Interrupted Times

As I sit here waiting, I start to think maybe she isn't coming. It's been two hours past the time she was supposed to be here. Although I knew she was gonna be late, she texted, " I'm going to be a little late; my boss is making me stay late. I need to go to the shop to get my hair done, sorry." That was fine though I still needed to finish setting up anyways.

After a while, I called her, it went straight to voicemail. So I texted her, it says she read the messages, but she hasn't replied. The last text she read was over an hour ago. "Text me when you're almost here." was the message read.

I sat there trying to eat some of the food though all I really did was pick at it lost my appetite after a couple of bites. Then I heard a noise by the door, almost bolted to the door until I realized it was just the balloons starting to deflate. I had gone to the store and got the balloons yesterday, did not think I wasn't going to have time to buy them. While still being able to finish decorating today.

Thinking it was best to get away from the food, I blew out the candles. I went to the door, picked up all the presents on the ground, set them on the table next to the door. After that, I went to our room and looked around. The bed was still a mess from this morning. I don't know what I was looking for or if I should even be looking. I was looking for a reason why she didn't show tonight. All her clothes are still here, no sign of her wanting to leave.

My pocket started to feel heavy so, I pulled out the box and opened it. A glistening diamond ring was staring back at me. We've been together for years. I thought it was time to put a ring on her finger. Guess I was wrong. I walked out of our room and set the ring on the counter.

Her Pov

I'm late; I was supposed to be there thirty minutes ago. I'm trying to keep it together. I already texted that I was going to be late. I couldn't help feeling bad nonetheless. My boss made me stay thirty minutes over. Even after being informed it was my boyfriend and my anniversary, we had dinner plans tonight. He didn't care though he was bitter because his wife left him for someone better.

Now that I finally left work, I have to make my way to the hair salon, which was a twenty-minute drive from here. At first, I was going to get a slick back ponytail with curls. It was going to take too long, so I am just going to have it flat ironed. The hairstylist was twenty minutes late, which didn't help me at all. He had said, "text me when you're almost here." I couldn't respond because the hairstylist finally showed up and wanted to get right to work. It took about forty minutes to flat iron my hair.

I'm on my way home from the salon. It was only a five to ten-minute drive considering the traffic. However, when I pulled up to the apartment complex, I realized no parking spots were available on the block. So I had to go a few blocks down until I found a parking spot down the street from a corner store.

I was walking down the street. At the end of the curb, there was a stop sign. So I continued walking one foot touched the pavement as a car came speeding, not stopping at the stop sign. My heart was beating so fast I lowkey thought it was going to come out of my chest. I decided to stay on the curb a little longer and send a message. "Hey, Baby, I know I'm super late, but I'm walking down the street now. I love yo-."

I felt this intense impact; then I felt like I was flying until I wasn't. The last thing I remember is typing "I love you."

Third-Person Point of View

As she was standing on the curb typing the rest of her message to her lover, she looked up and saw the street was empty. No car had come for a while, so she figured it was safe. She started crossing her text was basically done, but before she could type "u" and hit sent, she felt her body being flung high in the sky and coming down hard on the ground. Another car came speeding down the street and hit her before either one realized what had happened.

His point of view

I looked out the window because I could hear sirens. I didn't think much about it. I can't see them from here, though they didn't sound like they were too far away. I wonder what's happening. I sat on the couch drinking some whiskey when it finally hit me. She wasn't coming. I stood up and threw the glass at the wall before I snatched up my jacket and walked out of the apartment. I headed to the corner store a couple of blocks away. I turned the corner and seen that an ambulance flying past me with its sirens blaring. When I got on the block, I saw the side street was taped off and, there was a pool of blood on the concrete. I was about to keep walking when something told me to ask what had happened.

I walked up to one of the cops and asked, "what happened?"

"Some dude came speeding down the street and hit this unfortunate lady." The cop said with a look of sorrow.

For some reason, my heart started beating faster. I pulled my phone out to call her. While also looking for her car. Her phone just kept ringing; then I spotted her car down the street.

My world felt like it was crumbling around me. My vision started getting blurry. I tried to calm my breathing while convincing myself it wasn't her.

When I finally got it levelheaded, I walked up to the cop and asked, "Did you find out who the lady was?"

"Yeah, we found her I.D., sucks too because she was just a couple blocks from home." The cop replied.

I asked, " Is it HER?" and told the cop her name.

The cop looked shocked and asked, "How do you know her?"

"I'm her boyfriend. Do you know what hospital they took her to?" I responded.

The cop told me what hospital they took her to. So I ran to her car with the spare key and drove off to the hospital. When I got inside, I went up to the front desk, and two ladies were sitting there.

I looked to the lady on the right and asked about her. She looked her up then her face went blank. She tapped the lady next to her whom face also went blank. They picked up a phone and called for a doctor. I'm guessing he was her doctor. I sat there for a minute or two.

The doctor came up to me and said, "follow me to my office so we can talk."

