Mind Games and D.I.D

2. You look more like your mother every day.

Ferrie snickered as her father interrupted her thoughts.

"Ferrie? Are you okay?"

"Peachy. Did you order my new phone?" She queried before heading towards the front door again.

"It should be delivered today."

"Good. Because that old alarm clock is a shitty way to start the day."

"That's all the local shop had," Martin sighed. "I can only try my best."

"And it might be wrecked."

"Another one?" He asked in disbelief as she smirked and pulled the door closed between them. 

As Ferrie got down near her boyfriend's car she heard a whistle and glanced back to see Martin holding up a couple schoolbooks.

"Won't you be needing these?" He asked curiously.

"Oh, yeah," she replied, acting innocently embarrassed for forgetting them before quickly walking back.

"You look more like your mother every day," he smiled as he handed off the books.

"Thanks, dad. See you later," she grinned then made another turn back to the car. Martin smiled for a moment at his daughter, before intrusive thoughts of the day his life changed stung their way into his mind.

The sun was starting to set as Martin smiled to himself, reminiscing the fresh fun memories of their first day at the beach together as a family; he, his wife and young toddler. On their way home they were travelling along a country road at a high cruising speed behind a builder's van with a trailer. The trailer had a couple of long two-by-four pieces of timber hanging roughly five feet off the end of it. Although Martin did think it looked a tad dodgy, being a young and overly confident driver, he didn't pay it much more mind, and kept the car going roughly ten kilometres over the speed limit while following.

"How is my little fairy doing?" His wife asked, gazing cheerfully into the back seat, before reaching back and rubbing dry sand from the side of her little foot.

"A fairy now, Laura?"

"Yes, Martin. My daughter is a cute little fairy!"

"It suits her," he smiled while glancing in the rear-view mirror. "I think it suits her better than Jane."

"Hey! That was the single name we ever agreed on," Laura responded, pushing his arm playfully.

"Well, yeah. And now I think we've finally agreed on a nickname."

"Fairy? Maybe..." Laura smiled back at him before resting her head on his shoulder. Martin kissed the side of her head softly as he thought about how great the day had turned out to be. He exhaled a deep breath, trying to keep his sight on the road as the setting sun suddenly felt extra bright in his eyes. In an attempt to clear the brightness from his vision, Martin reached for the sun visor as the van in front of them suddenly braked. With still being in a slightly distracted headspace, he panicked, slamming his foot on the break as quickly as he could before the abrupt smashing impact triggered the airbags to explode in his face.

The blackness of unconsciousness faded out as the pain of reality settled in. His head ached terribly, mainly from something small, hard and pointed digging into the back of his skull before realising he was lying flat on his back on what felt like the asphalt road. Martin let off an agonising groan as he tried to move his arms to push himself up, then cringed hard when his left arm refused to move, causing his eyes to shoot open. After a few hard blinks, he struggled to comprehend the situation he'd awoken to. Blaring sirens in the near distance drew closer as he could hear the chatter of a few worried voices within his vicinity. They were all unfamiliar until he suddenly recognised the distinct cry of his baby girl.

"I think he's waking up," uttered a male voice from beside him. As his senses began to retune and recalibrate themselves, Martin used his right arm that still worked well enough to leaver himself up off the hard asphalt.

"Jane..." he croaked out, trying to sit up further.

"No mate. Don't move..." the stranger quickly placed a hand on his shoulder. "The paramedics are almost here."

Martin promptly ignored the man and his own pain, then forced himself up in an urgent fatherly response to the sound of his daughter in distress. He stumbled slightly and tried his hardest to pinpoint where his child was amongst a small crowd of startled people that were gathering.

"Jane!" He screamed as he finally saw her in the arms of another stranger not too far from him.

"I think she's okay," the woman stated as Martin rushed up to her.

"My baby," he panted, holding his hand on her tear-soaked face, then leaned in to press her comfortingly against his chest as he began to take in his surroundings.

There were currently five other vehicles parked or parking up just off the road on either side of them, mainly being that of concerned passer-by's stopping to lend a hand or help direct traffic around them before police had arrived. Martin glared around at all the commotion that suddenly surrounded him, then felt overwhelmed as he spotted the back side of his car that sat crumpled a third of the way under the trailer of the builder's van. The van itself sat at an awkward angle just off the road with its trailer still firmly attached. The sirens became almost deafening and distracted Martin from the twisted mess of a vehicle he had been in presumably just a matter of minutes earlier. Flashing lights cut their way into his eyesight as an ambulance pulled up near him, before two paramedics jumped out and rushed up to him.

"Sir, are you alright?" One of them asked before then trying to gently guide him towards the back of the ambulance. Martin then felt the pit of his stomach drop as he finally noticed someone else was missing from the people around him.

"Where's my wife?" Martin askeddesperately as he pulled away from the paramedic. "Laura?" He screamed whileurgently taking another distressed scan around the immediate area. His heartbegan to pound through his ears as he started to run towards the passenger sideof the car, realising he had not been able to see that side of the vehicle inthe time he'd been conscious again. Martin almost tripped as he swung himselfaround the back corner of the boot of the smaller sedan and rushed up to thesmashed passenger window. First seeing a long slab of wood that had penetratedhis windscreen before his eyes caught sight of what else the large stake hadimpacted. A wail escaped his throat as he reached through the window, over thebroken glass to try hold his motionless wife. Her eyes fixed in a downward stareas if she hadn't even had the time to close them. Martin shrieked intensely beforebeing firmly but carefully yanked from the car and held back by a paramedic whodesperately yelled for assistance.