The Ride by DragonSkulls Short Story writing prompt entry |
An autumnal moon cast a reddish glow over the landscape as Jake waited for a taxi. Beside the fact that it was unbearably humid and nearly eighty five degrees, he dreaded this ride, as all the others before, but it had to be done. There was no other way around it. He wiped sweat from his forehead while entering. After greeting the driver and mentioning how much he despised the heat, he gave the address where he wanted to go. The meter was flipped and they pulled away from the curb. Jake read the nametag and started up a conversation, "So, William, how's life in the city of angels?" They had a long discussion about everything: politics, covid, Afghanistan, the trillions just being flushed down the toilet, everything. Jake learned about William's struggles of becoming a scientist, his parents, his loving wife of three years, his schooling and the goals and dreams that stretched far beyond his taxi driving job. Jake mostly listened, adding his two cents in where needed. When they drew closer to the destination, Jake thought to himself, why. Why did he always do this? Nothing William had to say mattered. Just sitting quietly in the back would have made this much easier. Once they arrived at the fake address Jake gave to William, Jake pulled out a silenced .45 and aimed at William's skull. "I'm truly sorry, friend, but I have to do this. It's nothing personal but I simply have to eliminate every taxi driver in LA...every last one. I know, eventually, you'll expand, you all will. Then my own career, my livelihood will become obsolete. I just can't let that happen. Again, I'm sorry." William's last words were, "What career could possibly be worth all this?" Jake answered, "I'm an Uber Eats driver."
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