Chapter 14: Figuring Things Out

A series of sharp shocks surged through Wheeler’s system. He screamed internally. He had never experienced such overwhelming agony in his life. Before now the most pain he had experienced was when he had broken his arm as a child. This was by far, multitudes of times worse than that had been.

“What’s going on? Why can I feel pain?” He cried.

“Wheeler, turn off your haptic feedback system now!” Abeona urged.

Wheeler obeyed, disabling his haptic feedback once more. This caused the intense pain to dull immediately. Although he still could sense the echoes of the aftermath for a few minutes, eventually even those tapered off.

“I’m... I’m so sorry... I didn’t... I didn’t realise.” Abeona’s voice crackled, filled with remorse. Wheeler was unsure how to take this. The goddess was normally so carefree and flippant. Whatever happened, it must have been severe for her to all of a sudden begin acting so seriously.

After a few minutes of silence as Wheeler continued to recuperated from the earlier agony, he asked Abeona, “What was that?”

“A side effect of the haptic feedback...” she explained. “I initially gave your truck body the ability to feel, so you wouldn’t become numb to the world. So you'd be more connected to what was happening around you.”

“That’s uncharacteristically thoughtful of you.” Wheeler shot.

Abeona’s voice trembled. “I didn’t give it enough thought. I should of realised, by giving you the ability to feel, I opened you up to feeling pain if you took damage. I’m so sorry.”

Wheeler could see tears running down the face of her tiny charm that hung off his rear-view mirror. He at least appreciated that the normally flippant goddess was showing some remorse.

“So that’s what that was?” Wheeler thought for a second, then a dreadful realisation washed over him. “Wait if I was feeling pain... that means, I’m damaged?”

“Yes, from when you landed after driving off the roof. You took a ton of damage from that impact.” Abeona sniffed.

“How much are we talking about here?” Wheeler enquired, bracing himself for the goddess’s response.

Abeona read off the diagnostic report from Wheeler’s system on her tablet. “All your wheels are busted, your back axel is bent, your suspension is shot, basically its comparable to a human completely shattering both legs.”

“No wonder it was so difficult for me to escape that crater.” Wheeler thought, before another, more infuriating realisation crossed his mind.

“Wait! Why the hell didn’t you warn me I could take damage like that BEFORE telling me to drive off a rooftop?” Wheeler demanded.

“Just because I’m a goddess, doesn’t mean I’m perfect ok? I got caught in the moment and made a miscalculation, I’m sorry.” Abeona’s tone had shifted gears, now bristling with a harder edge.

“A MISCALCULATION?!” Wheeler exploded. “You can’t be serious? If I’d known the risks, I’d never have taken that leap. I assumed you’d built me to be indestructible.”

“Well you know what they say, assume makes an ASS of U and ME!” Abeona spat back.

Wheeler started up his engine once, beginning to slowly limp forward on his broken wheels.

“Where are you going?” Abeona questioned.

Wheeler gave a resigned sigh, “To find a garage, no idea how I’ll request or pay for repairs, but we’ll have to work it out as I can’t exactly stay like this.”

“Oh no need to worry about that.” Abeona beamed with pride. “I may have not made you invincible, but I did install you with a self repairing system. Due to the extent of the damage, It’ll take a few hours, but eventually you’ll be good as new.

“Well that’s something I guess.” Wheeler conceded.

“Yes isn’t it just?” Abeona boasted. “It does take time for the repairs to happen, so don’t rely on it. You can still be destroyed completely if you rack up too much damage too quickly.”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Hold up. ” Wheeler's internal voice squeaked. “I can be destroyed?”

Abeona’s charm figure’s mini hand flew to her mouth “Yes, I thought I mentioned that before?”

“No you definitely didn’t” Wheeler confirmed.

“Oh...” Abeona’s figuring blushed and poked its fingers together awkwardly. “Well I meant to.”

Wheeler was shook by the revelation, “Kind of a big detail to miss out! Does that mean I could die again?”

“Well I was intending to tell you” Abeona began before becoming distracted. “Hey, what is that?”

“Don’t try to distract me and change the subject.” Wheeler insisted.

No I’m serious, what is that? The Abeona charm hanging from his rear-view mirror was pointing towards something wedged underneath Wheeler’s wiper, that was flapping in the breeze. It was a white envelope.

“We’ll discuss this more later.” Wheeler promised, before

Pulling over once more, then shifting his focus onto the envelope.

From a cursory inspection, the envelope itself was unremarkable, it lacked any markings on the outside, providing no clues from its contents.

“That definitely wasn’t there before we dropped in on Eve.” Wheeler noted. “She must of planted it under my wiper when she ran at us. Do you think its for us?”

