The intersection barely had enough room for the two necessary lanes. The stoplight drooped from the wire threatening to fall at any given moment. In the dark, she could barely see color glowing down to the streets. Although four streets joined together, they were all deserted. She was the only one there. She assumed that at one point it had been bustling, but had long since worn away like the buildings that lined the street, left to rot. She couldn’t see a window that hadn’t been bashed in or a brick that wasn’t chipped. She could only imagine what the people who lived here looked like. If she let her wild imagination wander, she could almost see the tumbleweeds blowing down the streets like in the old western movies that she always used to watch with her father.
    She looked up to see a green light peeking through the darkness from the stoplight. She hit the gas, driving down the empty street. Her hands shook even though no one was around. She had been a nervous wreck recently.
    “Oh come on, we’re just going to the movie theater! There’s nothing to worry about,” her mom looked towards her and smiled. Amanda gripped the seat belt tightly by her throat, her knuckles turning way past white. Something felt different today, something felt wrong. It felt like something terrible was about to happen that she would never wake up from.
    “Amanda, there’s nothing to worry about. Nothing bad ever happens in this town. It’s almost too boring here!” Her mom laughed beside her and Amanda released the grip on her seatbelt slightly. She reached forward to turn on the radio just as they were about to pass a street on their left. Her mom blicked on her turn signal and started down the side street as another car suddenly appeared from behind them. He was going fast, too fast. He didn’t see them, he was going to hit them.
    Her mom frantically hit the gas and tried to turn onto the street but it wasn’t working. Amanda screamed and covered her eyes when the impact happened.
Screeeeechhhhh! The car screamed beneath her as she tried to brake before she hit him. The man appeared out of nowhere. He jumped in the middle of the street with a flashlight in hand. He waved it in her eyes, blinding her as she swerved and tried to not hit him. The brakes halted the car, lightly tapping the man on the legs as she came to a jarring stop.
Glass.
Adrenaline was pulsing through her system as the man started screaming at her. She couldn't hear him over the pound of her head, like synchronized drums. What was this guy thinking? Running into the middle of the road? Really? She had thought that this town was empty.
Shattered glass.
    He jumped over to the right side of her car and started waving his flashlight again, like a crazy man. She watched as another car, clearly speeding down the road in the middle of the night, thinking it was safe, rushed straight towards her.
    Shattered glass everywhere.
     Flashlight man was waving, screaming, crying at the other car. From inside of her car she could hear the other car’s brakes being squealed on.. She watched as the other car slowed down, but not enough. It managed to squeeze between her car and the curb.
    Covering her.
    She had to call the police, now, before they had a pileup on their hands. She grabbed her cellphone, punching in the number as her hand shook. The adrenaline, and just the whole series of events was making her a nervous wreck. She could not deal with this right now. She had left to clear her mind and forget everything, not end up in another mess. She should have realized that driving only made it worse.
    Suffocating her.
    As the phone rang and rang and rang, she started to calm down. She was finally able to get a good look at the man. He had dark brown hair, almost black, that was combed neatly on his head. He was dressed fairly nice, in comfort clothes as if he was planning for a long trip. Aside from that, everything else about him seemed frantic. There were creases on his forehead from stress. He seemed to be crying about something. His face looked pleading, begging.
    “911, what’s your emergency?” The person asked on the other side of the phone.
    “Um. There’s somebody standing in the middle of the road. He won’t stop waving his flashlight. We-we need help please!” She was shaking and the phone jostled around in her hand.
    “Okay, we’ll send someone over right away.”
    “Thank you,” she whispered as they hung up. She practically threw the phone onto the seat beside her.
    She threw her phone across the room. Before it could smash on the wall, her father caught it in his hand.
    “You should really take more care of this thing. It’s pretty expensive.” They both laughed and he placed it on the table beside the TV. He collapsed onto the couch beside her. “Why are you even here Amanda? You should be in class.” She folded up her knees in front of her and looked down at her jeans.
    “It’s just been hard to concentrate since…”
    “Since your mother died,” he finished for her. He reached his arm across her shoulder, pulling her in close. Her short stature helped her to disappear into his side, like a bug into a fluffy carpet. She had always wondered where she had gotten her height from, especially since her dad was the opposite of short.
“Look, Amanda. You can’t give up. She wouldn't let you do that. She would yell at you and give some inspirational speech about how everyone dies and tragedy happens. She would manage to make everyone laugh and you would get back up. I wish that I could do that, but I haven’t quite mastered that form of magic yet.” He twiddled his fingers in front of her face and she giggled, feeling slightly better.
    “Okay,” she said getting back up from the couch. “I’ll go back to campus. For her.”
    “Wow, I can’t believe that actually worked! Your mom really was on the right track with this stuff.” They both laughed as Amanda grabbed her phone and left the small apartment.
    When she got outside into her car her smile disappeared. She was done with putting on a brave face for her dad. She just needed to drive for a while to clear her head.
    The man in the second car clambered out, shaking a fist at the cause of all of this, the crazy man. He started yelling, his arms flailing as he tried to express his anger. Flashlight Man suddenly grabbed his shoulders, tears rolled down his face, the next one starting before the previous one could totally dissipate. The second man calmed down almost immediately. He walked over to her car, tapping on her windshield lightly. He motioned for her to roll down her window. She was shaking as she did so. Her anxiety wasn’t helping any of this.
    “This guy needs help. Can you call the police?”
    “I-I already did,” she responded, barely able to form a sentence. As he walked away she heard him mumble something like “maybe you should call an asylum too.”
She grabbed her shoulders and hugged herself to try to calm down. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. Eventually she calmed herself down enough to open her car door and climb out. When she emerged, the two men didn’t even stop their conversation to acknowledge her. She stepped over the cracked pavement and made her way to them slowly. Her brown hair had fallen out of it’s tail on her head and her sweatshirt hug loosely across her frame. Her sneakers squeaked on the ground and she joined them in their huddle of sorts.
    “What!” The second man exclaimed. He looked like a Ferdinand. Flashlight man just nodded, barely keeping himself together.
    “What’s going on?” she asked timidly. Ferdinand turned around to face her, pointing his finger at Flashlight man while gesturing wildly.
    “This guy thought that it would be a genius idea to jump into the middle of the street with a flashlight instead of call the police!”
    “Wha-Why did he need to call the police?” She was clueless. She had never been known for being a genius in school but she did okay and could follow along most of the time. Right now she was as lost as they come. Flashlight man spoke up just as Ferdinand was about to let out another outburst.
    “My daughter. I left the car for a minute to call my wife for directions. When I turned back…” He gulped and she could see tears coming back to his eyes. “She was gone.”