I met my mom outside, where I always meet her after school- standing on the sidewalk, where she stood gossiping with the other parents waiting for their children. When she saw me, she smiled and walked towards me, pushing a strand of strawberry blond hair off the front of her glasses. We do not look anything alike, other than our similarly poor eyesight and short stature.
"How was the trip?" I asked.
"It was absolutely marvelous!" she said, pulling me into a hug. It caught me off guard, just a little, but after a second, I sank into the familiar feel of her arms. She smelled like flowers and pine-sol, a strange collaboration of scents I've learned to assosciate with her over the years.
She let go of me and ruffled my hair. "My little birthday girl," she said endearingly. An involuntary grin spread across my face. "You hungry?" she asked. At the mention of food, my stomach growled loudly. Mom laughed and shook her head. "Im going to take that as a yes," she said.
"I'm starving," I admitted sheepishly.
"C'mon,then. Let's go meet Jim...he suggested we all go eat somehwere. You can pick. I liked the idea...we could all be together. Like a real family," she said brightly. She pulled her door open, and climbed in, but I stood rooted in place. "Well, get in," she said.
"Mom..." I began, pausing while I climbed into her minivan.
"So where do you want to eat?" she asked.
"Mom, Jim's not a part of our family," I said, not knowing why the idea made me feel so...hollow.
"Let's see...there's that Italian restaurant you like so much.." she began, cutting me off.
"He's not our family. He never even talks to me..."
"He tries too, but you just walk away!" she said in frustration, giving up her casual act.
"I do not!" I said.
"Yeah, he says you do! Why wont you ever just let me be happy! Why do you have to act like the world revolves around you?" she yelled. She doesn't have any control of her emotions whatsoever. I didn't answer her, I began trying to calm myself down before I said something stupid. It's a stupid argument, anyways..
I noted that there was a sharp curve coming up, and the car was still going full speed. I wondered why we were not slowing down...
"Ah! Oh my god! LUCY! The brakes! The brakes aren't working!" she shouted, clenching the steering wheel so hard, her knuckles turned white.
She attempted to turn, but the car had picked up too much momentum. The car rocketed into the green field that hugged the road. It began flipping, one side over the other. Someone was screaming; it bounced off the metal of the car like the screech of nails against a chalkboard. My mouth filled with the metallic taste of copper.
At some point in time, my seatbelt came undone, and I was sent flying through the windshield. I felt pieces of glass burrow deep into my skin, but I didn't feel pain. Actually, I didn't feel anything. My head thumped against the ground, and the edges of my vision tinged black. I lay perfectly still, as the black swam over the rest of eyes, and everything became mercifully dark.
When I woke up, I kept my eyes squeezed shut, and took inventory of my surroundings with my other four senses. The ground beneath me was damp, as though with dew. Or perhaps, with blood. Sirens wailed in the distance, sounding closer with every passing second. But they weren't close enough. Wind kissed my skin, the skin thousands of shards of glass were surely burried in.
But there was no pain.
Am I dead?
No. I refuse to believe that. I have to much to live for. With that thought still in my head, I opened my eyes. I braced myself for the sunlight that would surely be out, just waiting to blind me, but instead, I found myself in the shadow of someone kneeling over me. The shadow of someone with purple eyes and dark hair.