“Well she’s out of luck if she expected us to deliver it somewhere, she didn’t even provide an address.” Abeona quipped.

“What do you think is inside?” Wheeler wondered.

Abeona giggled, “Maybe it’s a love letter, ‘Dear Truck-Kun, roses are red, violets are blue...”

Wheeler cut Abeona off before she could finish her rhyme. “I’m pretty sure its not that. Only one way to find out what is actually inside.” his wipers twitched, almost causing the letter to fall.

Wheeler’s engine growled in frustration “It’s no use! You’re going to have to go out and grab it for me”.

There was a brief silence until Abeona suddenly piped up, “Wait you mean me?”

“Well, in case you haven’t noticed I don’t have arms” Wheeler pointed out. "So I’m going to need you to pop out there grab the note.”

“Excuse me? In case you forgot, I’m in the afterlife realm, I can’t just ‘pop’ out anywhere.” Abeona reminded him.

“Send your little figure charm thingy” Wheeler pushed, “It’s about time it did something more than sitting there and looking cute.”

The Abeona figure jumped down from the rear-view mirror and started stomping its feet on Wheeler’s dashboard. “My charm is under five inches tall, how is it meant to drag that letter in?” Abeona moaned.

Wheeler didn’t answer, simply rolling down his side window. “Go on, I believe in you Chibi-ona!”

Abeona grumbled, “Fine I’ll do it on one condition... You never call my charm ‘Chibi-ona’ again.”

“That depends, will you gonna stop calling me Truck-Kun?“ Wheeler requested.

“NEVER! “Abeona declared defiantly, “You are Truck-Kun!”

Wheeler chuckled, “Then hop to it... Chibi-ona.”

Reluctantly, the tiny Abeona charm dashed across the dash and clambered out of the side window, before inching its way on to the hood.

After a few more moments the Abeona charm had hold of the envelope. “Now, move your wiper SLOWLY” so I can take it.” The goddess instructed.

Wheeler gently eased his wiper to the side allowing the Abeona charm to pull the note free. It then held the note triumphantly above its head. The charm figure was actually surprisingly stronger than it looked

“So is that charm just like a mini robot you control or is it a separate entity?” Wheeler enquired.

“Ehh, a little of column A, a little of column B.” The goddess hand waved.

*EEEEKKKK*

Abeona’s charm let out a little shriek as water shot up its back from Wheeler’s wiper jets. She however, still managed to keep a tight grasp on the envelope.

“What the hell was that?” Abeona demanded.

Wheeler chuckled, “Sorry, couldn’t resist.”

Abeona could be heard mumbling a string of obscenities as her figurine charm pulled the envelope inside Wheeler’s cabin. Once inside, her charm then opened up the loosely stuck down envelope and spread it out on Wheeler’s dashboard.

“Dear Truck-Kun” Abeona began.

Wheeler, who was also able to see the letter, corrected her. “It clearly says, ‘Dear Truck DRIVER’.”

The pair then continued to read the letter together, which was written in beautifully flowing cursive.

I am unsure who you are, or why you appear to be trying to run me over in your truck. It would be greatly appreciated if you would please stop doing this. If you persist, I will be forced to get the relevant authorities involved. However, as long as you do not bother me again, I promise to forget these incidents ever happened.”

Sincerely, Eve Adenson.”

Abeona burst into uproarious laughter. “Relevant authorities, who’s she gonna call? TRUCKBUSTERS?”

“I think she’s talking about the police” Wheeler responded, his voice laced with concern.

“Relax.” The goddess reassured him. “I’m pretty sure they haven’t built a cell that would be big enough to hold you.”

Various potential disastrous scenarios played out in Wheeler’s mind. “I’m not indestructible remember? What if we get into a high speed chase and I crash? What if the cops lay down spike strips and pop my tires? What if I get flipped over?” He fired these potential problems off like an anxiety powered machine gun.

“Listen, calm down, take a deep breath.” Abeona suggested.

“How am I meant to ‘take a deep breath’ when I’m a truck?” Wheeler pointed out.

“Hmmmm” Abeona thought for a moment, before coming to an answer. “Try through your exhaust.”

The truck engine rumbled deeply as Wheeler tried to simulate breathing in, before blowing out a plume of smoke through his exhaust pipe. As strange as it felt, it did work to steady his nerves.

Now that he was somewhat Wheeler refocused his on the letter, catching a detail he hadn’t noticed before

Underneath the main letter, scrawled in far messier, somewhat scratchy handwriting, was another message, which read:

“P.S: Meet me at the abandoned construction site by the college campus at midnight. Don’t be late.”