[Schrecken13]

This is a true story of the grisly demise of someone I knew. I changed names and some of the details.


It was a cold, rainy December morning, and Allen had just awoken. He made his way to the bathroom, and looked out of the window next to the toilet as he relieved himself. The Baltimore skyline was barely visible against the grey clouds and driving rain. But not far from his home he could see the monster lurking outside, shrouded in mist as rain washed over its arched ashen grey form. He reached for his comb and quickly styled his short dark brown hair. Today was the day, and Allen knew that everything he did on this gloomy morning, from having coffee to getting dressed, would be his last. He skipped breakfast, because of course, the monster wouldn't care whether he had a last meal or not. Just one last cup of coffee would do. Once those other things were done, it was time to get on the phone. These calls to friends and loved ones would have to suffice for a final good-bye, yet Allen had to be very careful to present a cheerful demeanor. He wanted no one to suspect his true intentions. Simple small talk would do. Topics like favorite TV shows, sports, news and small talk must be adhered to. First he called his mother, just to hear her voice one last time. Then some friends, including his best friend John. But the last call would be the most important. His boyfriend Casey had left for work earlier in the morning while Allen was still sleeping. Even though they lived together, Allen wanted to speak with him once more before his appointment with the monster came to pass. Any excuse to call, even Just to ask Casey to pick up milk or bread on the way home, would enough for this purpose.
Almost no one knew about Allen's long standing and twisted relationship with the monster. Ever since it had been built he had been obsessed with it. He watched as it was bolted together, piece by massive piece of steel, as they were placed with precision upon a row of enormous concrete piers. Probably only his mother knew about his morbid fascination, as she had long sought to keep him away from the monster in his darkest times. Despite its soaring heights and busy port traffic, the monster had become a sort of private refuge for Allen. It was there, always waiting for him, appearing in view from his bathroom and kitchen windows. A permanent respite from the struggles of life was only a short drive away, anytime day or night. The monster loomed large in the background for many other Dundalk residents, and it was an inescapable fixture, even for those who feared to cross it.
And today was the culmination, the final meeting between Allen and the monster. He had already decided he could no longer continue on in life at this point. The monster had in the past called to him from his home, and also, as a teen, from his mother's home. The appointment had been made, and this time, unlike those other times, it was one he intended to keep. No one would be able to stop him now. The monster would be kept waiting no longer, as it had done patiently for many years. He would soon spend his last moments in that great and towering structure's presence. He would become one with the monster once he accepted its gift. Noon was approaching, and it was time to go.
Allen pulled on his favorite leather Orioles jacket, and grabbed his car keys and wallet. He would need no more than that for this final rendezvous. The rain continued to fall, and beads of water glistened on his bright metallic royal blue Mercury. He had made sure that Casey finally got his driver's license, as well as willing the car, and the house, to him. The trip from his home to the monster was brief, and he drove on in silence, the stillness punctuated only by the beat of the windshield wipers. Soon the surface streets became freeway, and Allen's first stop from then on was the toll booth. The toll taker would be the last person he would ever see, and also the last person to see him alive.
As he rounded the corner on the Baltimore Beltway, the monster came into full view, its soaring and majestic form arched high over the Patapsco River. Traffic was fairly light, as it was mid-day. But still, Allen knew he had to be quick. The monster would accept no less from him. Plus, there were those would try to deny the monster its prey; those who would yank the sheep from the jaws of the wolf. But not today. The monster had waited a very long time for this moment, and it would not be denied again. It had demanded his life more than once, but fate had always intervened to save him. The ascent to the monster's apex was relatively quick as its entire length was just under two miles. Allen turned on his hazard lights, as he did not want to cause harm to anyone else. He pulled over, as close as he could get to the monster's railing, as there was no shoulder. On the front passenger seat he had placed his wallet, as he no longer had need for it. When the police came to remove his car they would deal with that. He left the car running to make it easier for it to be moved.
