Love Beyond Farewell

Chapter one- the accident

It's a good day, I tell myself. 

I turn up the volume of my music, briefly reaching into my pockets to press the button on my phone. My hands are numb from cold and my phone almost feels hot to the touch.

It's a good day. 

It will be a good day.

It was a good day. 

It's the same sentence, each worded slightly different, and yet each has a completely different meaning from the other. I can't quite decide which describes today. 

I think over my morning, has it been a good day?

I breathe in the cold air and it hits my lungs like it wanted to drown me. I make a sound, in between a giggle and a cough. 

I'm almost home. Just a few more minutes. 

Do I even want to go home?

"Hey watch out!" Those words sounded like a whisper through the booming sound of my music. Which tells me that the person who just said that is most likely frantically loud. As soon as my brain registers what the words mean, my heart skips a beat, I look up suddenly alert. My train of thought broken.  I try to move out of the way, too late, with the sudden movement I accidentally stepped onto the piece of black ice I had been trying to avoid before. In a split second I'm falling and at the same time, I see a bike and a head of dark brown hair disappear into the ditch by the road.  

I fall, lying half on the grass and half still on the road. The taste of metal and ice fill my mouth. Like a bloody snow cone. 

I tense and quickly pull out my earbuds, surprised they had not fallen with the impact, listening to anything that might signal that the person was okay. 

"Shit!" 

I feel myself relax and I let out a relieved sigh at the sound of the strangers voice and wipe off the blood I know is on my lips.

"Hey! Can you help me?!" I see the brown head of hear quickly peek out of the ditch and then I make eye contact with the blue eyed stranger. The eyes look at me with a mix of annoyance and desperation. I step closer, only to see the stranger attempting to get up but their leg wouldn't allow it. They wince as they try to stand up but fall back down. I look to their right and their bike is laying their with the bars twisted backwards and the bell lying broken a few feet away. I look at the stranger again, and they raise an eyebrow. It's a guy around my age. He looks oddly familiar. I glance down at his shirt and find out why. He goes to my university. "Please."

I consider leaving or pretending I don't speak English. He probably thinks I'm an idiot and sees the hesitation in my voice. The truth is I can't give a viable explanation as to why I am so hesitant. I guess I'm afraid he'll somehow find a way to blame me. 

I mean it is my fault. I wasn't paying attention. 

I look up to where the road loops. Then again the forest located next to it would have made it impossible for either of us to have seen each other. We should blame the government.

"Yeah, sorry." I say as I make my way down to where he is, careful not to slip on the icy grass.  The ditch isn't too deep but the ground is too slippery from the recent ice storms, to keep a bicycle steady, especially if your trip down it is unexpected. As I come closer to him the strong smell of cow feces. I think back to when he yelled 'shit' earlier and have to fight to not laugh. "Should I call an ambulance?" I try to hide the humor in my voice but it's there either way.

He doesn't seem or pretends not to notice.

"No. Too expensive." He sounds out of breath. "Help me up." He reaches for me but not close enough to touch me. I look at his figure. He's almost scrawny but he's definitely got some muscle on him.