Richard Stephenson - Collapse

“I can tell by the way you’re walking and the ugly scowl that never seems to leave your face that you are in constant pain. I figured you were digging in there for something. The bottle should be completely full. Anyone stocking an emergency medicine cabinet would ensure that everything in it was topped off.”

“I needed something. Only have ten pills left. The rest of my pills are, well, out there.”

“Vicodin?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Three years.”

“You know that Vicodin isn’t meant to be taken for that long. Elizabeth is right; whether you believe it or not, you are an addict. If you don’t want to explain how you were injured, I understand. But I would like to know the nature and extent of your injuries.”

“No, it’s fine. Elizabeth deserves to know. I’ve kept it from everyone for a very long time. The only person in my life who knows the entire story is my father. I don’t know where to begin.”

“Its okay, honey, take your time,” said Elizabeth.

Max sat back in his chair and leaned against the wall. As he recalled the memories, torment and anguish washed over his face. Pain and sorrow gripped Maxwell and kept him silent for a very long minute. He stared at the ceiling and was terrified to speak. Dr. Stone and Elizabeth were patient, they started to doubt if Max would say anything at all. Max closed his eyes and feared the words that were about to escape his lips. The words were going to hurt him far worse than the pain he felt in his hip and knee.

“Before I came to work in this town, I was a Texas State Trooper. I had been with them for twelve years. I was a rising star, destined for great things. I was in charge of my own station faster than anyone had ever been before me. Then, I was given my own region. Nine stations were under my command. It was only a matter of time before I made the move to Austin as a deputy director. I had such ambition! So much was ahead of me. My career was more important than anything; I gladly gave up my marriage, thinking my ex-wife was doing nothing but holding me down. Part of me still believes that, but I can’t help but wonder if I would still be married if I had actually slowed down and made my marriage a priority. I even fooled myself into thinking that the only thing I had to do to be a good husband and father was to pay the bills and provide a good life.”

Max paused for a long time. Dr. Stone and Elizabeth looked at each other. Elizabeth had no idea that Max had a child. He didn’t have photos on his desk and never mentioned his ex-wife or his child. They remained silent and waited for Max to continue.

“One Friday night I was off duty. About the only thing I enjoyed doing outside of work was going to high school football games. I played ball in high school and still loved it. So much fun supporting high school kids. When the game was over I pulled out of the parking lot in my truck. As I was driving home I heard a call go out over the scanner. A good friend of mine had pulled over a vehicle for a routine traffic stop. He didn’t know it at the time but the vehicle had just been stolen. The owner of the vehicle had actually called it in when David was on the stop. He walked up to the window… It was just for a … a busted brake light! The guy shot him in the head and drove off, left him there on the side of the road, like a dead dog!”

Max was sobbing. David had been his closest friend. They had been through the Academy together and stayed close even when Max was quickly promoted up the chain of command. Elizabeth wanted to go to him and wrap her arms around him. She knew she couldn’t and started to cry. She looked to Dr. Stone, who understood immediately. The doctor sat down next to Max and held his hand.

“I dug in my glove box for my pistol. It wasn’t there. I’d been to the range that morning and forgot to put it back in my truck. I was in the area where David made the stop and was going to stop by and talk with him; it had been a week or so we last talked and I wanted to catch up. Another patrol arrived on the scene and announced on the radio that David had been shot in the head. I had never been so enraged in my entire life. I screamed so loud my throat hurt. I knew what road they were on and headed off to find those assholes. Lucky me! They raced past me, and I turned around and chased them. They were about to head into a residential area when they took a corner too hard and skidded off the road. I had them right in front of me. The driver’s side door was directly in front of me. I didn’t have my gun and no way in hell was I just going to let them get away. I stepped on the gas and T-boned their car going sixty miles an hour. My airbag didn’t go off and my leg was crushed. I broke my hip, my femur, and shattered my knee. I almost died. I don’t know how, but I stayed conscious the entire time. I didn’t think I’d be able to walk again. I looked down at my leg and could see bone sticking out in two places.”

“Max, honey, you did the right thing. You stopped them. You can walk and you stopped them!” Elizabeth was trying as hard as she could to find the words to comfort Max.

“I may have done the right thing, but not without paying a price much too high.”

Dr. Stone looked into Max’s eyes. “So you regret killing them? Or is it because of the pain you’re still in?”

“God no,” Max laughed, “I’ll live with this pain for the rest of my life knowing those pieces of shit are rotting in hell.”

Elizabeth looked at Max and could tell there was something else, something much worse. “Then what is it?”

Max didn’t know if he could speak the words. He was almost ready to stop talking and leave things as they were. He hung his head and closed his eyes. After a minute, he decided he needed to tell Elizabeth everything. “When they slid off the road, a mother and her little girl walked over to the vehicle to see if they were okay. I killed them, too.”

Florida Governor Lori Prince sat in the reading room of the governor’s mansion, better known as “The People’s House” in Tallahassee, Florida. The mansion was a popular tourist attraction and was open to public tours free of charge during normal business hours, Monday through Friday — at least it had been open to the public before Hurricane Luther.

Governor Prince was born and raised in Florida and was no stranger to hurricanes. When she took office, the first order of business was to upgrade the mansion to make it hurricane-proof. She was shocked that her predecessors had not made the issue a priority.

When Hurricane Luther finally moved out to sea for good, Lori Prince was ready to get her hands dirty and get to work. She contacted the state liaison of the Unified National Guard to coordinate relief efforts. For the better part of a week she was given the runaround with empty promises and vague declarations of upcoming relief efforts. She finally gave up on the Unified National Guard and took the matter straight to the White House. Prince had worked with the president’s Chief of Staff, Stacy Reid, and used their relationship to her benefit. Stacy arranged a private meeting with the president. President Powers was shocked by the lack of support and promised her that help was coming. All she needed to do was be patient.

Upon her return to Florida, the governor made arrangements to be flown to the disaster area so she could survey the damage firsthand. What she saw was nothing short of complete and total catastrophe. City after city was demolished. Towns close to the coast were wiped completely off to map as Luther swallowed them up and carried them out into the Atlantic. It was as if the state of Florida was not only devastated by a hurricane but a tsunami as well. Governor Prince wept as she envisioned the death toll. The body count would not number in the hundreds or thousands, but tens of thousands, probably much higher.