Fated Plans

Chapter 14

    
     It all happened so fast. Andrea was carefully manoeuvring her sedan on the slippery street of Manhattan. It was raining that night, melting the snow covering most of the roads. Gripping the steering wheel hard, her heart was galloping with worry and anxiety. She needed to be in the hospital and sooner.

     Her phone ringing distracted her. She knew it wasn't advisable to use a phone while driving but she had to see who was calling her. It was midnight already and she knew from experience that whoever calling her at such ungodly hour must have had something important to tell her. Clutching the wheel with one hand, she dug her phone out her jeans' pocket with the other hand and looked down at the caller ID.

     Callum?

     She hadn't heard from him for days. She placed her thumb on the screen, sliding to answer it.

     And then she heard tires screeching, the sound ominous and goose-bumps producing and when Andrea glanced up, her eyes widened in fear as her heart thudded wildly. She couldn't breathe as she saw a skidding car barrelling towards her. Blinding lights illuminated her fear-stricken face as she tried to move her car out of the way but she was too late. Oh, God!

     The impact jarring – metal against metal – and then she heard terrifying screams. Maybe it came from her or maybe not but Andrea wasn't sure as the horrifying darkness engulfed her wholly.

     And there's only one thought on her mind before she succumbed to her unfortunate grave fate that night – her baby.

***

"I know you aren't here anymore but I just need to talk to you," placing a bouquet of white lilies on the foot of the headstone, she then sat on the grass facing it.

It was a fine sunny day and Andrea had the urge to finally make peace with her painful past. She felt like she needed it at the moment. She gazed at the inscriptions on the gravestone. A smile came on her lips. It was the opposite on when she last visited this place – that rainy day when she was soaked and so lost in her grief, cursing and resenting everything in its place.

That seemed like a long time ago.

Death and grief really had twisted ways of changing people's lives – either it would break you or forge you into this new person: broken but never been more in tune with life and a bit braver. You'll end up losing yourself or maybe finding your true self after all the chaos of pain and depression.

Andrea certainly felt like a new person right now. Closing her eyes, she filled her lungs with fresh air, earthy and damp from dews of the morning mist still covering the grasses.

"I decided to be happy now, you know. These past few weeks, I came to accept what happened to me. It was hard letting go but I had to do it. I knew all along I have to do it. It just took me this long to accept things. You always told me to be happy and content with my life," Andrea smiled wistfully, remembering some melancholic memories she spent with Sister Sarah. She was like an older sister Andrea never had.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there when you took your last breath. I tried but you know what happened. Guess I did arrive in the hospital that night but just for a different reason. I never blamed you, you know?" she blinked back the tears threatening to fall. Gosh, her lachrymal glands were really sensitive.

Andrea sniffed and chuckled at the same time.

"I never blamed you that I had to go out that night to visit you in the hospital. What happened to me was an accident. I came to accept that. It was no one's fault but the bad weather, the slippery road, and maybe my bad timing also," Andrea continued as warm tears now cascaded down her face.