Part Six: Your number is UP

Part Six:Your Number is UP

"SEEEX Sissty Seex!!!"The voice hailing the number from the scratchy Jack in the Box speaker was angry now. I turned to see if anyone was going to get the order.
Fuck it. If no one was, I would.
I wanted to get out of there. Something was very wrong about this place. It didn't feel right. It was as if I were somewhere else. I had experienced the exact feeling once when I was 5 years old. I was saved from drowning in Lake Whalom. One minute I was swimming, the next I was lying in a bed with people staring down at me. They had these blank looks on their faces. I had no idea where I was, or how I got there.

"Remember what I said about Heaven Rick? That it was a fleeting moment in time?"
I nodded. I was about to barf.

"That Heaven is on the edge of reality, in your dreams?"

"So what? Why should I fucking care about Heaven? I came here for a fucking burger and curly fries!" I was angry.
Angry and fucking hungry. I wanted this conversation to end.

"Before I tell you why you should care, answer this question. Did you see your girlfriend in that crowd of faces?"
I thought a moment. I did see her face. Hers lingered longer than most.

"Yea. I did, so what? I'm drunk and the power of suggestion...." He interrupted me.

"She was waving to you wasn't she?"
I thought a moment. She was waving. She was smiling, but looked sad. I thought about all those faces again, they were all smiling and waving!

"Whats going on here?" I didn't feel right. It was Lake Fucking Whalom all over again.

"SIX SIXTY SIX!!"The scratchy speaker sound went away, the voice was clear and without accent.
I got up, I was going to get that food and drive the fuck out of there. Pronto.
Bradley grabbed my arm. His grip was hard and strong.

"NO!" He shouted.
"That's not meant for you. You're not going there." He said sternly.

"Going there? What the fuck are you talking about?"
I looked around the parking lot. People were pointing at me, staring. I couldn't hear them. I looked at the street adjacent to the Jack In the Box. I couldn't hear a damn thing. It was so quiet I could hear my own breathing, and I was breathing heavily.

"Think about it Rick. Think about your drive here. Did anything happen on the way?"
It flashed in my mind.

"Yea, I passed an accident, so what?"
I wanted that food. I didn't care, I knew that If I ate something I'd feel better. Then Id go home and lay on the floor all drunk and stupid. And when the world stopped spinning and I was done hurling the burger and curly fries into whatever receptacle was near, Id lay in my bed and sleep this fucking nightmare off.

"Did you look at it? What did you see?" Bradley was more insistent now.

I thought a moment. I remember seeing a white truck. As I passed, I felt dread.

"Some poor shmuck hit a semi, he drove a white truck like mine, it's all I remember."

"How much like yours?" He looked directly into me. I felt his eyes bore into my head.

"I don't fucking know, almost.."
I saw a picture in my mind of the truck, it was white, and had a roof rack.
It hit me suddenly and without warning.
I stood up from the table to get a better look at the parking lot.
My truck was parked there alright, it looked fine. From my vantage point I could see the back. Something looked different. The front of it looked...
Dented.
A breeze lifted the fog from the parking lot, the drizzle subsided, I could see clearly now, the rain has gone.
The front was completely demolished. No one could have driven that truck here. No one could have lived had they been in the accident that caused that much damage!

"Rick, its time to break through the bullshit now."

"Seex sissty seex!" That fucking speaker again!

The food was still stuffed in the box. Suddenly, two very drunk staggering men brushed past me towards the box.

"Fuck it man, lets take it! I'm sick of waiting..." One of them said to the other, they grabbed the food and ran off.
I watched them disappear around the corner, a bright red flash lit up the street from the very corner they turned. It was followed by two bloodcurdling screams.
Then it was silent.

"Sees seexty sefen." The voice was calm now.

"Is this place what I think it is?" I was frantic. It couldn't be! I sat down on the bench.
Bradley looked at me and smiled.

"Your number's up Rick."
Bradley pointed to my receipt. It read 667.

I calmly got up, handed the receipt through the lock box and walked to my steaming broken truck carrying my bag. The beer was still right where I left it. As I ate, I began to feel better. I would sleep soon, I felt it coming on slowly. I looked in my rear view mirror. Everything was disappearing into the slowly descending fog.

I started my truck. Heaven was nearby, I felt it. Maybe not the Heaven I was led to believe would be waiting for me. It didn't matter, I knew exactly where my Heaven was.
It lay under a sliver of a moon.
I would be there soon, just another bite. I tapped my Rolex for the last time, still 3AM. I looked down at my digital clock on the dash. The dashboards green glow pulsed 3AM.
It all fell into place now, it seemed the more I realized, the less I cared. I sipped my beer and turned the ignition on. I could hear the next order over the scratchy speaker fade away slowly.

"Sees sessty ate..." .