𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨: 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘴, 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳'𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯!
Tragedy can happen to anyone, anytime and anywhere, and the saddest part about that truth is...
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Chapter Nine: Bitter Antiseptic Sophia Crawford
“How was your day?” My grandmother asks as I climbed into her car.
I throw my schoolbag on the backseat and pull the seatbelt over my body, ignoring the knots around my stomach from having to be in a car again.
I thought that driving in a car would be easier seeing that a few months has passed since the accident, but I was wrong—it doesn’t get easier, at all.
When I’m inside a car and it rains, the image of what happened that night would play inside my mind, on and on again: the rain, Daniel yelling for me to watch out, the car swerving, the headlights of the oncoming car… I see everything when I’m inside any car, but it’s ten times worse when I’m behind the wheel. And that’s why I made a promise to myself that I would never drive a car ever again. I won’t allow myself to drive ever again, either.
I won’t endanger someone else’s life again.
I shrug at her. “It was fine,” I tell her, “there’s not very much to tell, really.”
The silence inside the car was deafening, and the atmosphere in the car shifts drastically and almost immediately and it was then when I realised that my grandmother was about to tell me something I might not be happy with, and when I turned my head to look at her, sure enough, she had a deep frown between her eyebrows as if she was contemplating something. Her hands were also very restless—they kept tapping the steering wheel.
“Spit it out, Grandma.”
She sighs, deeply. “Your father called.” She says. “He asked me how you were doing and if you are coping with the new school. I think you sho—”
“Stop right there,” I practically beg her, “please.”
“Sophia… Your father—”
“No.” I shake my head. “He wouldn’t just call to ask how I am doing.” I ball my hands into tight fists, trying to compose myself before say something I might regret. “My own mother disowned me and dad just stood there and watched without saying or doing anything to stop her…”
Tears stained the bottom of my eyelids and I wipe them away.
“He’s just as guilty for letting something like that happen, Grandma.” I shake my head.
“Sophia…”
“He did nothing to stop my mother from throwing me out of the house after the accident that took Daniel’s life.”
