"Good morning,'' I said to myself as I looked in the mirror. It was going to be a great day. I just got up from sleeping until 10 am and almost tripped down the stairs to turn on the television. It was horrifying. There was a car accident in the area where Kyle and I skipped rocks. Some people were killed from drowning to be exact. They suffocated under such pressure; I mean, I just couldn't imagine it. They couldn't get their windows down. Just a couple of days ago, some person was killed in a hit-and-run, and the person got away. People didn't take crime or accidents seriously until it's too late. It was getting worse. I knew what I could do to try and make this situation better. Immediately I texted Kyle, thinking to myself "I can't believe this is my boyfriend now?"
"Hey, are you up yet? I'm watching the news." I texted him.
"Yes, I am. My favorite little star, what's up?" Kyle texted me and made me blush. Just that little term of endearment it sent shocks through me.
"I was watching the news, and I'm worried sick about you," I texted him anxiously, waiting for him to respond.
"Why?"
"You know the spot where we skipped rocks? People drowned there and..." I was texting him.
He interrupted,"Alright, calm down, you."
"I just don't want anything bad to happen to you. Can you come over and spend the night later? I would like to watch movies with you!" I said while I hoped he would come over.
"I will be over tonight, just for you, my darling little star, how about 7?" He asked me.
"See you then!" I was so happy.
I didn't know what else to do but just waited for time to tick by. I just couldn't think of anything to do but wait for time to go by. I called my dad to come over as I waited impatiently.
"Dad, can you come over?" I said into the phone.
"Sure, should I bring pizza?" He said to me, He had gotten a job as a manager of the local pizza shop. It was great pizza. It was always busy because it was good. He couldn't get much else even though he was super smart, because of his convict status. He never told me what he went to prison for, and I never really wanted to know why. I am pretty sure I could have looked it up online, but decided he would tell me if I needed it to know. Not like I need to be immature and broadcast that across the television. LOL.
"Sure!" I said.
He arrived 15 minutes later. We sat and talked. We talked about my mother and if there were any updates to her whereabouts. We talked about my new boyfriend. We talked about him moving in slowly so that I would have a parent, or someone looking after me. He did say that he would be stern but tolerant, as he knew we both had issues.
It was good that my mother had the house paid for, as all that was due were the real estate taxes and regular maintenance and utility bills. She had the home titled in my name as well as the car. She must have planned to leave for some reason. There was also a reasonable amount of money in the account that had my name on it also.
My father didn't stay a long time but I was still watching the clock.
Hour by hour, I just watched the clock tick by. My mother had a grandfather clock that she found around the area. It was almost 7, and I decided to make popcorn and season it. It tasted so good. Yum.
Seven O'clock, and he still wasn't here. I was getting worried. I sat down again on the couch. I know he didn't stand me up, as it wasn't like him! What could have happened to him? It was now 7:30 at night, and I realized he wasn't coming over. Maybe he just had something else come up. Why didn't he text me, though? It was now 8 pm, and that is when I checked my phone. A notification popped up,
Car accident, one fatality, burned car, unrecognizable, unidentifiable.
I previously got a subscription to a local news alert. When I received that text, I felt a knot in my stomach, and I knew something was wrong. I turned on the 24/7 news channel. And I was horrified by what I saw.
The accident scene and the gruesomeness of it. I couldn't believe it. This wasn't true. I pinched myself in an attempt to wake up from the dream I thought I was having. This wasn't a dream. It was real. The news channel said the car needed to be identified because the license plate was missing. I called Lee because I was not in the mood to text.
"Lee?"
"Kylie? What's wrong?"
"Kyle had an accident, and I need to identify the car. I'm pretty sure it is him, but I need a ride there. Will you help me?" I just couldn't believe this was happening. I went through the steps of doing things, but it just didn't feel like me doing them. I didn't even feel like I was there.
"Yes, I'm out right now, but I will be there as soon as possible. I waited a short time before seeing Lee speeding up to my house, from an unknown location. He told me to get in the car, and I was texting my father in the meantime.
"Dad?"
"What's wrong?"
"So Kyle and I were supposed to hang out tonight, and he didn't show up. If you turn on your news channel, you will see an accident and it was only a mile away from my house. The police say the body is beyond recognition. They don't know who the car belonged to. I think it is Kyle's car. Lee and I are on our way to the site." It took me what seemed like hours to type that. I should have called him instead.
Lee chronically glanced at me caringly while we were driving there. "Kylie, I am so sorry, and I hope this is not him, you deserve to be loved unconditionally, and Kyle did that. Something I did not do."
I felt so numb I couldn't even let words out, my throat hurt so bad from holding back my tears, and I just looked out the window, trying not to look at Lee.
