Introducing yet another new section of my Substack: “Fiction Fountain” is a place for short fiction reflecting on themes of inner growth, struggles, and healing.
The first entry is a brief story exploring codependency and emotional abuse within a friendship. I aim to post more about its evolution tomorrow in my “Writer’s Waters” section.
Traffic Jam
by Anna Eplin
Looking back, Jessie knew something was off from the moment Eden burst out the door of her parents’ house, her hazel eyes glaring and her long blonde hair in disarray. Eden ran her fingers through it as she clacked down the sidewalk in her high heels toward Jessie’s car.
“Mind if I drive?” Eden called as she approached. They were riding together to the wedding of some friends from their college, which they would be returning to next month, when summer break ended.
Jessie wrinkled her eyebrows at her friend and waved her hand through the open car door window. “Um, hi—it’s been almost two months—good to see you, too. And why do you want to drive my car? You hate it, remember?”
“True,” said Eden, now pulling her hair back into a makeshift bun. “But I drive faster than you. I don’t want to be late.”
Jessie frowned, trying to recall what her dad had said about whether her car insurance would cover other drivers.
“And of course, it’s great to see you,” said Eden, finally done with her hair. “I’m just all—” she waved vaguely at her house, a gesture Jessie took to mean that Eden had been fighting with her mom again. “Come on, we’ll catch up on the way.”
“All right,” Jessie said. She got out and went to the passenger side.
It was always easier to just go along with Eden. They’d been friends since high school, and now they roomed together at college. These past two months of summer had been quiet for Jessie while being back home at her parents’ house; she’d come down with mono and had to rest most of the time. She was finally feeling better, and it was good to see her wild-card friend.
“You’re better at navigating, anyway,” Eden said as she slid into the driver’s seat. She tossed her purse on the backseat and backed the car out of the driveway with speedy precision.
Jessie, still a little uneasy about Eden driving her car, but resigned to it now, pulled up her phone’s maps feature to consult the directions she’d looked up earlier. Just to be sure she’d typed the address in correctly, she dug through her purse for the wedding invitation.
“So yeah—my mom was really on form today,” said Eden as they sped down the main road of their small town.
Jessie clicked her tongue against her cheek in sympathy, still looking for the invitation. Where had she put it? It didn’t seem to be in her purse at all. Maybe she didn’t really need it…surely she had entered the address into her phone correctly…still, it would be nice to have that tangible reassurance.
“She actually accused me of wrecking her plans for the day,” Eden was saying, “because I forgot to tell her about the wedding until this morning, and she had booked mani-pedis for us today. She thinks the world revolves around her!” Eden made an exasperated growl.
Jessie clicked her tongue again and tried to think of something sympathetic to say. But then Eden launched right into a fuller account of the conflict, so all Jessie had to do was listen.
Meanwhile, she kept subtly looking for the wedding invitation, to confirm the address and time. Finding it seemed to have become somewhat of a nervous fixation for her at this point.
Finally, she reached into the pocket of her cardigan, and there it was, tucked beside a folded piece of paper. Jessie quickly studied the wedding invitation, reassuring herself that she had gotten the address and time correct, while Eden went on talking about her mother.
Jessie then unfolded the piece of paper she’d taken out of her pocket, having forgotten what it was. Oh—it was a flier for an upcoming event at their town’s library. She’d picked it up the other day at the library drive-through window. “Yarn and Yarns” was the name of the event, which was evidently a knitting and crochet circle accompanied by a popular audiobook. Jessie thought it sounded like fun, and the event would take place before she had to leave for the fall semester. She enjoyed crochet; and although she’d already read the book, it was one of her favorites.
Eden paused her narrative as she sped up the interstate entrance ramp. She glanced at the flier in Jessie’s hand and snorted. “’Yarn and Yarns’? Do they not know any other words?”
Stung, Jessie folded the paper back and put it back in her pocket. “I thought it was cute,” she said quietly.
Eden shrugged. “Anyway, so then my mom was all like—“
Suddenly she stopped. Looking ahead, Jessie could see why: the interstate stretching in front of them was packed with cars, tail lights blazing angry red. They were entering a traffic jam—with no exit for several miles.
Eden cursed and hit the steering wheel with the palm of her hand. “We were already running late—now we’re just going to miss the whole wedding!” She blared the horn.
“Maybe it will clear up quick,” said Jessie.
“It doesn’t look like it’s moving at all!”
“There must have been a wreck. Once they get a lane open, we’ll start moving.”
