Crash

Darkness faded as the sounds of the crash rang sharply through her ears. A thick fog seemed to be clearing and for the first time in what felt like forever, the girl was starting to see again. As she lifted her head she felt a sharp pain radiate down from her temple to her neck. She could feel the ground, cold and stiff, beneath her fingers, and, for no real reason, dug them weakly into the earth. Someone was calling her name, shaking her.

“Come on! Come on – wake up!” her vision cleared some more and she realized it was her boyfriend, with a deep, red gash spread across his face. He was looking at her worriedly, though a wave of relief swept over his face once he saw her waking.

“Thank God!” he sighed, putting his arms around her and carefully lifting her up, “I thought… come on, sit up,”

“Kendal,” she muttered as more of her senses returned, “What – what happened? Where’s Dad?” And why did everything hurt?

“Nikki, I – I’m so sorry…” her boyfriend whispered sadly. Suddenly the memory slammed into her mind, as painfully as they had slammed into that tree, and she whirled around, ignoring the stabbing pain, to find her stepmother motionless in her seat with one hand dangling from the window. Her father wept pitifully on the ground, his hands wrapped sorrowfully around his dead-wife’s fingers.

“Dad!” Nikki cried and scrambled for him, her boyfriend calling for her to take it easy. “Dad! Are you okay? Are you hurt?” It was a useless question, she knew; the way he held his arm and the way the blood dripped down his face was the only answer she would ever need. He made no reply at first and simply stroked his wife’s hand as tears dripped from his eyes.

“Oh, Beverly,” he said softly, “I’m sorry – I’m so sorry,”

“Dad we, we have to get her help,” Nikki insisted helplessly, “we have to go get help.”

“It’s too late,” he replied drunkenly, “It’s too late.”

“Come on, Nik,” her boyfriend said, putting his hands on her shoulders. “We’ll go get help for them. It’ll be alright.” Nikki, so stunned and in so much pain, nodded feebly in agreement and allowed herself to be led away from the wreckage.

“We’ll be right back, okay Dad?” she called over her shoulders, “We’ll be right back.” He made no reply, and only sat there, stroking his dead wife’s hand.

“Oh God, this can’t be happening,” she muttered under her breath as she and Kendal staggered along the road. She pressed her hands against her eyes, trying to fight off a fresh assault of tears.

“This can’t be real – why am I seeing this? Why is this happening?” But she knew that perfectly well, too. It

was happening because she’d gone to a party with her parents. It was happening because they were both drinking and knew they shouldn’t have been (it was their goal to stay on the bandwagon this time). It was happening because rather than calling for a cab or just spending the night, Nikki’s dad thought he could make the six mile drive back to their house. It was happening because he couldn’t, and neither Nikki nor her boyfriend was old enough to drive.

Suddenly she stopped, with her face still burrowed in her hands. Her head pounded mercilessly and her limbs ached all over. Everything hurt. Everything hurt so badly. And she was tired; much too tired and much too weak to walk. She dropped to her knees and started to lie down.

“No, don’t!” her boyfriend cried. He rushed back to her, realizing just in time that she’d fallen behind. “Nikki, come on, get up.”

“I just want to lie down for a few minutes. Just until everything stops hurting.”

“You can’t,” Kendal replied sternly, practically dragging her to her feet. “Don’t lie down. Don’t go to sleep. If you do that you might never wake up again.”

They made small talk along the three mile stretch. Nikki did most of the talking, telling her boyfriend stories from her past, long before she ever moved to this town. It was unusual for Kendal to be the listener like this – normally he was such a chatterbox. But he insisted that she talk to him, the whole way back, believing, Nikki knew, that it

would help her to stay awake. It was probably a good thing, too – as the Donnelly’s house drifted back into view, Nikki began to feel light headed again.

“Come on,” Kendal grunted, forcing her forward, “Almost there, come on!”

“Okay, okay!” Nikki snapped irritably. If he was going to be this forceful all the time, then maybe she wouldn’t go to homecoming with him after all! Nikki and Kendal’s footfalls echoed loudly through the night as they clamored up the front porch. The windows were dark at the front of the house, but the distinct sounds of a television reached her ears and filled her with a sense of relief. She rang the doorbell, and Kendal, being more impatient, banged loudly on the door.

“Hey!” he shouted, “Help! We need some help!” Nikki listened and heard footsteps coming down the hallway inside. Her head felt fuzzy again and she swayed. She felt Kendal grab her by the shoulders and keep her up right.

“Hang on, Nik,” he said, “Just a little longer. Come on already!” he said back to the door. Then, as if on cue, the locks clattered loudly and the front door fell away.

“Nikki!” Mr. Donnelly gasped. “What in the world!” But Nikki couldn’t take it any longer. Her legs finally gave out and the world went black again.

When she woke up she was in the hospital. Her mother was at her side, reading an old magazine, and nearly

burst into tears when she saw her daughter awake.

“Nikki! Oh, sweetheart, thank God you’re okay.”

“Mom,” Nikki replied gratefully. She looked around the room, hoping her boyfriend would be there. “Where’s Kendal? Is he okay?” her mother furrowed her brow worriedly. Then, all at once, her confusion gave way to remorse.

“Kendal? Oh, honey, I- I thought you knew. They told me you came back alone so I thought you already knew.” Nikki’s heart turned cold and she asked her mother what she meant. And so her mother told her the story – the real story:

They had been driving back to Nikki’s house after the party. And her father had lost control of the car, and crashed into a tree. Nikki had climbed out of the car and walked back to the Donnelly’s house to get help. But her father hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the car and died. Her stepmother had been crushed in the front seat, and had died as well. And Kendal – poor Kendal had been killed on impact and never left the backseat…

…but not even death could stop him from saving her life. It sounded crazy and unreal, but Nikki just had to believe that. Not even death could stop him from loving her with all his heart.

END

Author’s Note:

This was one of my first stabs at micro-fiction, way back when in 2019. I’d like to rewrite it into something more someday.