“Hit Me, Please”
Mar 16, 2020She didn’t feel like she needed to step onto the sidewalk. The car came speeding toward her, but it felt like the right thing, to just stay in the middle of the road, staring at it coming toward her. But the universe felt different.
The car screeched, driver’s hand on the horn, brake dust flying into the air. The car came within inches of hitting her. She just stood there the whole time, calm, staring the driver in the eye. The look on her face was desperate. Hit me, please.
“Lady, what the fuck is wrong with you,” the man screamed as he leaned his head out of the open window and pounded his fist on the side of his car. He was much more shaken up about what just happened than she was, and he was pissed about that fact the most. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counted to five, released the breath, opened his eyes, opened his door, and got out of the car. He walked up to the lady, who hadn’t moved and inch an was still staring at him.
“Lady, are you okay?” he asked. She continued staring at him for a moment.
“I am,” she said.
“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” he said. “Why the hell were you just standing there in the middle of the road?”
She stared at him for another moment. His eyes were tearing up. She could see he was doing his best to hold in his emotions.
“I wanted someone to hit me,” she said.
He stared at her, speechless. He could feel his jaw opening to say something crass to her, but he snapped it back into place before he said or did something he would regret. His therapist gave him a few “games” to play around with during their last session, so he fumbled around in his mind for the one that could best get him through this situation.