Nosce Te Ipsum | Short Stories.

Car Crash

Finally, the great day dawned.

It was my best friend, Haley's birthday. Today being a special day, I planned to take her to the most posh and expensive restaurant in the town, Turkish delight. Haley detested spotlight and displeasured large gatherings on her birthdays, so it was just the two of us.

Normally, the air here in Beijing is polluted. But that day, the weather was utterly cheerful— as if the sky had sensed that it was a special day. It was half past three in the afternoon— I was promenading towards Haley's house. We resided in the same street, her house just a few blocks away from mine. I was wearing a short, sleeveless, black dress with stockings and my golden streaks were straightened down to my waist.

My phone rang. 'Hello?'

'Kat! Where are you?' It was Haley.

'On my way to your place. Why? What happened?'

'God! Hurry up! I've been waiting since forever,' I could almost hear her rolling her eyes.

'As you wish, Miss Waters,' I chuckled.

Haley lived in a house similar to mine. It was overall painted white with exception of the doors and windows which were painted the different shades of red. My favorite colors. The windows were beautiful and high arched with velvet drapes framed around them. The lower window flanked a grey fabric sofa with burgundy throw.

She and I have been friends since... well, forever. We've been studying together in school since kindergarten and now our sophomore year was going on. Looking at the house from afar, I started recalling all those times we've had sleepovers here. Once, Mr. and Mrs. Waters were out of city for three days due to business, trusting Haley with the house, alone. Just an hour after her parents left for the airport, Haley texted the whole school, 'Party at my place. Now.'

Stupid as she was, she had no clue her parents' flight would be delayed and that they would be coming home. After an hour or two, we heard their car being parked in the driveway. Panic rose in the room, some jumped out the back windows, some too stunned to move. The main door had opened and I remember that scene very well and the words that had come out of the personage behind the threshold. 'YOUNG LADY! YOU ARE GROUNDED!' Mr. Waters's eyes had raged, 'Everybody out! NOW!' Man, was it not creepy?

       Thump thump! I knocked on the door. It swung open as fast as the lightning strikes. 'Finally! Now let's go!' Haley clutched on to my hand. Haley's mom emerged from her back. 'Good afternoon, Mrs. Waters,' greeted I. She smiled in reply, 'So where are you taking her?'

'Surprise,' I winked. Haley rolled her eyes. A habit, I much loathed about her.  She was appareled in long, strapless, sapphire blue dress of silk, with imprinted designs of clouds. Her voluminous, champagne curls cascaded over her white shoulders, wafting a delicate aroma of honeysuckle into the air.

'Eyeliner on fleek, bro,' I gave her an Okay gesture.

'Me is on fleek,' she winked. Being friends for more than a decade, we had come to a conclusion that giving direct compliments and saying thanks in return is for fake friends. She handed me her car keys and we jaunted toward our destination.           

Haley put on the song 'Getaway car' by Taylor Swift. 'Listen to it— it's from her new album.' We listened to it in silence. I got so engrossed in it that the next thing I knew, I was crying. 'Are you cryi- OH MY GOD KAT! LOOK—' not knowingly, I had peeled my eyes off of the road. The jolt of a five-ton truck, going fifty miles an hour pushing straight into the passenger side, had the potency of a nuclear bomb. It mutilated off the doors and flipped the body, jouncing it across the road. The engine was rived apart. The wheels were bunged away from the car and bits of fire were ignited by the gas tank.