A Tragic Hero

Chapter 3

One month later

    

Sky let out a heavy sigh as she pulled into her son's elementary pick up lane, several cars waiting ahead of her already. She held her bills in one hand and her phone in the other. After some quick calculations, she realized that even with all her money that she had been saving for the last three weeks, she would still be behind on her monthly payments, which meant extra hours. It also meant she would have to call Peter. Again. The last two payments, she had been able to convince him to just give her a little more time. This time, she really doubted that her efforts would succeed.
   Stuffing all the cursed bills back into her purse, she eased her car into the children's pick up stop. As Jake ran towards her car, she wiped all traces of sadness from her face. She didn't want Jake to worry. She just wanted him to be happy.
   "Hey momma!"
   "Howdy, cowboy. Have a good day?"
   Clicking on his seat belt,  Jake sent her a grin.
   "Yah! We saw a baby rabbit at recess. He was far away from home. That's what Mrs Hill said. He was so small and fuzzy!"
   Chuckling at her son's story, Sky turned into regular traffic once more.
   "What did you do today, momma?"
   "Well..."
In  a flash all of the bad things that had gone down that morning came to mind. But, not wanting to dampen her son's high spirits, Sky smiled at Jake in the rear view mirror.
    "I stopped at Mr. Willows today to give him some yummy brownies I made after I dropped you off at school this morning. You now how much he loves brownies."
    "Oh yah. I saw him eat four one time, all by himself!"
    Sky clicked on her turning signal at a busy intersection as she smirked to herself. Mr. Willows was her next door neighbor, an 80 year old widower who loved sweets as much as he loved life itself. He was another friend of hers who had helped her through her first few months without Noah here in Portland.
    As she turned right and sped down the road, Ryder Clinton's face came to mind.
Funny, she hadn't thought about him since the day he had returned her hand bag back to her. He had handled the situation with care and had stayed with her until her breakfast was finished and handed to her by one of the cooks. She had called Jake, and after waving hesitantly at Ryder, she had escaped from his presence once more. He had not followed her that time, obviously because he didn't have any reason to. But still, she wondered where he was now and what he was doing with his life.
    "Momma?"
   Sky glanced back at her son as she drove towards an exit ramp that led to their neighborhood.
     "Yes, cowboy?"
     "Was...was my daddy nice?"
   Sky's throat begin to close and she blinked to keep any tears from falling. Clearing her throat, she slowed down some as she approached a stop sign.
     "Jake, your daddy was the nicest man there ever was. He was so happy when he found out he was going to have a son to play with. He worked extra, extra hard, making sure we had everything we needed for you when you came home with us. He laughed a lot too and smiled every time he talked about his 'lil' man to be'."
    "Really?" Jake's azure eyes lit up.
    "Really."
    "Now...now he's waiting up in heaven for me and you, right?"
    Sky became silent, not trusting her voice to speak. She nodded her head instead and Jake seemed to accept her gesture.
     "You know," Sky spoke up when her voice finally returned,"you have your daddy's eyes."
     Jake's grin enhanced twice as large than it had been just a second ago.
    "Really?" His voice was full of wonder and pure joy.
   Sky laughed at his excitement. Reaching back, she placed her hand on top of his golden curls.
    "And his smile too."
    "Really, really, really?!"
   Ruffling her son's hair softly, she sat back in her seat. If he kept smiling like that, he might actually hurt himself.
    "Really, really, really."
     "Wow!"
    Jake began to bounce up and down and she just laughed all the while. Placing a hand on his knee, she shushed him, still giggling some. He settled down at her touch and gave her a sweet smile.
      "Momma, I love you."
   Tearing up, Sky returned his smile.
       "I love you too, cowboy."
    After a few more seconds of simple peace, Jake leaned back in his car seat and began to dig through his book bag. Closing her eyes as she gripped the steering wheel, Sky banished all the sorrow of the memory of her husband and held onto ever last word from her son instead. His smile and laughter alone made her day and her life worth living. Never would she take his joy for granted. Never.
     Pushing the gas petal to finally cross the road, she gave Jake a final glance in the rear view mirror. He caught her glance and smiled.
  Little did she know that that would be the last time she saw his beautiful smile for a long, long time.
    Jake's eyes flashed out his window and she watched as terror struck inside them.
    "Momma!"
  Time slowed. A blaring horn sounded to her left. She turned just a second before the U-haul truck slammed into her tiny car. Her head smacked the steering wheel at its impact. Her Honda flipped. Once. Twice. Tires screeched and she forgot everything else when she finally picked up Jake's terrified scream.
   The car stopped its crazed roll and finally settled on its wheels. Smoke began to fume from her hood. Everything hurt. She lifted her foggy head and caught sight then of the most horrifying image she had ever seen  in her cracked side mirror. It was Jake, leaning against his smashed car door, glass from the broken window everywhere, with blood splattered across his face and on his clothes. He was as still as a rock, not moving an inch. Her body went cold. The blackness began to cover her vision and the last thing she saw was a bloody hand print on the seat where her son had been smiling just seconds ago, telling her what she feared would be his last words.
                                             🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓

