What started out as an innocent rivalry between brothers escalated into a chain of catastrophic events as John’s need to beat his brother in a race took a domino effect that led to expensive damages, injuries, and lives hanging in the balance. The victims are numerous, yet the criminals continue to rise in number as many of the surrounding neighbors add fuel to the fire.
Innocent Dreams
John and Mark’s love for cars has grown to be a bit of an obsession. Having never had close contact with wealth of any kind in their childhood, the two brothers’ love for luxury cars could only be satisfied at showrooms and car exhibitions where they spent most of their time eyeing many of the different Ford muscle cars. Unfortunately, its these same cars that have landed them in a world of hurt years later.
The beginning of a nightmare
Years later, neither of them can afford to buy one of their many dream cars. Luckily they were able to find jobs that pay them enough to pay for test drives every once in a while from their local dealership. Unfortunately, their latest test drive has turned into a dream they wish they could wake up from, but it does not look like their alarm clocks will be ringing anytime soon.
A poorly timed redemption
The weather was not inviting at all, yet John dragged Mark to the dealership to take the new Ford GTs’ out for a spin in hopes of redeeming himself after losing their last race a few months back. Though the last one ended in some hefty speeding tickets, John was more upset that he lost the race after having talked a big game. Too bad he wasn’t going to be doing much talking after this one.
A recipe for disaster
Today he was adamant that he’d put Mark in his place, though Mark himself frowned at the idea of speeding down highways right before what looked like a terrible storm came down. Worse, these cars were not meant for suburban streets. Big-bodied cars such as these belonged on race tracks. But John wasn’t hearing it, and this only made Mark more anxious.
What could go wrong?
Mark and John were welcomed faces at their local dealership so no one thought much of it when they were thirty minutes late to return the cars. It’s not like they were going to steal them. Little did they know the brothers were in the middle of their biggest mistake ever.
The beginning of the end
Having left the dealership in a hurry to beat the rain, Mark was under twice the pressure to not let his brother win whilst also trying not to land as much as a scratch on these cars that cost more than both their lives combined. All John could think about was getting the lead in time to drive through his neighborhood who he presumed his neighbors were out in the streets waiting to see who was living up to the hype. Little did he know it was on that very street where things would take a turn for the worst.
A costly lead
Having pulled in front, John was ecstatic that his friends and family were present to witness his victory, but what he failed to see was their five year old niece wandering onto the street from their front porch. Instinctively John swerved to the right, avoiding his niece and choosing instead to fly straight into his neighbors fence. And just like his brother, Mark followed suit as the both of them drifted past the child and straight through the fence, headed for an even worse collision. Unfortunately that was just the beginning of all the things that were to go wrong that evening.
Unnoticeable rain
It was as if the rain was pouring in the background as everyone watched in shock as what started as a casual race between brothers took a turn for the worst. 5 year old Chenelle did not know what to make of her uncles who barely missed her and went flying through the next door fence and into the front wall of the neighbors house. The deafening silence that followed the crash was broken by a loud scream. Not by any of the brothers in the cars, but from someone beneath the rubble of the destroyed wall.
The first victims
Robert was in the middle of setting up his new gameboy when his tv and the wall behind him came crashing down on him at a pace he could not escape from. Before he knew it blood was gushing down his forehead from the fallout debris, whilst his lower body lay trapped beneath the fallen front wall. All he could do was cry for help, but was it safe for anyone to assist him?
Trouble behind the wheels.
Out of the two, Mark was the luckier brother. Though having suffered a severe cut across his chest from the front windows glass, and a broken arm from the impact of the airbags, John was in a much worse predicament. His lower body was stuck between the seat that was pressed forward because of Mark’s car hitting into his, and the collision with the wall that pushed the engine back and into the driver’s seat. The impact rendered him unconscious, but that mattered far less than the fire emanating from John’s car and the fuel leaking forward from Marks. It was only a matter of minutes before the cars lit up in flames, but was that enough time to save both John and Robert?
A tough call to make
Mark began digging at the collapsed wall in an effort to free Robert from the fallen debris. The adrenalin had him hyper focused and in a matter of minutes Robert was up in his arms and on quickly shuttled to safety. If only Mark knew this would be the only trip he would be making.
From bad to worse
The neighborhood’s people watched in awe as Mark rescued the child just in time before the house caught on fire. Just as he was about to go back for his brother, a big explosion set the front of the house ablaze. He hesitated for a moment, but just as he was about to lurch into the flame, a strong grip held him back by the hand.
A disgruntled crowd
The neighborhood people gripped him tight. Hiding behind the guise of protecting Mark from hurting himself in the fire, the truth of the matter was no one wanted to see John live another day. As the fire spread to the first car and Mark’s screams for them to release him grew louder, his cries were drowned out by the crowd’s cheers for what they took as a victory. If only the cops had not noticed.
Emergency Assistants, or Not?
The police, medics and fire brigade arrived as quickly as possible. John was quickly rescued and taken to the hospital whilst Mark was taken in for questioning. It all seemed as if the accident was coming to an end until more police vehicles returned to the scene in order to arrest everyone who didn’t bother to rescue John.
The truth finally comes out
After hours of interrogation, the pieces finally started coming together. Although John and Marks decision to race led them to their current predicament, one of the neighbors deliberately spilled oil across the street in hopes of causing a crash. The neighborhood had plotted against them out of jealousy for the nice cars they always used to drive. Little did they know none of them were actually theirs.
A terrible ending to a rainy day
As it stands John is in hospital on life support whilst Mark has been put in a holding cell as more of the community’s members are interrogated and charged for conspiracy to commit murder. More and more of the truth is coming out but the finer details have been laid out. Who knew a routine test drive could lead to so much carnage?
