I looked in disappointment at my purse. I had forgotten my
wallet inside the car.
"Laura, you got any cash on you?"
"I thought you were the one paying ? Obviously I don't "
I sighed in frustration while my friend continued to
unbotheredly put more m&m's bags in our cart. Tonight we
were supposed to be having our Gilmore Girls marathon as
Laura had come back from Spain and we had a bit of time
together before I had to go back to college. I had met Laura
in my freshman year at uni two years ago, and since then we
had become inseparable. She studied English literature while
I was in robotics. I know right? The perfect duo.
"Stay put, I'm going to grab my wallet from the car. And
please don't get into an argument with the employer at the
chips section again"
"That was one time. One time!" She exclaimed, drawing the
attention of a few old ladies passing by. "I'm not going
anywhere don't worry. And grab my sunglasses for me will
ya? I feel like imma go blind soon."
Chuckling, I made my way to the exit. The heat was a slap to
the face after the conditioned mall air. A guy approached me,
carrying what looked to be a stack of flyers and a clipboard. I
waved him off, not wanting to feel bad for the environment
just now. I finally got to the car, a satisfied sound escaping
me as I found my wallet still on the passenger seat. Laura
usually sat in the back because she liked too lay down and
sleep during car rides, even if they were short ones.
I was halfway back when I remembered the sunglasses.
"Damn you Laura, I bet you only need them to attract the
guys" I grabbed to no one in particular. As I made my way to
the car once again, I saw a terrified toddler running past me
in the opposite direction screaming about a wheel. I was
confused. A wheel? Why would someone be scared of that? |
shook my head and hurried back, already having wasted
enough time and Laura was probably arguing with that poor
salesman again-
Boom.
Something crashed into my left shoulder, ejecting me several
meters back and resulting in me landing on top of a car. A
searing pain shot through my left side, and my back felt like
a truck had just crushed my bones. I couldn't move. My mind
was panicking and I wasn't thinking straight. "What did just
happen?" "Ow, my shoulder hurts" "That will cost a lot to fix."
"I wonder what Laura is doing right now" I didn't get the
chance to gather my thoughts because I suddenly
understood what the child was screaming about. A huge
truck wheel was coming directly toward me, the trash bins
and flower beds getting crushed like children's toys. In the
few seconds it took the giant thing to reach me I knew that I
was going to die. There was no way I could get out of its way,
my back was getting worse and tiny glass shards were
stuck all over my body. In those split seconds, I thought
about my cozy apartment by campus and wondered if Jason
was going to take care of my cats. I thought about Chloe, the
girl I was talking to and felt bad for not confessing my
feelings sooner. I thought about how Laura would react to
the news. All these thoughts passed in a flash, but the one
that lingered was " I'm not ready to die", and as I felt the thing
crushing the oxygen out of my lungs I heard my own strangled voice.
"I will come back and make it right" .