     The smell of fire settled in her nose, waking her up. Sky struggled to open her eyes. Her head was pounding and her left arm felted like lead. What had happened? Her side felt as if it were on fire. Her entire body shook and she tried with all her might to regain control.
She managed to open her eyes to slits. Her car door was bent inward, her jeans ripped, the skin beneath it bleeding. She shifted slightly to her right. Big mistake. A shock wave of pain rippled through her entire body, her burned and bruised side exceeding ten levels of pain higher. She could move her head at least. She slowly gazed out of her shattered window to discover the U-haul truck that had crashed into them, just a couple of feet away. The driver's door was flung open and, hanging from his seat belt, was the driver. The front of the truck had smashed his half that was still inside the truck from the waist down. His arms and face were covered in blood. He wasn't moving. Dead, she realized.
Sky's heart rate spiked. She shut her eyes and began to sob. That was an image that would never be erased from her memory. His body was mangled, all wrong and twisted. His blood, everywhere. His breath, gone. She couldn't hold her terror and sorrow down anymore. Turning her head to the passengers seat, she freely threw up.
Wiping her face with a shaky palm, a faint whimper captured her attention. Yanking her eyes to look in the rear view mirror, her breath caught in her famished throat.
Jake leaned forward now, with his face downcast to where she couldn't see it. He was still motionless, but a small cry escaped from him. His blonde curls were tainted with splotches of crimson blood. A drop of his blood fell from one curl, landing in a pool of blood already at his feet. The true panic of her situation finally settled in.
  "Jake?"
      Her voice came out hoarse but full of emotion.
  "Jake?!"
Sky summoned all her strength and turned her pounding head to fully face her seriously injured son. Not able to reach out to him yet, in fear of hurting him more, she continued to call out to her son.
"Jake? Wake up. Look at momma. Please Jake, wake up. Jake!"
No response. Even his tiny cries had abruptly halted. She feared her worst nightmare had just come true. Her one and only child was truly...dead.
    "No, no!"
   Forgetting all about her own pain, Sky screamed with all her might as she tried to twist around fully in her seat.
    "Help! Someone help! Anyone, please! Help! Oh God, someone help!"
    Her efforts to re-adjust her position were useless. She was just too sore. Slumping back in her seat, she began to weep bitterly. She lifted her eyes to the roof of her car and yelled as loud as she possibly could.
"God! What have I done to deserve this? Help my son! Please, save my boy! Take my life, not his. I beg you!"
    Scanning around with her eyes once more, a single though now set itself in her mind. She had to help her son. She would not accept the notion that he had breathed his last. She needed to call 911.
Searching her car while drowning out all her hurt, she sighed loudly. Where was her phone?!
   "Come on, come on!"
The sun glinted through the still intact back window, making her phone shine back up at her from the backseat.
   "Thank God!"
     Pulling her tired body to its limit, Sky reached over and grabbed her phone. She wiped her bloody finger tips on her ripped jeans and with her last reserves, dialed 911.
"Please, God, don't...don't take my son."