At Dusk

Reflexes

They drove in silence for a while. There seemed to be nothing left to say. Angela couldn't come. They couldn't stay. 

"When are we supposed to depart?"

"Laura?" He called when she failed to reply.

"In three hours," she said, looking ahead, eyes vague and lost. "This should have worked."

"It may yet. She might contact us once we land. She will come to meet us."

"They will never let her. She thinks it's a choice they'll respect. It isn't."

"She will find a way."

"Are you really coming with me?" She asked, eyes tearing up now.

He held her hand in his and kissed it. "As I should have done all those years ago."

"Thank you," she said, holding his hand tightly, never wanting to let go. "I love you." 

"I know," he replied, smiling. 

That was when they felt the first blow. Their necks whiplashed against the headrest. Someone had hit them from behind. Mathias almost lost control of the car, having to hold with both hands the stirring wheel in order to keep driving forward. She looked back to understand what had just happened, only to see the black SUV about to strike again. Its bumpers and headlights had barely a scratch on them. 

Safety lights flashed across their dashboard. 

"What's going on?" He asked. 

"I don't know, all I can see is a black car coming toward us."

"Maybe they are in trouble."

Mathias sped up and switched lanes. Their pursuer did the same, mimicking his gestures.  

"They are doing it on purpose," she stated holding onto her seat. 

The black SUV kept coming for them until it hit them from the left, which was enough to knock their small Peugeot 208 to the side. The last thing she thought as the car rolled onto itself was that their seatbelts were tightly on and that ought to count toward something. 

The car finally stopped, overturned. Off the highway. 

She was the first to wake up. Her head spun and her neck hurt. But she was aware they had been in a traffic accident. 

She looked at Mathias, to see if he was awakening too, but his head just hang, strangely loose, as if unconnected to the rest of his body. She passed out again. When she woke up, her seatbelt was already detached and she had fallen to the floor, which now was the ceiling. There were sirens all around her. 

Someone was trying to pull her out. She resisted. Mathias was still there, she would remain by his side. But the pulling grew stronger and, at some point, she could resist any longer. She called Mathias. Again and again. Desperately, with all the strength she had left until she passed out again.

She woke up once more inside the ambulance. The reality of what had happened dawned on her. Mathias was the only word she knew, the only word she wanted to know. 

***

The days at the hospital blended together. Doctors and nurses appeared and disappeared. There were flowers beside her bed and a note from Angela. She ignored them. The pain was the only thing she experienced. 

The deep, all-consuming void she felt emanating from her chest kept her awake, night after night. The doctors were obliged to use sedatives. Otherwise, they said, she would not recover from her injuries. Broken ribs, a broken arm, and an extremely sore neck. 

There was something else she would never recover from, she knew. 

The investigation into the accident was ongoing. She had given her statement, both in the hospital and when she left. She had described the black SUV and even recovered part of the plate from her memory. She had shared with the police the note that had appeared next to her bed one day. 

You tried to take something from me, but it seems I took something from you in return. 

L.

It was written elegantly and it could only have come from one person. She told the police as much. But they said it was inconclusive. Just like everything else surrounding the accident. 

She went to visit his grave. Once, twice, three times. The place, the same cemetery where her father had been buried, was becoming a pilgrimage site for her, as if she could, little by little bury herself with him and finally share the time and space they would have shared if he had not been murdered. 

All was dark. Dark was all she wanted as she swore she would take revenge on all of them.