𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐑 𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑, ; 𝐣𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥

25

daniel looked out the window, watching as the houses passed by. his dad was driving and talking to the school on the phone, signing him out. he kept himself facing the window. the last time he'd been in the truck, his mom had been driving him to hockey practice. he remembered it like it was yesterday. 

he had left his helmet at home, forgetting to put it in his bag. their house was only like ten minutes away. she had told him that she would go back and get it. she had told him to go inside and get ready to get on the ice. he had gone in, gotten his stuff on, laced his skates. he went out, found his coach, told him his mom would be here soon with his helmet. 

and then he waited. five minutes. ten minutes. twenty minutes.

it shouldn't have taken her that long.

his coach had given him a spare helmet to wear so he could go out on the ice. after all, they had a tournament to practice for. it was that weekend, so they were cramming in all the practice they could. but he couldn't focus on what was happening around him. his mind kept wandering back to his mom. he would look over at the stands where some of the parents would watch to see if she was there, but every time he looked he found nothing. so he made his way through the one and a half hour-long practice, trying his best to keep his head in the game.

after getting off the ice, he immediately went to the dressing room and got changed. he got out and looked around for his mom. he called her, texted her. she wasn't answering. 

'she always has her phone on silent,'  he had told himself, 'that's why she's not picking up.'

yet still, even as his mind made up excuses, he knew that something was wrong. 

he went to the coach, waited there with him. they were the last ones left in the building.

that's when his coach's phone rang. 

he looked at the caller id before picking it up.

"hey, jeff. where's keri? daniel said she was supposed to drop off his helmet but she never showed."

it was quiet for a minute after that. then he said okay and told him he would drop him off there.

daniel was looking at him, confused.

but he gave him a ride. he wasn't sure where he was taking him, but he just sat quietly.

all of his answers were answered shortly after when they arrived at the hospital. he sat on a seat as it was all explained to him. 

there had been an accident.

she had been driving past an intersection. the other car didn't stop at the red light.

she had been in surgery since fifteen minutes ago.

daniel watched on as everyone began to show up: his brothers, his aunt, his mom's best friend. anna had been taken to their grandparents' house. she didn't even know anything was wrong.

the whole time they were waiting, his dad looked terrified. he'd never seen him like this; so unstable, vulnerable.

when she got out of surgery, it seemed everything was fine. she didn't look fine, cuts and stitches littering her skin, but everyone said that she was fine. she said that she would be fine. the doctor had told them she would okay but she had to stay at the hospital for a while.

 the first thing she had said when she woke up was that she wanted her truck to be fixed up. she wanted it to be good to drive when she got out. she really did love that pick-up. everyone had laughed and his dad had made sure that it had been sent to the shop. it hadn't been hit too badly, so it could easily be fixed.

too bad she wasn't as easy to fix. 

turns out that there had been internal bleeding that they hadn't caught. and when they did find it, it was too late.

she died that evening.

daniel just kept playing that day out in his head over and over as his dad drove them somewhere. he couldn't be bothered to ask where. he just sat and stared out the window.