The Curse of Capernicous (Plot Hooks x DLN)

[PlotHooks]

It is often said that the Devil is in the details, and as it so happens, very often it is the details that are overlooked. This is perhaps the means to which he accomplishes his greatest trick, which is in summary, to convince the world that he doesn't exist.

- Johnathan Hoyt, author of "Accounting for Faith."



The forecast had called for light showers. As usual, the weatherman had been ever so slightly wrong. The morning skies had indeed been gray, but by the afternoon the Seattle skies had opened up as if slashed by a razor and showered the Sound with a heavy tsunami-like rain.

Normally, this would have had little baring on the O'Conner's family's plans, but it was also true that the family didn't normally travel.

Johnathan stood at the door of the family's two story Ballard-neighborhood home, looking up at the sky and frowning. He was an older man, in his late fifties, who was normally jolly, but not so much lately. His large, once athletic frame looked a bit weathered, and worry wrinkles had formed across the aging Irishman's face.

He drew in a deep breath and pushed up his horn rimmed glasses as his wife came up behind him and wrapped her arms around him.

The gesture brought a faint shimmer of a smile to the worried man's lips. Even in her middle age, his wife still retained an elegant beauty, and her mere presence gave him warmth.

"Things will be ok, honey," she said reassuringly as Jonathan placed his hands on hers.

The family patriarch nodded as he bit on his lower lip. At the moment, he was having a little trouble buying into her reassurance. For him, this was a trip to see his mother for what might be the last time. It was difficult to imagine how things could possibly be ok. The only silver lining that he could find was that he'd at least get to see his son, which had been a rarity since he'd left for his Doctorate.

"I'm sure," he replied.

It was a lie.

"Lance called earlier. He's at the hospital with Mom. I think we're all packed. Has our little princess got all of her stuff in the car?"

 

[DaddysLittleNympho]

Nicole had walked outside with the last of her things, putting them in the back of the car as she opened the back seat and moved her purse in the seat. She sat in the back and leaned against the seat, tired and slightly worried. "I'm ready." She calls out and waits for her family to get in the car so they could leave.

Nicole was a very beautiful young lady. She had long blond curly hair that moved past the small of her back, her bangs were side swept to the side of her flawless pale face. She had silver blue eyes, with some brown in the left one. She was very thin and in very good shape with a rather large bust of 38 C. A flawless rear and curvy hips complemented her gorgeous figure. She was wearing a black and white lace tank top and some long jeans that hugged her flawless legs. She wore a black jacket to keep herself warm in the car, knowing her family liked to keep the AC on.

 

[PlotHooks]

Johnathan smiled ever so slightly. Nicole had been such a trooper throughout this all. Things were hard, and it would have been extremely easy for a girl of her age to be a burden, especially given his tendency to spoil her. However, he felt that she had really stepped up to the plate. A small bit of pride burned in his chest at the thought of the upstanding young woman that she was bound to become.

"Ok then," he said as he took in a deep breath and began walking around towards the driver's seat, fore-going the normal meticulous walk-around that he normally executed before getting into the car. Nicole's mother followed suit, climbing into the passenger side of the slick euro-sedan, and in a couple of moments the car had backed out of the drive-way and began crawling it's way towards I-5.


The trip was bound to be a long one, seeing as they were headed down to Portland from Seattle. Mom had prepared by bringing a big stack of literature on colleges, and almost the minute they made it onto the road, she had turned around and begun discussing what she felt was important about each school, and the things that Nicole should keep in mind in choosing.

All of the talk seemed to irritate John just a little bit, and this was compounded by the time he actually got onto Interstate 5. The road was gray and rainy, and the traffic seamed like a forest of head-lights and tail-lights amongst the rush-hour interstate. To boot, it was rapidly getting dark.


"Aww come on baby. She's still got a few years left before college, right?" he asked teasingly, trying to undercut his irritation with humor. "Isn't that right pumpkin?" he said as he turned around.

 

[DaddysLittleNympho]

Nicole looked up at him in the rear view mirror and smiled some, nodding a bit. She was listening to her music, with her head phones already covering her ears so she had no idea what they were talking about. She looked away, looking out the window as she sighed silently, she hated long drives, they always filled her with such anxiety. She pulled off her head phones and looked up in the mirror again. "When are we going to be able to stop to use the restroom or get some food?" She looked up at her father with her innocent childish eyes, smiling some.

 

[PlotHooks]

Johnathan turned his head and smiled as he looked into his daughter's eyes. They did the trick every time, and a bright smile came across his face. There was no way that he could ever resist them. For a moment, he forgot about all his troubles, including his driving.

"Anything for you Pumpkin," he said calmly.

But her mother was anything but calm. He hands were planted firmly on the dashboard of the car, and she was wide-eyed and for good reason. The car in front of them had slammed on their breaks, and the family's vehicle was bearing down on it at an alarming rate.

"Johnathan!" she yelled out urgently.

John immediately whipped around and a "Thunk" was heard as he pressumably pressed his foot on the break. There was a sudden lurch of the car as it started to decelerate, but a loud snapping sound was heard and the car continued to travel forward.

Nicole's dad quickly cut the car to the right to try and avoid hitting the car in front of them, and horns could be heard blaring behind them. There was a loud squealing of breaks as the sixteen wheeler that John had just cut off tried to come to a halt. Meanwhile, the family's car began to fishtail down the crowded highway as Johnathan desperately tried to straighten the car out and slow it down.

 

[DaddysLittleNympho]

Nicole smiled up at her father before he pushed on the breaks roughly. She moved her hands up to the back of the seat in front of her to keep herself from flying out of the car. She screamed softly as her father tried to come to stop. "Whats going on?!" She demands, shaking some as the car's breaks screeched.

 

[PlotHooks]

Her dad didn't answer and her mother only screamed in horror as she clawed at the dashboard. Just as soon as John managed to straighten out the car it was evident that they were headed straight for the trailer of an eighteen wheeler.

There was no sound of breaks squealing, and no horns. There was only the rushing, hissing sound of the hissing tires spinning against the slick asphalt as the car hydroplaned forward without any regard for what the laws of physics might do to it's inhabitants.

John's face was a mixture of resignation and shock.

"I love you," he managed to say as the image of the trailer in front of them seemed to swiftly in front of them.

The next instance consisted of an ungodly jolt, and the sound of steel sheering through steel and glass shattering. The body of small family sedan slid underneath the trailer, but the upper half of the car collided with the large metal rig. The windshield and windows shattered as the roof peeled back like the top of an opened sardine can. The sheer force of the impact caused the back wheels of the Family's car to lift off the ground, and then drop sharply back down onto the road.

And then it was quiet. The first sounds that were heard where the pitter-pat of the rain on the twisted body of the car, but there was no other noise at first. All of the chaos of the previous few seconds had settled into a terrible peace.

 

[DaddysLittleNympho]

Nicole screamed loudly as the car went under the trailer. She moved her hands over her head and hunched over. Once it was all over, she looked up. She was bloody and bruised. Glass was all over her hair and her arms were cut up and her chest, along with her face. She looked in the front seat and unbuckled her self. "Daddy? Mommy? Are you okay?!" She demands as she starts to move forward to see if her family was okay.