Remember Me

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

                The green of the street signs meshed into the similarly colored branches and leaves of the trees that hung over and around them. Morgan pushed his foot into the brake, slowing as he approached the bright red stop light hanging over the intersection. As he waited at the empty intersection for the light to change so he could go, he turned the volume on the radio up, and bobbed his head a little to the beat.

                The light turned green.

                Without giving it a second thought, Morgan removed his foot from the brake and pressed it into the gas, driving into the intersection. Just as the back of his car began to pass the intersection, he heard the crunching metal, and felt the car spin out. In the next moment, he saw the blurred and darkened colors of another car as it soared passed his and into the ditch, melded into the trees, the lamp post, and as he came to a stop, he was facing the ditch that had been on the passenger side of his car only moments before. He stared, wide-eyed, ahead of him, before quickly patting his seatbelt, murmuring a quiet and repetitive thank you as he unbuckled himself.  Morgan stumbled from the car, fumbling at his pockets for his cell phone, and looked around in a daze. The entire back end of his car was crumpled into itself, and all his back windows were shattered, the glass shards splattered across the road. For a few moments, as the cell phone connected Morgan to 911, he had forgotten about the other car.

“This is Derek Morgan…I’m…I’m on the corner of…” His voice was clearly shaken – as was he – as he stumbled to see what the street signs were. “…of Oak and Charles…someone just slammed into me…some…” Morgan spun towards the other ditch, before rushing over, snapping his phone shut and pocketing it as he did. The engine was sputtering, and from inside he could hear sobbing and partial cries. He jogged around to the driver’s side, and pulled the door open. The driver, a young woman, looked up with a clearly startled expression as she cried out and tried to wiggle out of her seat.

“Please, please…do-don’t hurt me,” she begged, tears pouring down her face. Morgan shook his head.

“Come on, let’s get you out of there…” he said, his mind starting to clear as he reached in to unbuckle her seatbelt.

                He paused, hands near her waist, and tilted his head. Her shirt and jeans were covered in a dark substance, one that was difficult to classify but had a distinctive and familiar odor. Lifting his eyes, Morgan saw that her fingers were still clutching the wheel, and she didn’t look scared – she looked absolutely terrified.

                Behind him, Morgan could hear the faint sounds of the sirens as they raced towards that intersection, but it was just a faint sound to him – his attention and concentration was on this moment, as he stared at the young woman inside the car.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, carefully reaching to move her hands off the wheel. Instead of speaking, she whimpered, and simply shook her head. “Then…why are you…”

“It…it isn’t mine,” she squeaked, her voice clenched in an attempt to hold back any more sobs or screams. Morgan stopped, his hands on her wrists, before looking up at her.

“What isn’t?”

“The blood…it’s not mine,” she said, her voice giving way and a releasing a sob as she dropped her chin towards her chest.

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                Morgan looked over from where he sat in the back of the ambulance, watching as a black SUV pulled up nearby, and parked along the side of the road. The engine shut off, the door opened and closed, and he shook his head as an older man passed the police car. He flashed his identification, before approaching the ambulance.