Trust Is Extinct

The doctor had instructed MJ to leave the arm sling off and start using her arm and fingers. A dull aching had increased to pain. A storm had blown in and darkness blackened the windows. She decided to leave the rest of the work until morning and go home. She took the car keys from her desk drawer where she kept them and dropped them in her pocket. She took her usual path through the parking garage door. The parking garage was deserted except for a few cars belonging to the night cleaning crew. The storm had increased and wind blew rain fiercely through the wide openings between the floor and the roof covering the parking garage. Between the sounds of distance thunder, the wind, the rain and her aching arm, MJ did not notice when a nearby dark minivan started its engine and rolled slowly toward her with its lights off. Her car was parked to her left in her private parking space. She reached in her pocket with her aching arm for her keys. She dropped the keys and bent down to pick them up at the instant the minivan drove past. She heard a pop and felt a hot, burning pain searing through her left shoulder. She thought she had overextended her arm when she bent down. She rubbed her shoulder and felt warm, thick blood. Reality set in. "My God, I've been shot." Her ears picked up the sound of the van's motor going to the end of the long parking spaces. She knew there was no exit on that end and it would turn and return. She hurriedly got in her car and with shaky finger managed to get her car started before the menacing van returned. She threw the gearshift in reverse and stepped on the gas. Her car jolted out about the time the van returned. Not expecting her car to appear in his way, the driver of the van swerved to avoid hitting her car. The tires of the van skidded in the water blowing into the parking garage, lost control, went through the cement barrier, and fell off the parking garage, striking the ground, front end first with a loud crashing sound slicing through the night. MJ hit the brakes and sat stunned.