When we made it to his office, he shut the door and told me to take a seat. After I sat down, I looked up at him and, the look on his face almost made me advise him to shut up before he even started talking.

He started by saying, "the accident caused some bones to be broken and severe head trauma." There was barely a pause as he was talking.

As he was speaking, my heart started beating unusually fast, and my hands gripped the arms of the chair. Eventually, I couldn't hear him anymore as the blood started rushing to my ears. I stood up and tried to leave, but my legs failed me. I fell to my knees in his office.

Third-person point of view

The doctor saw this coming. It happens every time. He went to the door, opened it and, asked a nurse to bring him some cold water. The doctor went back to him and tried to get him to slow his breathing down. He felt the doctor next to him, and he heard some type of mumbling. He guessed the doctor was trying to talk to him, but nothing was coming through.

Finally, the doctor noticed that he was calming down a bit and pulled him to his feet, and proceeded to push him into a chair. When his breathing slowed down, his body released most of the tenseness, the doctor tried to give him the cup of water, but his hand was shaking too much he dropped the water on the ground.

The doctor decided that he had enough for right now, so he told a nurse to escort him to a room he could stay in for the night. The doctor wanted him to be in a room already because he didn't even get a chance to him the rest of what happened before he had a panic attack.

His point of view

A couple of hours later, the doctor came to check up on me. I was trying to rest but, my mind just wouldn't shut off. Deep down, I knew my baby didn't make it, but I wanted to hold on to this shred of hope that maybe I was just thinking the worst.

The doctor tried to beat around the bush, but frustratedly I told him to "cut to the chase and tell me if she is alive or not."

"I'm sorry to inform you that she didn't make it." He said sadly. After a slight pause, he continued on, "you are allowed to go see her body if you want to."

He took me down to the mortuary. At the entrance, I hesitated ongoing in. I stood right outside the door trying, my hardest not to cry because the last thing I wanted was to have another breakdown in the hospital. One of the freezer doors was open as I walked in, a slab was pulled out, and the sheet was still pulled over her body.

The closer I got, the more laborious it felt to breathe, also the heavier my feet felt. Finally, when I was ready, the doctor lifted the sheet from over her face. I was stuck, couldn't breathe. I literally held my breath and just stared nonblinking for a full five minutes.

I reached out to touch her, but I stopped right before touching her face. I knew she wasn't gonna feel the same, and I had to be sure I wanted to commit that feeling to memory. In the end, the impression of her skin was something I needed to remember. I rubbed my thumb against her cheek, then kissed her forehead, and softly spoke, "I love you." and with that, I was gone out of the hospital.

I went to our apartment and switched cars. I never went back up the stairs. The doctor told me before I left that he called her parents. They were on the way, they only lived five hours away, so they should be there by now.

Time jump

I will never get used to pulling up to a graveyard. The first time I had to come to have the funeral was a weird experience. I was at peace knowing that she was finally put to rest. But, I was also feeling the heartache because I would never be able to hold her, see her smile or hear her laugh again. Each visit feels different. Today though, it was comparable to what I felt when we had to bury her.

I was standing outside the apartment a year later. I paid the rent for this whole year to be allowed to keep everything in here until I was ready to come back. It was the first anniversary of her passing. When I walked in, I braced myself for the smell of rotten food. Instead, I was faced with deflated balloons on the ground, but I didn't smell anything. I picked up the balloons and went to throw them away, and I still didn't see any food. Coming out of the kitchen, I stopped right when I got in the doorway. Looking back at me was myself. There was a circular hanging with polaroids stuck on the inside. Under the mirror were all the presents that we were going to give to each other.

Walking more into the front of the apartment, I saw the dining table where two taper candle holders with a third candle left, rose petals were on the ground around the table. There were also a lot of deflated balloons on the floor. I did a 180 of the living room and dining area stopping at our photo wall. Photos of me, her, our parents, and our friends hung upon the wall. There was this feeling of nostalgia. Like there was a hole in my chest that couldn't close no matter what.

The sun was reflecting off of something on the counter. There it was, the ring in all its glory shining bright. I felt my heart breaking all over again. That ring that held so much promise at one point is now just a symbol of something that will never be.

After admiring the living room, I walked into our bedroom, and everything was still the same; the bed was still unmade. I smiled just a little we never liked to make it unless we were cleaning. Our clothes were scattered around. I go to the bathroom, and again everything about her hit me all over again. I think I'm imagining it, but I can still smell her favorite perfume. I looked in the mirror and almost scared myself, the bags under my eyes were so deep, and my eyes were red. I just hung my head low as a few tears dropped from my eyes.

Looking at myself one last time, I walked into the closet where all of our clothes are I walked to her, side moving and smelling all of the clothes. Then I got to the end, where her favorite dress was. I took it off the hanger and pulled it to my face. Then, using the wall, I slid down and balled my eyes out. For us, today was always gonna be the day time was interrupted for us.