She'd been on the road for roughly an hour, and she was definitely regretting the venti chai tea she'd gotten from Starbucks that morning. She knew she'd written the rules to say she could stop, but she definitely didn't want to. Leaving the main road to sastify her bladder wasn't an option, so she was holding on until she found one on the main road. It only took her a few minutes, because these types of rest stops/gas stations aren't very far apart. She figured it was the "But I didn't have to go half a mile ago" happenings that made the companies put more in so they'd get more profit. It was better than them turning off the main road and spending their money somewhere else.
She pulled into a close stop quickly, and rushed into the bathroom, her full bladder her definite priority. She quickly did what she'd been wanting desperately to do for nearly 20 minutes, and went to wash her hands. She sees the cutest little girl with her mom. Jade found herself waving at the blonde toddler. The child's mother had just changed her diaper and put her on the floor. While her mother turned to put the wipes and such back in the diaper bag, the child slipped. Jade and her mother instincts instantly were worried. The child slipped and busted her head on the edge of the countertop.
Immediately there was blood surrounding the child who had fallen to the floor. Jade was instantaneously running to the mother and child. "Ma'am! Your daughter!" She near screams as she's running. "Do you want me to call 911 for you!?"
The mother is instantly horrified and seems to be paralyzed with fear. "Lili? Liliana?!" As the mother starts sobbing, Jade takes this as her cue to call for someone. She calls 911 and tries to calm the mother down. The questions that she can't answer about the child, she gently asks the mother. The woman on the phone was very calming and reassuring that Lili would be fine. The mother was still very upset, and she had tears running down her face. Once she'd calmed down enough, she took the phone from Jade to continue the call.
It took the paramedics 7 minutes to get there. Jade knew that every second here was very important and may even be the difference between life and death. The paramedics knew this was a very serious situation and handed the child careful and quickly dealt with the situation. One was giving the child air through a face mask and another was temporarily bandaging the head wound in an effort to lessen the bleeding. All the while the mother is trying not to fall into hysterics. Jade wants to comfort her, but she knows she has to go. Jade can't give up, not now. This child was young and probably had a pretty amazing life, especially with such a caring mother.
Jade slowly backed out from the bathroom, sending a silent prayer to whatever god actually existed that they'd heal the kid and wouldn't let her die. Once she was out of the bathroom, she saw a man standing a few feet from the male and female bathroom entrances. He stops me and asks, "Hey, did you happen to see a woman and a blonde little 2 year old? Because I saw paramedics go in there and I'm concerned." He looks very concerned and Jade really doesn't want to be the bearer of this news, but realizes she has to be.
She nods and speaks quietly, "Come with me" and the man is confused but follows as she continues, "There was an incident and she hit her head. The paramedics are there for her." The man is walking is following Jade and ushering her faster into the bathroom. Once they're in the door he rushes forward to his girlfriend/wife had collapsed into hysterics for her daughter. Jade and the man had walked in just in time to hear the words, "I'm sorry but we did everything we could. She lost too much blood that we couldn't stop. I'm so so sorry."
Jade ran out of the door to her car. She didn't want to stay and see the parents so devastated. This little girl had a whole life in front of her and just like that she's gone. Jade didn't even know this little girl, but she knew that she had the sweetest disposition, because she'd seen her earlier in the store giggling. She should've had so much more time. Jade made it back to her car, and actually found her self so mad at the fact Lili was dead that she was crying. She could barely fathom that she was actually gone, that she even could be gone at such a young age.
She hit her steering wheel in frustration, and found herself more determined to keep going than she had been. She didn't want to live a life that takes such young kids. It just wasn't right.
YOU ARE READING
105 Miles Per Hour
Short Story**TRIGGER WARING: CONTAINS DEATH** Jade had decided exactly what she was going to do. She decided that she was going to go through with it too. She even made rules so she wouldn't give up. She was going to make it to 105 miles per hour, but she was...