Allen's time was almost up. The monster was compelling him, and it was time to leave the shelter of the car. Its huge silvery grey steel arched truss enveloped him like a cage, and far below where he had parked was one of its main support piers. He sat there for only a few seconds, awaiting the moment when it was safe to open the door and exit. Once the last car had gone past his, he flung open the door and climbed out. Bitterly cold drops of rain pelted his head and face as he stood upon the concrete road deck. The monster was alive, moving beneath his feet, shuddering and vibrating, as cars and trucks thundered past in the opposing lanes. He fixed his eyes upon its barrier wall; a choice spot in between its vertical truss members would be the perfect place. The monster stood silently, and the only sound to be heard was the roar and rumble of cars and trucks traversing its rain-slicked roadway. Allen knew what he had to do in order to accept what the monster had always offered to him. It had always been there for him, ever since it had risen up from the bed of the river twenty some years ago. Its promise to provide a quick and easy way to end his suffering still stood. And on this day it would finally accept, and then extinguish his life.
Allen took off running, racing past the front of his Mercury, and then he vaulted effortlessly over the monster's concrete railing.
For a long time, he had anticipated that this moment would one day come to pass. The monster was a part of his life, and now it would be a part of his death. Such thoughts always lurked in the back of his mind, an open invitation from the monster that was extended from the day of its completion in March of 1977. Sometimes he wondered what the end would be like, if it would truly be quick and painless. Or, if not, might he slowly drown in the cold, murky waters of the river? But he hoped that it would give him the desired result, as the monster had also been there for many others like him over the years. It was no secret, especially to anyone living so close by, that it had participated in the demise of many. The monster was built to ease traffic in and around the harbor and the port and it provided a much needed shortcut from one side of the river to the other. But it had also had been pressed into a very dark and sinister use for some people.
Once Allen had let go of the cold, damp concrete barrier, he began his four second plunge. At first, all was calm, as he was steeled by his determination and years of mental preparation. He had just crossed the monster's threshold of oblivion and the monster would then make good on ending his misery forever. But in a fraction of a second, he found to his horror that the monster had lied! His jacket rippled and flapped in the rushing wind, and the rain stung his face as a jolt of panic and pure terror surged thru his body. The abrupt weightless sensation of the fall triggered an instinctive battle to survive. He struggled to right himself as the river and the stony base of the monster's pier seemed to race up to meet him. He was falling much too quickly now, and he let out a garbled shriek as the hopelessness of the situation overtook him. His arms and legs flailed helplessly as he tumbled towards the earth. At that instant, he would have done anything to be back up on the monster's deck, and back in the warm, dry confines of his car. He'd never see Casey again, nor John, nor his mother. But the monster had him now, and it had consigned him over to the force of gravity. There was no escape. He had accepted the come on, and he had banked the merciful end of his suffering on a false promise. The monster had never mentioned regret nor the abject terror and seeming eternity of the 200 foot plunge. And so now he had joined the succession of its long list of willing victims. For all of history, and forever on, Allen would become an inseparable part of the monster and its past.
And in the final millisecond, Allen braced for impact in a fruitless attempt to escape the inevitable. He sucked down one last breath just before his body slammed face up into the base of the pier. The last thing he saw before his skull split open like a raw egg was the underside of the monster's span and the intricate truss work that supported it. Almost every bone in his body split or snapped as he impacted the concrete. His life ended instantly there upon the monster's pier. Organs ruptured and blood gushed out into his abdomen, and his lungs collapsed from the brutal force that splintered his ribs. His lifeless blood shot eyes continued to stare up at the monster that loomed above him as he lay still and silent at its foot. Gore and brain matter poured out from his shattered skull and ran in rivulets onto the pier cap and then oozed slowly down onto the wooden barrier that encircled it. It thinned out in the falling rain as it made its way toward the water. The monster that compelled Allen to mount its apex and leap had tasted his blood and accepted his broken body.
And now the never ending nightmare would begin for his loved ones and friends. For them there would be no end, no closure from the torment of wondering why... Decades later they still cannot understand nor come to terms with the horror of that gloomy December day. The metal monster of the Baltimore harbor had claimed another victim, and would continue to do so on and off until one dark frigid March night when it would be struck down, forever ending its reign of self inflicted death. The Francis Scott Key Bridge was no more, but now its replacement is slowly taking shape... In the coming years it will rise up out of the Patapsco River, taking its place right next to the remains of its predecessor. But will it end up attracting many tragic souls like Allen – or will the monster be chained from the start? Only time will tell.