And She Don't Care

Submitted by Brendan:

Alyssa and I found each other on a dating site. I was just out of a relationship wherein my then-girlfriend had taken things way too seriously (example: I left a container of orange juice out by the sink overnight and she wouldn't speak to me for a week) and was attracted to Alyssa's apparent laid-back attitude. Also, she was an elementary school teacher at my old elementary school, so we already had a lot to talk about.

After dinner, she asked me if I was up for something daring. She said that I had an "honest face," and that she was going to tell me a secret that she hadn't told anybody.

What is it? I wondered. She asked me if I'd drive to the location. She would direct me. It seemed like fun, so I went along with it.

She led me to a patch of forest off of a main road. A dirt way led up to a fenced-in area of train tracks. She climbed the fence and I followed her.

"We flattening pennies?" I asked.

"Something like that," she said, then went on, "I do this to blow off steam. It's a hell of a rush."

She walked up to the train tracks and asked me what time it was. I figured that this was for effect, as she was wearing a watch, herself. I told her the time, and she said, "Just in time."

She sat on the train tracks and extended her hands to me. "Come sit," she said.

"Maybe we could sit someplace safer," I suggested, "Like alongside the tracks. Or behind the fence. Or in Afghanistan. Anywhere else, really."

"It's okay. We're not going to die. You have to trust me."

She explained that the object was to jump off of the tracks at the last possible second.

I didn't think twice. I reached for her arms and went to pull her off of the tracks.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "If you're too chicken-shit to do this, then you're not going to stop me."

I tried to pull her off again, but she struggled and kicked and tore. I practically begged her to come off of the tracks, but she refused.

At one point she said, "It's beyond safe. You just have to know when to jump off."

I asked, "If it's that safe, then how comes it that you develop such a thrill from doing it?"

She said, "Because it's a train hurtling towards you at top speed. Nothing beats the rush."

The train came. I kept repeating to her that I wanted her to come off of the tracks, but she ignored me. The train closed in. I prepared to lunge for her, to grab her, pull her off, and hopefully not die myself in the process.

She jumped off on her own, on the other side of the tracks, about ten seconds before the train would've hit her.

After it zipped past, she walked over to me and said, "You missed out. That was awesome."

What was even more awesome was driving her home and never going on another date with her.