PHOENIX: The Rise and Wrath of Abigail Begich

Elijah Patrick McDonnell was speeding down highway 17 in his rundown 1986 Pontiac Firebird. The car’s color could be debated on all day and all night. At a distance, it looked black, maybe dark grey. Upon closer inspection, however, it appeared midnight blue, with specks of dark purple flaking around the edges. The 2.8 liter engine grumbled in response to Eli’s lead foot.

Eli was on his cellphone. “She’s here, god damn it! I know it, dude! I’m going to Wal-Mart ‘cause if she decides to look for me, she’ll start there…”

However, she was not looking for Eli. Abigail was in town, but she was only passing through. In fact, she’d been at Wal-Mart minutes before he arrived and they completely missed each other. She drove her rental car, a silver Dodge Charger, south on 17 and neither one of them knew they passed each other. Feeling her presence strongly, and knowing that the storm was her sign, Eli feverishly hunted for Abi at the supercenter in Leland.

Meanwhile, Abi was on her way to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. But she could feel Eli as well, and she knew that her ex-boyfriend would know that the storm directly above her meant that she was there. So she pulled over and cried. She already knew she wouldn’t see him. She couldn’t, not after what happened between them years ago. After sobbing, Abi pulled herself together, checked the rear-view, and pulled off the slippery grass and onto the slightly-lessslippery blacktop. She didn’t see the semi in the rear-view.

Lightning crashed and thunder boomed.

The truck rear-ended the Charger and all Abi could hear was the screeching of tires and the smashing of glass and the twisting of metal. The sedan spun 180 degrees on the road and sat facing the semi. Breathing hard, Abi wondered why she wasn’t dead, and why the semi was able to stop so quickly.

Stepping out of the car, Abi’s first instinct was to check on the truck driver. She didn’t notice that there was absolutely no damage to his front-end. Once she saw that he was fine, she went to check the damage of the rental car.