What She Left Me

Chapter 2-A meeting

I guess having my first introduction back into regular life being on a Friday wasn't such a bad idea. After getting home I slept for a full 21 hrs. Even though I don't remember going through most of my day, it had exhausted me. I woke to the full sunshine of noon and an empty house. Mom worked from home while I missed school the last couple of weeks, and that meant she needed to go into the office on the weekend to finish up her work and turn in or gather whatever she needed for the following week.

I put my feet on the floor and went to the kitchen. There was a Saran wrapped plate with a sandwich on it, and a Post-It designating it for my consumption. I sat at the counter and ate the dry bread and turkey. Once I had finished, I went back up to my room stood a moment in the doorway, just looking at all my things. 3 weeks ago, Mr. and Mrs. Wilk would have probably done the same thing to her room. Seeing all the things she had owned but would no longer use again. My mom almost had to do that. It really made me think about the worth of all the things I owned. None of this stuff comes with me when I'm gone. It just becomes a small reminder of my existence.

In that moment I wanted to leave the house, for the first time in nearly a month. I changed into some jeans and threw a jacket on over my shirt. I got my tennis shoes from the front door and slid my phone into my back pocket and set off from the house.

I walked towards town but found the sidewalks too crowded. I should have figured town would be busy being that it was the weekend. While I didn't feel like being stuck in the house, that didn't mean I didn't want to be alone. I kept my head down as I passed by all the small shops and made it to the other side of town before following the main road that led out of town.

Soon the sounds of civilization were far behind me, and the only sounds were my footfall on the side of the road, and the birds in the forest around me. I walked for a while, not heading anywhere really. Just walking. The shadows from the forest lengthened so that they covered more of the road. I checked the time, and it was nearly 2:30. I almost decided to turn around, but I had spotted something by the side of the road, just a few feet from where I was standing.

I approached it and realized where I had ended up. I managed to walk all the way to the site of the crash. On the side of the road, much like on her locker at school, was a memorial of Teresa. A small cross stuck in the ground, surrounded by a few flowers, and stuffed bears. Her name was written in the wood of the cross. I approached it and really took it all in. I hadn't been back here since I was rescued from the car.

On the road, you could see the tire marks that lead into the trees. I moved closer to the tree line. The trees closest to the road seemed like they had scrapes along their trunks, and I could see a visible gap where the car had gone through. Even some tread remained in the earth where it had dug in down the incline. I could also see the place the car had finally stopped when it had run smack into a tree. I had seen pictures of the scene. Pictures that had been taken after both bodies had been removed. The form of the car was smashed in, almost as if the tree had grown in the middle of the hood, with the front wind shield shattered glass lying on the ground and hood.

I walked forward into the woods, and walked the path made by my car down to that tree. No debris remained. I expected something to have ended up left behind, glass or a piece of metal, but they had erased any clue that an accident had occurred aside from the blemishes to the trees. I sat down at the base of the tree and looked back and up through the gap towards the road. Even from here, in the daylight, it would have been impossible to see a car down here.

"Maura? Is that you?"

I jumped slightly taken by surprise, and my eyes followed to the place I heard the voice. I recognized the voice before I saw his face. The boy who had always been around while growing up and may have been my first crush even though he was always off limits.

"Marek?"

Teresa's older brother. He had grown up either messing with us, or just ignoring us as he matured. He had graduated this past year and joined some of the other local boys in firemen training. He always was the hero type. Even if he ignored us, he never allowed for anyone to pick on Teresa or me. Though, there was nothing he could have done to save Teresa that night. Even by the time he arrived with the fire department and the jaws of life. She was already gone.

"How...how are you doing?" He asks. He shouldn't be the one asking that. I'm alive. His sister isn't.

"Good enough. I'm sorry for your loss." I struggled through the words, my throat tight with guilt and unshed tears. It had been a minute since I've spoken to anybody besides mom or Dr. Graham. To be honest, I wasn't up to speaking, especially not to the family member of my dead best friend that I killed.

"Hey, you lost her too. We know it wasn't your fault." That hurt even more. They don't blame me, but they should.

"I'm, alive and she isn't. I think we know who lost more...."

I stood up to leave, but as I made a step towards the road, Marek grabbed my hand and stopped me. My body tensed up, ready for him to yell at me. I wished he would yell at me. Or hit me even. Someone should have yelled at me by now.

But instead, he walked around to face me, and wrapped his arms around me. I'm not sure if it was because I was caught off guard, or if it was because I was still so emotionally tired, but a tear slipped from my eye. And once that one fell, the rest followed. My body relaxed into the embrace and my body was wracked with sobs. My knees no longer held my weight, but the arms I was held by didn't let go. I held onto his shirt with clenches fists. He eventually brought us down onto the forest floor, where he continued to hold me as I cried.