Eden grunted. “It’d better.” She slumped in her seat, radiating anger and frustration.
Jessie flicked through her maps app, seeing if it contained any helpful traffic information or possible detours, but she wasn’t finding anything.
Suddenly Eden looked at Jessie with narrowed eyes and said, “You told me to take the interstate.”
Jessie looked back blankly, confused. Of course she had indicated for Eden to take the interstate. It was the most sensible route.
“I should have known something like this would happen!” Eden shouted, pounding the steering wheel again. Then she pointed at Jessie’s phone. “How far’s the next exit? I could drive up the shoulder.”
Jessie shook her head, keeping her eyes on her phone to hide how frightened she suddenly felt. “Not for three miles.”
“Maybe I could back up to the last one…” Eden looked behind them, calculating.
“No. Don’t do that. It’s too far—and too risky.” Jessie’s throat felt tight with anxiety. She thought to herself that if Eden insisted on doing that, she would have to somehow revoke her permission for Eden to drive her car.
But thankfully, Eden capitulated, slumping in her seat and grunting in frustration. Jessie kept poking around on her phone, looking for information about the jam.
“I can’t believe you got us into this traffic jam,” Eden said after a minute. “You didn’t even want to go to the wedding, did you? So you saw the jam on your phone and let me drive right into it.”
Jessie stared at Eden. She could feel her cheeks flush as fear bolted through her. “What? No! Of course not!”
Eden just shook her head, her face pinched with anger.
“I swear I didn’t know, and of course I want to go to the wedding!” Jessie sputtered. “I’ll try to find where to call for traffic info.” She began frantically searching on her phone, but she kept clicking the wrong things accidentally. Her mind was blurred by the fear coursing through her.
Finally she found a number to call, and she called it. The operator listened to her timid request for information and then replied that yes, there had been an accident, and they expected to have a lane opened within ten minutes.
Jessie turned to Eden, who had heard it all, since Jessie had used speakerphone. She said, “I bet we won’t be the only ones who are late because of this. I’ll text Nicole and let her know the situation.”
Eden sighed heavily and raked her fingers through some locks of hair that had fallen out of her makeshift bun. “Okay.” She sighed heavily.
They sat in silence while Jessie texted Nicole, the friend whose wedding they were headed to. Then there was nothing to do but wait for the traffic to start moving.
Jessie sat frozen, with her gaze ahead but toward Eden’s general vicinity. She didn’t want to do or say anything to possibly reignite Eden’s anger. Maybe if she stayed just like this—quiet but available, almost apologetic in her demeanor, even—Eden would calm down and they could have a friendly ride again.
It was hard to maintain this state of high alert, though, as the minutes went by and Eden still silently fumed beside her. Jessie began to feel some anger of her own bleeding through the cracks in her clenched pose. This was not how you were supposed to be treated by a friend!
Always in the past she had stuck by Eden, helping to calm her and make peace when her temper rose. But maybe she was getting tired of this.
She moved her gaze away from Eden, looking out her window at the tractor trailer beside them. She wondered what would happen if she stopped being so forgiving of Eden’s short temper. Would their friendship even survive?
Eden had maybe sensed Jessie’s shift, because she blew out a loud sigh and said, “I’m sorry, Jessie. I know this wasn’t your fault. It just…sucks.” Then she ground her teeth in a fresh burst of aggravation as she peered at the cars ahead of them.
“Thanks,” Jessie said, smiling at her friend. “Yeah, it does.”
Then she looked back out the window. Relief had washed over her with Eden’s apology…but there was still a small part of her that wasn’t okay yet.
A tear started to roll down Jessie’s cheek--thankfully on the side Eden couldn’t see—as she looked out the window. Part of her wanted to break down and sob with the feelings of fear she’d been holding in, but she squelched them back down again. It wasn’t really safe yet.
Safe. Had she really just thought that? She didn’t feel safe with Eden. The thought struck her with lightning-flash clarity. After all these years of friendship—or so-called friendship—she finally saw what, before, she’d been too removed from her own feelings to see.
“Thank fucking Christ,” Eden muttered, and shifted the car back into drive. The traffic ahead of them was starting to move.
“Yeah,” Jessie said, to mask her silent revolution.
As they finally started to move again, Jessie put her hand in her pocket and felt the flier for Yarn and Yarns. She clutched onto it, like a map to a new beginning.
Great story! I could really feel the tension in the car as Eden's emotions swelled in that tight space. ✨