderness. It probably wasn’t worth saving, and I am sure a needy animal
enjoyed the free meal.” The officer gave Lisa a smile. The officer turned towards the
door to head out, and after a couple of steps turned back around.
The officer said, “Oh, Lisa, I don’t know if this is important, but I found this envelope
next to your car on the hillside. He pulled a small white envelope from inside his jacket
pocket, and handed it to Lisa. Lisa’s eyebrows raised with a look of confusion as she
didn’t remember having any envelope in her car. Lisa said, “Oh, okay, I don’t know
exactly what it is, but thank you.” The officer said, “You’re quite welcome, get some
rest,” as he left the room. Lisa’s grandmother said, “Yes, you should rest dear. Mark
and I will visit you later.” After getting a kiss from Grandma and a hug from Mark, Lisa
was alone in her room to rest. Lisa put her head on the pillow and almost fell asleep,
but curiosity got the better of her. She sat up slightly and opened the envelope. Tears
poured down her face as she read a note written on a small piece of paper, in
handwriting that was unmistakable. Four words appeared, “I love you too!” Lisa smiled
and looked through the window to the blue sky with a few puffy white clouds and
whispered, “Thanks mom, I needed that!” Lisa continued smiling and drifted off to sleep

with a warmth in her heart, and thoughts for a wonderful future that just last night, she
wasn't sure she would live to see.