CONTRITE ; vk [✓]

•

10, 212 Words

This is as good as it's going to get. I wrote this over 4 years ago and I'm not going to edit it. I may rewrite it at a later date, but for now I'm simply putting this back up.

- Riley.
;3/6/23

--

I could remember the whole incident clearly.

It was April 17th, two years after we had started dating.

We'd decided to go to an event in Seoul and then go to dinner as a way to celebrate.

It was 3:48, about 30 minutes before we would arrive at our destination, when I noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

A truck swerved off the road, and another driver had panicked and yanked their steering wheel in the opposite direction.

Our direction.

It wasn't her fault, no.

It was the guy behind the truck.

That damn driver.

He had been drunk and he ended up ramming into a truck, pushing it away, leading that driver to panic and pull their wheel in an effort to stop.

The lady that had been scared slammed into the driver's side, pushing our car to the side of the road, nearly off of it entirely, as well as smashing the windows on the side and the windshield. The impact instantly made the airbags activate, trapping me back against my seat.

The glass had come in contact with my face, and it stung like hell. I felt tears burn my eyes, but they couldn't fall.

I'd closed my eyes when I noticed the driver coming our way, because I knew I'd pass out if I didn't.

Now that I'm looking back, I wish I had. Then I wouldn't remember what happened next.

I'd lifted my hand against my head, trying to regain my senses. I felt okay, other than a few cuts on my cheeks and forehead. A miracle. I slowly opened my eyes, seeing blood on my hand and wrist. I set it down, wiping it off on my pants, a little woozy from the sight.

I took a breath and whimpered, looking to my left.

What I saw paralyzed me and left me completely speechless.

The driver's side was... to put it simply, fucked.

Which meant the driver was too.

I wish I never looked. I couldn't bring myself to say anything, so I sat there with my mouth open, looking like a fool.

My lover was, without a doubt, gone. I felt tears run down my face, and I choked back a sob.

His face... oh god, his face. It was covered in cuts, in blood. His nose was out of place, his eyes closed, body unmoving.

I closed my eyes tight, murmuring nonsense under my breath, hoping when I opened them that everything would be fine, we'd still be on our way, that I just fell asleep and this was some morbid, inhumane nightmare.