The Glass Passenger

Alexander William Gaskarth had always fancied himself rather invincible and maybe rightly so.

He had survived numerous car accidents that were either attributed to him or to drunk drivers, he had survived a drop off a very high stage in Washington, he had lived through two tours of the United Kingdom where he never had a run in with any kind of vehicle despite constantly forgetting that the English drove on the ‘wrong’ side of the road and he had always woken up every day after a night of binging of whatever he could get his hands on.

Alex had more lives than a cat and he certainly was in need of them, but he loved the fact that he lived such a rock and roll lifestyle and he still had the luxury of waking up every single day to a new day.

The new rays of a brilliant sparkling morning were the best; they were the ones that he woke up greeting with a thrill that shot through his body. He loved the fresh breeze on those days, the sun seemed to shine brighter and it was when he stood in the warm beams of the sun that he truly valued the life he had, breathing in the very essence that was life.

The day Alex died was a day that had begun exactly like that.

He had woken up and jumped out of bed, thrilled by the prospect of what was going to happen. He had bounded towards the large window and had ripped the curtains apart, letting the sunlight flood through the windows and fill the room with a gentle October glow. There was something beautiful about the Baltimore sun that morning and it warmed Alex’s heart.

Today was a special day and Alex knew how to dress accordingly. With the smile that the sun had brought to his face still present he got changed quickly, slipping into his jeans and bright Nike’s, throwing on a white t-shirt and a flimsy black waistcoat on top of that. His hair received more than the usual amount of dedication and just as he was about to leave his apartment he reached for a medium sized navy jewellery box that was sitting on the top of his chest of draws.

He picked up the box lovingly and an even brighter smile graced his face when he thought about the reaction that Rachel was going to have to that the medium sized navy box.

The thought of Rachel added even more joy to a day that had begun so bright already.

It was their two-year anniversary and she was coming down from New York where she had been working on an art gallery exhibition for the past three months. She had always been ambitious but it never was enough to ignore the pull back home to Baltimore. Not that she minded when she had Alex to come home to.

He bounded out of the apartment, his car keys jangling in his jeans pocket. He knew that he was going to be far too early at the train station if he carried on like this but he had to pick up some sunflowers on the way. He knew that the likelihood of the florists having sunflowers in October was next to none, but the sun had given him some more unfailing optimism.

He locked his apartment door securely and was glad in the knowledge that for two weeks he wouldn’t be alone anymore. Two blissful weeks before Rachel had to go back to New York, but it would be worth it. He knew that already.

He trotted down the hard worn stairs of the four-storey building that was in the nice area of town. Before he walked out the door he slipped his sunglasses onto his nose and was surprised by a ringing coming from the back pocket of his jeans. As he extracted the phone he glanced at the caller ID that let him know that it was Rian who was trying to get a hold of him.

Alex had the phone in his hand as he was crossing the street towards his car and he was attempting to answer the ringing iPhone but he was juggling with his car keys and the navy box all at the same time. It proved to be difficult and his preoccupation was the reason as to why he didn’t see the car that was speeding down the road.

Mr Jonathan Hale was late that morning to drive his daughter to school. It was his turn today and he and his daughter Rose had left the house later than he had planned, cutting it very fine if they wanted to make it on time. Mr Hale stepped on the gas hoping to make it to school before the final bell. He was distracted for a moment by his seven year old daughter who wanted to show him the homework she had completed the night before.

It was unfortunate that Mr Hale chose to look at Rose’s drawing of a pony the minute that Alex Gaskarth stepped onto the road.

It was a tragedy when the BMW S class collided with Alex, and it was absolutely heart breaking for the seven year old Rose Hale to watch a young man of twenty-one be lifted onto a gurney and then transferred into an ambulance bleeding profusely from deep wounds at his head and side.

But Rose’s heart compared to that of Rachel Margot was perfectly intact.

Rachel Elizabeth Margot was sat at Alex’s bedside clutching his hand that had a collection of fresh angry scars on it. She gripped his hand for dear life, trying to drown out the sounds of the heart monitors around her. His heart was beating but he wouldn’t wake up. It was worse than being dead Rachel thought, having a chance at living again but not being able to. Floating around.

Just floating.

It was a sensation that Alex Gaskarth was currently indulging in, but the constant sense of movement in his blacked out world caused him to feel rather ill and so he ripped his eyes open and he started up in surprise.

He wasn’t dead and he wasn’t bleeding. In fact he wasn’t even in a hospital bed, which confused him drastically, the last thing he remembered had been the impact of the sleek car and thinking ‘Aw shit’ and then nothing.

Alex looked around frantically. It appeared that he was in the hospital hallway, standing right in the middle whilst nurses and doctors rushed past him, not paying him any attention at all.

That should have been his first clue.

Still looking around frantically and searching for something, anything to let him know what was going on he saw a room door open and curiosity got the better of him. He walked towards the door and glanced in, getting the shock of his life when he saw Rachel sat at a bed holding someone’s hand.

His hand.

Automatically Alex glanced down, and naturally nobody was holding his hand. The whole situation seemed ludicrous. He was in two places at once and this phenomenon, obviously unexplainable by science, annoyed him.

He moved forward and gingerly put out a hand to touch Rachel’s shoulder, she had her back turned to him so she could not have seen him enter, but when Alex did put his hand gently on her shoulder this elicited no response what so ever, Rachel just carried on staring at the Alex that was lying motionless on a hospital bed wired up to all sorts of beeping machines and drips.

Alex sighed and looked at his girlfriend closely. She had bloodshot eyes and looked haggard, her usually bright hazel eyes were dampened and her blonde hair was sloppily braided, something she did in times of extreme stress. It was getting to her and it hurt him like hell seeing her in this state.

“Rachel?” Alex tried the speaking approach but again there was no response, he desperately wanted to comfort her and just hold her close.

“She can’t hear you,” came a light singsong voice from behind Alex.

He immediately spun around and saw the figure of a girl in a yellow dress sat on the window ledge, long legs dangling in a careless and childish way. He hadn’t noticed her when he had walked in, but that might have been because she hadn’t been in the room at all until now.

“What’s going on?” Alex asked the girl immediately, with notes of extreme anxiety lacing his words.

“Your body is giving up but your soul is putting up a fight,” the light brown haired girl said cryptically, however she saw Alex’s puzzled face and decided that this was not the way to go about it. “You’re dying Alex Gaskarth.”

“Well why am I, or why is a part of me,” he corrected himself, “still here then?” He asked gesturing at himself; unsure as to how to describe the current state he was in.

The girl smiled a practiced smile in a way that suggested she answered this question on a regular basis.

“Unfinished business.”