James Would Have Never Survived

James' car whirled around a corner, seeding up to soon join the usual intersection where he waited an hour minimum every day

It was the routine. Every day, tired and feeling excruciatingly low after work, he spent from seven o'clock till eight o'clock on the road, half of the time taken up on this very street.

He was sick of it. Especially today. James The Boss, made him not only write up a report of the finances of the company during the whole year, but also made him do (as he did every two days) his personal frivolous activities which meant he had to pick up his black tie, just the black-tie, from the dry cleaning, buy his grocery items and deliver them to his house.

James The Boss was easily despisable. Despite having worked for him for seven years hence being the longest employee in the company, James wasn't able to establish any sort of friendship with his boss. 

If anything, he seemed to be the most hated employee. Never was James thrown a surprise birthday. Not once had James been appreciated by his boss for working overtime. It made him feel really dejected, sometimes. 

And at times like these, when he knew that he was going to have to face the trials and tribulations of bad traffic.

Hitting the pedal, James watched the beads dangling from the rearview mirror whip into motion as he accelerated until he couldn't anymore. His car ran like it was in a police chase, leaving no space for excuses to cushion the car to a stop. He, of course, didn't register he was driving too fast. But some part or mechanism that is supposed to make sure you survive whatever ridiculous situation you ut yourself in did. And it made him roll the window down. Maybe the cold breeze against his cheeks and hair would help him realise what was happening.

Granted the speed his car was at and the junction he was at, James would have never survived.

But there were no cars at the Al Khalid road today. No traffic. Not a single person on the sidelines. Just trees lining both sides of the road, a green traffic light in the distance, and of course, James.

He didn't see green, though. He saw red. Bright and passionate as sin, pulling him towards it and the dark black of the sky.

James was out of his mind now, really. Nothing inside of it made any sense. It was all gibberish, loud and in a language he didn't recognise. Luckily, he didn't have to worry about being unaware of everything. Because he didn't know it.

Eventually, just as he passed the traffic light, his car came to a halt. James didn't do it himself, and to him, it looked like the car settled by itself. Shortly before it did, it had passed over something big which simultaneously created a deafening roar and brought James back to his senses. Now that the car wasn't moving, James rested his hands on the steering wheel, breathing heavily. His eyes were fixed on the abandoned road, which had never been empty before at this time of the evening.

His lungs worked hard and James didn't know why. For a while, he sat there, thumb softly tracing the wheel and body waiting to go back to normal. Then, when he was finally calm and collected, he got out of the car.

There were crickets chirping in the trees, reminding James that it was just him here (strangely), and whatever it was that the car had run over.

The thing that the car had mercilessly driven on lay about a whole meter away. It was something long and black, lying still on the dark bitumen, almost camouflaging a bit too well to be spotted.

It was James The Boss, wearing the very black tie James had picked up this afternoon. James bent down on one knee to observe his boss a bit better. There was no blood around him, and he didn't know whether to take this as a good sign or a bad one.

Moving James The Boss from his side so that he lay supine, James searched for a sign of life in him. But his eyes were closed and his head was swung over, facing the sky. James lowered himself so his head touched his boss's chest, and when he heard a beat, he heaved himself up.

It was funny, actually. Had James even seen the boss crossing the road? No. No matter how much James had been oblivious, he hadn't been blind.

For a moment, he pondered upon the idea of calling the police, or maybe even the ambulance. But there was no way James could afford a ride to the hospital, let alone pay a heavy fine. It would rob him of all his savings and pennies he kept hidden under the microwave.

So he eased back to sit cross-legged on the ground, having figured out already that they weren't going to be interrupted by any entity anytime soon.

He waited and waited, glancing at his watch every three seconds, for his boss to drop his bluff and sit to provide him with an explanation.

It didn't surprise him the least bit that James The Boss had survived this accident. All this incident did was convince James that the aliens were here. They were here, and they had already met the humans and blended right in. Not once had they given themselves away. But of course, no one could fool James.

He stretched his left leg to sit comfortably.

His relationship, albeit weak, with his boss extended over seven years. Only an alien would dry clean just his tie. Only an alien would turn down his employee's invitation to lunch and never eat in front of a person. No human would buy groceries every two days; it was insane. 

And no human being would survive being run over a car racing 50 over the limit. 

So James waited for his boss, because more than anything, he was curious how he managed to clear off the traffic so they could talk. His boss had one of the greatest alien minds James had come to witness. 

A ghostly smile crept its way onto Jame's face as his boss finally woke up, looked at his own watch, and snapped his fingers, calling for his friends to show themselves.