Trying to hold back the sobs was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. We were a couple of streets away from where I saw smoke up in the air going toward space. Then we were on the scene that was taped up with cautionary tape around it. I got out of the car rapidly. Lee met up at night next to me, and I just stood there. I heard the police say that the body was all ashes and they couldn't Identify it, and suddenly I found myself going under the tape.
"You can't be here." the police officer said.
"I think I know whose car this is," I said, pleading for him to let me look in the passenger seat.
"Nothing is recognizable," said the officer.
"Open the door," I demanded. I thought of my mother and the time she told the doctors to leave me alone. I knew I had that strength that my mother gave me.
The police officer called over a firefighter who opened his door with heat-resistant gloves. I asked the firefighter to search the floor for a bag, and he did. He grabbed a bag that I was familiar with, but the thing that killed me was when he pulled out the skittles wrapper, and I knew Kyle was gone from this world. He was from my life.
"This is Kyle's car. I said to the firefighter as tears started to dwell in my eyes.
"I'm sorry for your loss, ma'am," said the firefighter as he walked away. I fell to my knees, as the firefighter handed me the wrapper."There's absolutely no way he's gone," I thought. I had proof right in my hands, he was gone, and all our times together were now memories, and I couldn't take the truth.
"He can't be gone," I screamed at the top of my lungs as the Officer came by me. Now I know what screaming in pain is like. It's not anything anyone can cure with a painkiller, alcohol, or addiction. There is nothing you can do, and you can't change it.
"Officer, he just can't be gone; he was too sweet of a person, had a true heart, and was an amazing person. Kyle can't be gone." The police officer pulled me away from the scene and told me he had to question me.
"Can I meet you there?" I asked the cop.
"Yes," he gave me the address and told me to follow him. Lee got back in the car and somehow kept his cool. Like he didn't care that Kyle was gone. We drove to the police department, and Lee waited in the car. I went in, and the police department was busy like the whole world had gone amok. The officers were called to scenes where there were drownings, and the news channel was explaining Tsunamis that were going on, and I just didn't know what else to do but wait. I felt so useless because I was. I was so out of hope for anything.
Finally, I was called in."Kylie Smith?"
"Yes?"
"I would like to question you about the death of your friend."
"He was my boyfriend, but what do you want to know?"
"Do you have any idea where the license plate went?"
"No"
"Where were you at about 7:45 pm?"
"I was at home waiting; I don't drive."
"Okay," the interrogator said very discreetly."Do you know the license plate number?" He questioned.
"I couldn't remember the license plate number, even though I had seen it many times before."
"So, do you know who the person driving the vehicle was?"
"Yea, it was Kyle Kernson."
"Okay, those are the only questions I have for you now. We will call you with any news."
I got out of the police department thinking, what kind of news could they have for me? My boyfriend is gone, my mother is gone, what else? Lee was sitting in his car playing monepoke go. There were stops all around us. I walked towards the car, opened the door, got in, and slammed the door.
"You tell me, how the hell you can stand here looking so cool and calm, and I'm freaking out over here."
"Kyle died; it must have been meant to be"
"Take me home, Now! Please."
"Calm down, Kylie. I'm trying to take your mind off of Kyle."
"How are you taking my mind off, Kyle, smartass?"
"Don't be so mean to me; I'm trying to have you pick up your phone and play the game with me."
"I picked up my phone, and my hands trembled. I opened my phone, and I saw Kyle on my background screen. It was a picture I took so long ago. It just seemed like yesterday. I was so upset, and I started to accept that he was dead and that it was his time. I took my lock screen photo down because I couldn't be reminded of him all the time.
"You will have to let him go, Kylie, in time," Lee said to me in a calm, polite voice.
"It's hard because he was my go-to person." I wish I could have seen his face, as he always kept it hidden under a mask. I just wanted to do something for him or his family. They probably didn't even know what happened and that he was gone. I explained to Lee while I held back my tears, and the red bumps appeared. Lee drove me back home and let me out. He saw me get to the door, and he got out of his car and came over by me.
"Kylie, I'm so sorry for your loss." Lee leaned in and hugged me, and I just stared off in the distance, thinking of Kyle.
"It's okay, Lee. It was an accident."
"About that. I think you should see something."
"What do you mean?"
"I found this note by the crash site, and I didn't want the police to take it." He had a small note on a small piece of paper in his hand. He handed it to me. In my hands was a piece of paper. It was disturbing what it read.
"You should have let us win. Now we scorched your boyfriend. Can you live with thinking that your boyfriend is dead because you wanted to race?" For a minute, I was confused. Which race? After I thought about it, I remembered. The race we had with a giant monster truck got pulled over by the cops. Did Kyle do this to show off for me? Or would this have happened without me? I couldn't think of how different things would have ended up had I not gone with him that day. Maybe he would still be alive. Or perhaps he would have been alive if I hadn't begged him to come over and watch movies. My dad said I am not supposed to think that way. Everyone makes their choices, and their lives exist and end depending on their choices.
268Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdeosIOppt
