Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Hello Officer

He looks uncomfortably into the rear-view mirror at the car behind him, as its red and blue lights flash violently, and he swallows a mouthful of air. It moves down his throat like a rock while he shuffles in his seat. The officer gets out of his vehicle and slowly makes his way towards the car.

“Is this your car, sir?” the officer asks.

“Y-Y-Yes, yes it is. D-D-Did I do anything wrong? I didn’t think I did anything wrong, I was…” he says quickly until the officer interrupts him.

“Please, sir, I’ll ask all the questions around here. You just need to provide me with the answers, not write a book. Now, can I see your licence?”

He nervously pulls out his licence and hands it to the waiting officer. “I-I-I wasn’t trying to be rude before, I just didn’t realise I did anything wrong. I-I-I’m sure I was within the speed limit. I indicated when…” The officer interrupts him again.

“Have you been drinking today, sir?”

“No, no, never while I’m driving,” he quickly answers. “W-W-Why? Did I seem to be driving erratically or something? I swear to…”

“If you can just blow into this?” the officer says sternly as he pulls out a small black device with a tube on the end of it.

“Is this really necessary?”

“You can either do it here or at the station.” The man reluctantly places his lips over the tube. “Now keep blowing until I tell you otherwise,” the officer says. The man blows into the tube, followed moments later by a high-pitched noise, and the officer pulls the device away. “Okay, you can stop now,” he says as he looks at the device and back at the man. “So what’s your deal, son?”

“Excuse me?” the man asks nervously.

The officer pulls his sunglasses off and leans down to the window. “I said, what’s your deal? I saw you initially at the lights three blocks back. I don’t think you realised I saw you, but I noticed you noticing me, and it seemed like you suddenly got a little nervous, like you are now, sweat running down your forehead, all jittery and whatnot. I thought maybe you had a few drinks under your belt, but that isn’t it. So, what is it? Should I search the car?”

“NO!” he yells quickly.

“So, I should search the car.”

“H-H-Honestly, you don’t need to. There’s nothing in the car, I SWEAR! I-I-I’m just late for work, really, I am.”

“Step out of the vehicle and put your hands on the roof!”

“No, please! You can’t do this! I know my rights, and I’ve done nothing wrong!”

The officer pulls his revolver from its holster and aims it towards the man. “I SAID! Get out of the car NOW! Before I put a bullet in your head!”

“Okay, OKAY!” he yells as he nervously gets out of the car and the officer shoves him up against it. “Fuck Luke, you jerk!”

“What?” the officer says as he takes a step back, putting his hands high in the air in surprise.

“You fucking prick, you shoved me too hard!” he says as he turns quickly around to face him.

“S-Sorry, I guess I really got into it.”

“You think?” he says as he storms past him towards the house.

“Watson, SHIT! Don’t blame me, you know how I get with this role-playing shit!” he yells out, chasing him inside.