Apparently, winter didn't like anyone that year.
More icy roads, with more black ice than ever. Another car accident, as well. My parents and I were there, headed home from the grocery store. Another intersection, another car in the ditch, another 911 call.
The college-age boy in one car had major injuries: broken arm, broken nose, cracked ribs, deep cuts made by stray glass shards. The girl in the other car had minor physical injuries.
I sat in the truck this time, watching my parents struggle to get the boy out of the smoking car. They finally did it, and dragged him towards the side of the truck, where they sat him up against the door. He thanked them, somehow getting the words out of his mouth with a bit tongue and several lost or broken teeth, so they left to help the girl.
I climbed down from the truck, and sat next to the boy. He looked at me with his golden-brown eyes, his long blond hair falling into his eyes. "I have a sister the same age as you," he says, and I nod. His breathing sounded like Emily's, and the blood soaking through his shirt was worrying me. "Do you think I'm gonna die?" he asks me, and I nod, looking him in the eye.
"Well, that's nice," he says sarcastically, a laugh in his words. "I've seen three people die," I inform him. "One just eleven ago. You sound like she did. And, the blood on your chest is growing. You're not gonna make it to the ambulance. Even if you do, you'll die along the way. You've lost too much blood already."
The boy blinks at me, startled, then smiles a practically-toothless smile. "Well, seems like you know your stuff, then. I'm Jacob, by the way." He holds out his hand, which I shake, ignoring the blood on it. "Saira," I say, and Jacob smiles. "My girlfriend's name is Sara. She must be worried about me," Jacob says, and I smile slightly. "You don't seem too worried about death," I tell him, and he laughs, though chokes on his blood as he does.
Once he spits out the glob of blood that got stuck in his throat, he says,"I'm a Christian. I'll know that when my time comes, I'll go to Heaven. And besides. I can feel myself dying, just as you said. I'm determined to face my fate head-on. I'm not a coward. I won't run from the truth." I watch Jacob, memorizing his eyes, his hair, his features, for I now, somehow, that he'll remain on Earth as a ghost until I can do right by telling him of his death, his future.
"Well, it was nice meeting you, Saira," Jacob says after a while, and I hear the catch in his voice. "You're going to come back as a ghost, you know," I say, and he smiles. "I'll know when that time comes, Saira. But, for now, long live God and Jesus Christ." So, shutting my mouth, I lean back against the truck, and watch the light leave Jacob's brown-gold eyes.
I feel no remorse for this, for telling the boy of his future. And, right as his soul leaves his body, I see his blue-white form rise from the ground right at his body's feet. He looks down at himself, then up at me. "Huh. Guess you were right," he says. I smile and nod, then get yanked roughly up to my feet by my father.
The ambulance is here, and is taking the girl to the hospital. My parents tell me that were going to the hospital as well, since this girl is one of our neighbors as well.
Strangely, no one seems to notice the glowing blue boy sitting next to me in the truck. My five-year old self doesn't say anything about this, since I was forming a theory that no one could see Jacob.
If only other people could. If only my family could. Then they'd know that they would die in a fire in nine short years. Then they'd be alive.
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In the Middle of the Bed (A Saira Collings Story)
قصص الهواةAs you may have guessed, this is the story about Saira Collings. Or, more accurately, twenty-seven stories about her. Some you know; some you don't. Read the tales about the woman who has seen and caused more death than any other. Read to find out j...
