Tragedy ✔️

Chapter Forty One

Chapter Forty One: Spending Christmas Eve Alone
Sophia Crawford

I have always known that River used rude comebacks as a defence mechanism because of what happened to him in the past. I have seen it first-hand on many occasions before, but what he said to me after the visit to Daniel's grave was unforgivable. I never thought that those cruel words could ever leave his mouth, but he just had to prove that he could hurt me on the day I was the most hurt.

I wanted to make peace with the fact that the accident was my fault and that I should own up to my mistakes, and I was mentally prepared to do so, but then Daniel's mother came to me and said that the accident was never my fault and it threw everything off course.

I didn't know if I should be relieved or heartbroken.

A part of me was relieved, don't get me wrong, but the other part was also heartbroken because if I didn't tell him that I wanted to run away with him that night, he would have still been here. If we never got in his car that night, the accident wouldn't have happened and Daniel would have still been here today.

I have lived with the guilt of losing Daniel in that accident, thinking that I have caused it in the first place by looking away from the road, and today I have found out that the accident would have been inevitable anyways because the guy who drove into us was drunk and he drove straight into our lane that night.

It was a lot of information to process in a single day, seeing that I have lived with the guilt of losing Daniel in that accident, thinking that I have caused it in the first place by looking away from the road for a few months, and today I found out that the accident would have been inevitable anyways because the guy who drove into us was drunk and he drove straight into our lane that night.

I went to River's house because he knew how it felt first-hand to lose someone he loved, but then I found my ring-the ring Daniel used to propose to me-lying on his nightstand.

And when I confronted him about it, he said the most despicable thing to me a person could ever say to someone. And the fact that it was on the day of Daniel's birthday made it even more despicable, because he was there, he saw the tears streaming down my face when I said goodbye to Daniel.

He knew I was in pain and heartbroken.

He knew I was processing the things Mrs Oakley has said to me.

He knew, because he was there.

"It's not like he can be angry at you for losing it!"

His harsh words were still ringing in my ears; I was still struggling to process the fact that he has said those cruel words to me today, out of all the other days.

I can't believe I have fallen for his kindness.

I can't believe I have actually started to like him, either.