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Submitted for the September 2024 prompt: The Bogeyman Cometh
Fernando was texting and driving when he veered off the bridge and into the water. After an icy impact, Fernando was coherent enough to hold onto his phone after the airbag was deployed. He switched from texting his wife about being late for their anniversary dinner to calling emergency.
"Nine-one-one, emergency response," said the dispatcher.
"I need help," began Fernando. "I accidentally drove off the I-8 bridge, and I'm—"
The dispatcher cut him off. "Please hold," she said.
The line went mute. Cold water started seeping through the floorboard of his sedan. Fernando kept one hand on the phone, the other pushing on the driver's side door. His car began to float down the river as a new voice came over the phone.
"Good evening, Fernando. My name is Checker, and I'm going to help you today. What seems to be the issue?"
"I'm drowning! I'm floating in my car down the Nixan River. Please come and get me!" Fernando shouted.
"Uh huh," said Checker.
Fernando thought he heard a recording of keys clacking against a keyboard, but he wasn't sure if it was the water.
"I see here that you have Right-Shield insurance. Is that correct?" asked Checker.
"What!?" Fernando exclaimed. "What does my insurance have to do with this?"
"Well, everything," said Checker casually. "Are you bleeding?"
Fernando exasperatedly ran a hand over his head. Murky water mixed with thin red blood on his palm.
"Yes!" He shouted.
"Biracial, carotid, or femoral?" asked Checker.
"My head! I'm bleeding from my head!" said Fernando.
"Oh. And are you having trouble breathing?"
Fernando almost laughed as he looked at the water level rising around him.
"I’m about to in thirty seconds. I'm drowning!" he yelled.
"I'm sorry, but I'm having trouble understanding you," said Checker in a monotone voice. "I'm going to assume that, since you are talking, you are not having trouble breathing. Have you lost your eyesight?"
The river picked up pace, rocking the car, jostling Fernando within, and carrying him further from the streetlights on the bridge.
"Damnit! Please help me!" he yelled again.
"I can't help you, Fernando, if you don't answer my questions. I need to make sure you get the right kind of help."
"Right kind of help?!" Fernando screamed into his phone. "I'm about to drown! What is this?! Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought I had introduced myself. My name is Checker."
"I don't care who you are!" Fernando said, coughing. The water began to freeze his limbs, and his feet went numb. He gripped the steering wheel to steady himself as the rapids violently tossed him.
"Sir, I need you to remain calm. If you're hostile with me, this will take longer," said Checker.
Fernando's anger rose with the water level in his car. Determined to live, he resigned to speaking through his teeth.
"Fine," he said, watching the river before him.
"Very good," said Checker. "Now, since you're not bleeding out, having trouble breathing, or having issues with your eyesight, unfortunately, your insurance won't cover rapid emergency recovery. It also doesn’t cover the hospital stay, doctor visit, or a standard recovery effort. Can you self-recover?"
Fernando stifled a series of expletives and winced against the pinpricks of numbness attacking his body. Through shivering, he answered.
"No," he said.
"Okay, can anyone around you assist you?" asked Checker.
Fernando couldn't turn his head in the dark as the water rose above his chest. He continued to smash the phone to his ear.
"No," he said.
"Okay, I can send an ambulance out there to get you, but again, because you don't qualify in this instance, you'll have to pay out of pocket," said Checker.
"Fine," breathed out Fernando. His mind wandered as his car sped up down the river. Thoughts flashed about his kids, his wife, and his childhood. Guilt gripped him from missing dinner with his wife. As he lamented, Checker's voice roused him one last time.
"Sir, you only have the bronze program. You'll need to upgrade to gold if I'm to get you immediate assistance. Can I upgrade you?"
Fernando looked out the smashed front windshield to see a mound of white water fast approaching. He let go of the steering wheel as he floated to the last corner of the roof with air. He knew his last moments were upon him. Survival surged through his body, making him lucid. With his last bit of strength, he focused on Checker's voice.
"You're not human, are you?" he asked.
"That's correct," said Checker. "I'm an advanced A.I. for Right-Shield insurance."
Fernando used his last breath to laugh, then let go. He didn't struggle in the water but held his breath despite his obvious end. He tried to text “I love you” to his wife, but the call on his phone interrupted him. He could still hear Checker through the water.
"Sir? Are you still there? You must know that you are being charged by the second for this call since it's an emergency. Sir? Are you still there?"
Fernando inhaled water and then immediately passed out. His dead and limp body tossed around the car with his phone as the car rolled over the rapids and further into the water.
"Since you are not responding, I have to end the call," said Checker. "Thank you for your thirty-year membership to Right-Shield Insurance. Have a good day!”
As the call ended, the text message screen illuminated the water. The unsent “I love you” went black as the phone died.
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