Chapter 10: Playing in Traffic

Wheeler had been watching Abeona’s memories with intense interest. “Was all of that true?”

“Pretty much.” Abeona’s charm shrugged as she spoke, “I may have filled in one or two blank spots, even a goddess's memory isn’t flawless after all. The broad strokes are there.”

“Broad strokes?” Wheeler repeated with unease.

“Let's not worry about the past,” the goddess insisted, “The important thing is, do you understand why I need you to do this Truck-Kun gig now?”

“I think so.” Wheeler considered hesitantly, “This is about more than just me. If I don’t do this, everyone who ever wished for an Isekai adventure, will never get the chance to live that dream.”

“Exactly” Abeona confirmed.

“This isn’t about killing... this is about granting new life, perhaps even a better one.” he considered.

“Now you're thinking on my wavelength, aww yeah. Abeona FM has been received loud and clear.” The goddess celebrated, her charm dancing across his dashboard.

Convinced, at least for now, Wheeler started his engine, pulling away from where Abeona had parked him.

Abeona’s charm went flying from the sudden, unexpected movement. “Where are we going?”

Wheeler began to drive back towards Eve’s location. “I’ve got a job to do, for the sake of everyone who ever dreamed of being reincarnated in a fantasy world.”

“Yeah, go get her Truck-Kun” cheered Abeona, her charm having finally made its climb onto its usual spot on Wheeler’s rear view mirror.

Wheeler sharply slammed on his brakes, sending the Abeona charm toppling from its usual place once more. “AHEM.”

“I mean... Yeah, go get her Wheeler!” Abeona amended.

Satisfied, Wheeler resumed driving, as Abeona’s charm yet again climbed back on its perch as Wheeler resumed his path towards his target.

The truck sped towards Eve, headlights blazing, Lily cried out helplessly towards her friend, desperately trying to reach her, “EVE!”

*THUD*

Lily woke up on the floor of her shared dorm room, next to her bed. Tangled in blankets and drenched in sweat. The nightmare having caused her to fall out of bed.

Lily realised it wasn’t simply a nightmare; it was a memory. Last night’s close call had imprinted itself in her mind. A symptom of the trauma from having almost lost Eve.

Her heart thumped hard as if she’d just freshly experienced that moment. “It’s over now” Lily reminded herself.

Looking over she noticed Eve’s bed was empty as usual. Eve would be down at the college gym, getting in another training session no doubt.

Lily went through her normal morning routine, trying to forget the previous night's incident. Wash, brush teeth, get dressed, then to the dorms kitchen to prepare some breakfast.

She poured a fresh mug of coffee. As usual Eve had prepped some before, she left, meaning the temperature was perfect by the time Lily got to it.

Lily was reassured by the familiar morning routine. It was a new day, yesterday was firmly behind them.

Yet some of what Eve had said to her in the gym resurfaced in Lily’s mind. “Life’s too short to waste your time worrying. For all we know we could be dead tomorrow...”

How right her friend had been. Last night’s near miss was a testament to that.

“Maybe I should finally just tell her” Lily considered, taking a sip as she looked out the window. “Tell her what... THE HELL IS SHE DOING? Lily did a spit take, her coffee spraying out over the counter.

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Through the window Lily could see Eve wasn’t at the gym at all. Instead, Eve was positioned in a dodgeball stance the middle of the road.

Lily threw the window open, “Eve? Please explain to me why, oh why... are you standing in the middle of the freaking road?” She exploded.

Eve gave her a cheerful wave to her friend. “Last night, something finally hit me, inspiration.” She explained. “I need to up my game and what better way to practice than dodging traffic?”

“HAVE YOU LOST YOUR GODAMN MIND?” Lily exclaimed. Eve had pulled some pretty reckless stunts during the time Lily had known her, but this was a new extreme.

The dodging obsessed girl hung her head, “I’ve got to admit it’s not quite working out like I...”

Eve was suddenly interrupted as Lily screamed “EVE LOOK OUT!”

A car had been speeding towards Eve, but the driver, seeing the person standing in the middle of the street had braked sharply, stopping within inches of her.

The driver of the car yelled something to the effect of: “Get out of the road you stupid girl!” Except what they actually said was filled with many more expletives.

“See! They always brake before I get a chance to dodge them.” Eve complained to Lily, ignoring the driver completely.

A frazzled Lily began massaging her temples before telling her friend. “Just get back in here this instant.”

Eve rolled her eyes, throwing a sarcastic “sure mom” in Lily’s direction before heading back into the dorm as asked.

As Eve re-entered the dorm, Lily came rushing over to meet her. “Do you have any idea how dangerous that was? You could have been killed!” Lily chastised.

Eve blew out an exasperated puff of air, “Please, my evasive skills are way too on point for that to ever happen!” The dodgeball prodigy began ducking and weaving, as if she was shadow boxing an imaginary opponent.

Lily shook her head hopelessly. “Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Pride comes before the fall’?”

“Have you ever heard the phrase ‘You only live once’?” retorted Eve.

Lily quickly made an unexpected attempt to hug Eve. As she lunged forward, Eve instinctively dodged her friend’s attempted embrace, sending Lily crashing to the floor.

“Oops, are you ok?” Eve enquired.

Lily curled up on the floor, sobbing deeply.

Eve knelt down next to Lily, “Are you ok, did you hurt yourself?”

As tears streamed down her face, Lily replied. “‘You only live once’ that’s exactly why you have to be more careful... I... I don’t know what I’d do if I lost... if you...” she was unable to finish her sentence.

Eve’s eyes softened as she picked Lily off the floor and held her close. “I’m sorry... I didn’t realise it was that serious.” She considered for a moment. “If it worries you that much, I promise I won’t train with traffic again.”

Lily wiped away her tears as she cuddled into Eve, feeling her reassuring presence and strength. Lost in the moment as she was in Eve’s arms, something accidentally slipped out.

“I love you, Eve.”

As soon as those words unexpectedly leaked from her lips, Lily froze. How would her friend react to the sudden confession.

“Aww, I love ya too bestie.” Eve responded casually, giving her friend one last squeeze before releasing her. “Now we better get our butts moving or we’ll miss class.”

Lily gave a small, sad smile, of course, Eve still didn’t get it. “Yes, we better get going” she confirmed wistfully.

With that the pair collected their bags and headed out the door, and in the direction of their college campus.

As the two young women walked together, Lily tried to cast the morning’s events from her mind.

Yet there was still this indescribable unease plaguing her. She found herself looking over her shoulder. What was she even looking for? She didn’t know. There was just an ominous sensation echoing though her, just like there had been the previous night.

“Lily, are you feeling, ok? You seem out of it.” Eve pressed her head against Lily’s head. Lily blushed a deep crimson at the unexpected close contact.

“I’m... I’m fine” Lily stammered, sounding somewhat unconvincing, despite being truthful.

Lily wasn’t feeling unwell, she was just... she wasn’t even sure herself. “Maybe it's just where I’ve been a bit stressed lately. You know after last night’s incident with the truck... and your little stunt this morning?” She offered as a potential explanation.

“Hey, I apologised remember?” Eve pouted, removing her hand.

“Yeah...”. Lily looked anxiously around again, still distracted by this odd, unshakeable feeling. It was like her body was stuck perpetually in ‘fight or flight’ mode.

“You look really flushed, maybe you should drink something?” Eve reached for her water bottle. “Damn it.”

“What’s wrong?” Lily asked.

Eve shook her bottle, tipping it upside down, causing barely a drop to trickle out. “We left in such a hurry I forgot to refill my bottle”. She lamented. “Tell you what, you wait here, I’ll grab some drinks from that shop over there.

Lily looked up, following Eve’s finger that pointed over the road. “Ok... but be careful.”

“Relax, I’ll be right back.” Eve shot a reassuring smile before starting to run across the road.

Lily watched her friend carefully, as Eve crossed the road safely, looking both ways and went inside the shop.

Lily took a deep calming breath before blowing the air out as a sigh, “Everything is fine, stop worrying” she told herself quietly.

Moments later Eve emerged from the shop, two drink bottles in her hand. Eve immediately began sprinting back towards Lily, this time forgetting to check the road as she crossed.

In that instant, Lily's fear reignited as a truck materialised, seemingly out of thin air, “EVE WAIT!” she yelled.

A dreadful sensation moment of Déjà Vu occurred. Lily once more found herself frozen in place as she relived last night's events. The truck barrelled towards Eve. This time, being mere inches from her.

Inside the truck, Abeona’s charm smiled triumphantly, “GOT YA!”