Car Accident AccidentMurder
After signing the contract with the film crew, Avery Hayes had planned on heading straight back to her condo at Summit Ridge. But just as she was leaving the studio, she got a call from the renovation company.
They told her that work on her house in Building 12A of The Polaris Residences was set to start the next day. They just needed her to swing by the site to confirm the plans and sign the contract first.
So Avery hailed a cab outside the studio lot and headed into the city.
It was a long drive, nearly two hours in traffic.
By the time she pulled up to The Polaris Residences, it was already past noon.
The designer and project manager from the renovation company were still there waiting for her.
They met up in the apartment, where the designer walked her through the plan, explaining it in simple terms.
Inside the unit, the crew had already mapped out the layout, marking the walls with the spots for outlets and switches, all of it just waiting for her final approval.
Avery looked it all over and was impressed; the design team had been incredibly thorough.
They'd even found ways to build storage into the walls, making use of every last inch of space.
She was happy with the designer's style, and after they both signed the contract, the project manager gave her a heads-up. "Miss Hayes, it's going to get pretty loud during the renovation. You'll need to register the work with property management and let your downstairs neighbors know."
Avery nodded. "Already taken care of."
The same day she'd first called the renovation company, she had asked property management to file the necessary paperwork.
And as for her downstairs neighbors, she'd already spoken to them through her real estate agent.
It helped that both of the downstairs units were rented out to her tenants, as was the apartment next door, 12B.
When her uncle had bought the properties, he'd picked up a block of four at once, two on the upper floor, two on the lower.
After going over the final details with the project manager, Avery left.
The weather was starting to turn cold, so after leaving the complex, she decided to walk to the mall to pick up some new clothes for the season. The main shopping district was close enough that she didn't bother with a cab, instead strolling under the ginkgo trees that lined the street.
The area was a booming tech hub, a self-proclaimed "digital city."
Three-dimensional ads flashed from every building, crisscrossing above her like vines in some kind of digital jungle.
The whole effect was a little surreal. A few turns later, Avery found herself across the street from the shopping district.
The morning rush was long over, and the street was much quieter.
She stood on the edge of the pedestrian island, waiting for the light to change.
That's when she saw it: an old, peeling minivan, looking like its brakes had given out, came charging toward the intersection. It didn't slow down at all as it barreled straight for the pedestrian island.
"Ah!"
"Holy crap, what is he doing?"
A few panicked screams sliced through the air, drowned out by the harsh blare of a car horn. The other pedestrians on the island scattered, running in every direction. As the van sped toward her, Avery scrambled to get out of the way.
But for some reason, the minivan seemed locked on to her, swerving to follow her every move.
A boy next to her, a little too slow to react, was grazed by the van as it flew past. The roar of the engine grew deafeningly loud, the smell of burning rubber sharp in the air. In that split second of panic, Avery caught a glimpse of the driver's crazed, twisted face through the windshield.
Her life was on the line. Survival instinct kicked in, cutting through the panic.
She had died once before.
She valued this life; she didn't want to die again.
Avery forced herself into a state of cold calm.
She calculated the distance between herself and the van, and at the last possible second, she threw all her strength into a sharp pivot to the left.
It was an incredibly risky move, changing direction right in front of a speeding vehicle.
But she was using the van's own momentum against it, banking on the fact that it couldn't turn fast enough to follow her sudden dodge.
The van, carrying enough force to smash anything in its path, roared past, so close the gust of wind it created stung her cheeks. In that same instant, the driver's shocked face was burned into her memory.
Avery hit the pavement hard, a searing pain shooting through her elbows and knees.
*Bang!*
A loud crash echoed down the street. The out-of-control minivan had slammed head-on into a ginkgo tree on the side of the road, the entire front of the vehicle collapsing on impact.
"What the hell? Was that idiot driving with his eyes closed? The road is huge! You couldn't hit the island if you tried!"
"That was deliberate. He was aiming for people."
"That young woman almost got killed."
Drivers at the intersection pulled over and ran to help.
Some rushed to the tree to check on the minivan driver, while others called the police and helped the people who had fallen.
It was a miracle no one was seriously hurt.
The minivan had plowed into the crowd without warning, but in the end, besides the boy who got grazed and sprained his ankle, only Avery had gotten scraped up when she fell.
The most seriously injured person was the driver himself.
"Damn it, is that jerk still breathing?" one of the young men who'd been chased by the van snarled. He rolled up his sleeves, grabbed a loose brick from the roadside, and started walking toward the wreck. "If he is, I'm gonna finish the job."
"Dude, let it go," a few drivers who'd already checked on the minivan held the man back. "He's barely breathing. He's not gonna make it."
"Let it go? No way! If we hadn't been paying attention, we'd all be dead!" the man yelled back. "I've got a family! What would happen to my wife and kids?"
Off to the side, Avery clutched her aching elbow, her clothes a mess.
She frowned, her voice sharp. "This was attempted murder. It needs to be investigated."
Anger flared in her gut, and her fingertips trembled with leftover adrenaline.
She took a deep breath, trying to push down the terror of the near-miss.
This was one hundred percent attempted murder.
When the van had brushed past her, the look of shock on the driver's face was unmistakable.
It was the look of someone who couldn't believe she'd gotten out of the way.
She didn't know if she was the specific target, but the driver had definitely steered into the crowd on purpose.
The angry young man was still fuming. "Yeah, murder! He needs to go to jail for this!"
The boy with the sprained ankle had tears in his eyes as he whimpered, "Can... can someone get me to a hospital? My foot hurts so bad."
"Young lady, are you okay?"
As soon as the boy cried out, several people turned to check on Avery. Just moments ago, she had been an inch from being hit. Even though she wasn't run over, she'd still taken a nasty fall.
Avery pushed through the pain, shooting a final, sharp glance at the wrecked minivan. "I'm fine," she said, her voice surprisingly calm.
But underneath that composure, only she knew how terrified she really was. An icy fear was coiling in her chest, making it hard to breathe. She felt like she needed to do something, anything, to stop the trembling that had started deep inside her.
She turned to the boy who was crying in pain. He'd hurt his left foot. It wasn't bleeding, but it was hard to tell if he'd broken a bone.
Avery took a steadying breath, crouched down, and gently squeezed the boy's ankle. After a moment, she looked up at him. "Does that hurt?"
The pain must have been intense, because the boy couldn't help but gasp, "It hurts!"
Avery stood up. "It might be a fracture. You can still move your foot, so it's probably not a severe one. You should go to the hospital for an X-ray. They'll likely just put you in a cast or a boot."