IT WAS JUST BEFORE EIGHT O’CLOCK BY THE TIME I ARRIVED at Monica’s house. She finally came to just as I reached her front lawn. She had plenty of questions but I didn’t have many answers. I lied and told her that I caught her just before she fell over the edge of the roof. I could see the skepticism in her eyes, but luckily she didn’t remember much of what happened because she must have hit her head when I threw her back onto the roof.
She was still somewhat disoriented but she was healthy enough to convince her parents that she was fine once I walked her inside.
Mr. Stripling insisted on giving me a ride home. My heart sank as he revealed that his SUV was in a body shop for repairs. As we approached his replacement rental car, a two-door compact sedan that looked more like a baseball cap than a vehicle, I suggested we take Dr. Kate's car instead. Her sedan was twice the size of the rental car so I felt that it would be better suited to handle my weight.
Mr. Stripling laughed off my suggestion and keyed his way into the car. Once inside, he reached over and unlocked the passenger door. As I took my seat, I couldn’t help but laugh at the car’s manual locks and roll-up windows.
“I didn’t think they still made cars with roll-up windows,” I said.
“Hey, it’s all the insurance company would pay for,” Mr. Stripling replied. “It’s not quite as powerful as my truck but it gets me from point-A to point-B just fine.”
I sank back into my seat and tried to relax as Mr. Stripling started the car and pulled out of the drive way.
“She seems to be running kind of funny,” he mentioned under his breath.
“What do you mean?” I asked hoping that he didn’t realize that my weight was affecting the car’s performance.
“It’s nothing. The car just seems to be lagging and pulling to the right a bit. I guess one of the hamsters in the engine must be taking the night off,” he said, laughing at his own joke.
I released a silent sigh of relief as I assured myself that he didn’t realize that I was the reason the car was lagging.
Every time I was around Mr. Stripling, I couldn’t help but wish I had a father like him. He never really said much but I could tell he didn’t mind having me around. It honestly felt like he cared more about me than my own father did.
“So, you and Monica have been hanging out quite a bit lately, huh?” Mr. Stripling suddenly asked.
“Yes, Sir. We’re in a lot of the same classes together.” I couldn’t think of anything else to say. Even though I liked Mr. Stripling, I still got somewhat nervous whenever we had a conversation. This was especially true when the subject at hand was his daughter. “Are you…are you okay with us hanging out so much?” I finally asked.
I studied Mr. Stripling’s face as he focused on the road and considered the question.
“I suppose,” he replied while rubbing his chin. “You seem to be a lot more respectable than most of her other boyfriends.”
“Boyfriend?” I said before I could catch myself.
Puzzled, Mr. Stripling glanced at me.
“Yeah, boyfriend. Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Did she tell you I was her boyfriend?” I asked.
“Yeah, she did.” He laughed. “Seems like you’re the last one to find out.”
“I asked but she never gave me an answer.”
“Was that the other night when you were sneaking around outside the house?” Mr. Stripling asked with a huge grin.
Crap, I thought. “You knew?”
“Of course I did, son. I worked in intelligence with the military for years. You’ve got to get up pretty early in the morning to pull one over on me.” We both momentarily glanced at each other and laughed.
As we looked back at the road, we must have noticed it at the same time. Mr. Stripling slammed on the breaks at the same time that my body stiffened as I noticed the large deer bounding into our path. Adrenaline flooded my veins, making the entire incident seem to happen in slow motion.
The tires squealed as the deer slammed hard against the front of the car. Its momentum carried it into the windshield where it smashed through the glass as the car spun widely out of control.
Through it all, Mr. Stripling never panicked. Even as it became evident that he no longer had control of the vehicle, his expression remained calm. Still alive, the deer’s legs flailed violently, striking Mr. Stripling and me as the car continued to spin.
As the car approached a large tree that stood before us, I considered ripping off our seatbelts, grabbing Mr. Stripping, and leaping to safety. It was the only way that I could have saved him. There was no way to do it without doing something miraculous. However, doing something miraculous meant exposing the very secret that I had just vowed to bury forever. Mr. Stripling was ex-military intelligence. There was no way that he would simply take my in-human abilities in stride.
The irony of my life had reached an all-time high. On one hand, I could save the father of the love of my life and risk becoming a government experiment and never seeing her again, or I could let him die and still have her.
I quickly grabbed our seatbelts and yanked them completely out of the seats. Mr. Stripling was a smart man. I have no doubt that he knew that it takes over 1000 pounds of force to snap a single seat belt and he had just witnessed me snap two seat belts at the same time in order to save his life. As our gazes met, I didn’t notice a single speck of gratitude in his eyes. There was only fear. Through it all, he had not shown an ounce of emotion. Even as we spiraled toward the tree that would no doubt end his life, Mr. Stripling remained absolutely calm. Only in the true face of my freakish nature did he show his fear. Was I really that much more frightening than certain death? That grizzled Army veteran sure seemed to think so. If he was afraid of me, what would the rest of the world think? What would Monica think?
I’m still not exactly sure why I froze on that day, but since then I have never been able to shake the image of the fear in his eyes as we collided with the tree.