If Today Was Your Last Day

“How’s your hand, Tom?” I giggled when he walked out of the patio door and onto the grass, an icepack over his right hand. It’s the day after Megan’s birthday and we’re having a barbeque. The middle of March and it’s fairly hot. But whatever, we took the chance and seeing as Heidi slept over and is still here, we thought it would be a nice thing to do. Until Tom dropped the tongs onto the barbeque and burnt his hand, that is.

“It fuc- flipping hurts!” I grinned at Tom and stood up to put a burger into a burger bun for Megan, seeing as she had asked for more. Heidi though was busy licking the tomato ketchup off her fingers... and t-shirt. “I don’t think I can eat anymore. My hands are busy... in a non-kinky way,” I turned and grinned at Tom and took his plate from him, picking up his burger and feeding it to him.

“Dad. How is your hand?” Megan walked over to Tom and I, her burger in her hand. She has great timing.

“He’s fine, Megan. Go eat your dinner with Heidi. You don’t want to leave her alone now, do you?” she shook her head and turned on her heal. I know she was only being caring towards her dad, but I didn’t want Tom to lose his appetite just yet. I took a bite out Tom’s burger, making Tom jerk his head to look at me, his mouth slightly ajar.

“That’s my bur-“ I cut him off by slamming my lips onto his, opening my mouth for Tom to take the burger from mine, and when he had done what I had hoped he would do, I pulled away. “If you feed my like that, you can feed me more often,” I giggled and picked up the burger, shoving it in Tom’s face.

“Here you go, dad,” Megan giggled from beside us, handing Tom a napkin so that he could wipe the tomato ketchup off his face. Tom glared at me and took the napkin from Megan, thanking her. “Can Heidi and I play on the front yard?” I looked at the clock on my phone. 3:20.

“Sure,” I helped Tom get some of the ketchup off his face ... with the napkin, nothing more. Not when there’s 7 year olds standing beside us.

“Mom. Can you get us a football please?” I sighed and stood up, walking to the garage and unlocking the door, picking up the Barbie ball and passing it to Megan, closing and locking the door behind me. Megan ran off into the house and out the front door with Heidi close behind. “Come on Tom. We have to watch to make sure they don’t get hurt,” Tom slowly stood up, still rubbing at his face and followed me inside to the front door.

“Dad. Come play!” Megan called from the bottom of the driveway, the Barbie ball tucked under her arm. Tom stepped onto the slabs and jogged down to where Megan was standing, taking the ball from her and stepping back from her. “Dad! Give me the ball!” Tom chuckled and gently threw the ball over Megan’s head for Heidi to catch it. “You’re not fair dad!” Megan stomped her foot once and glared at Tom.

“I’m just going to get a drink. I’ll come back in a second,” Tom jogged back to me, gently brushing his shoulder against mine as he walked into the kitchen, turning the tap on. My eyes never left Megan. I didn’t want to risk her getting hurt.

I watched Megan’s ball roll into the road, stopping still smack bang in the middle.

“Megan! Stay where you are! I’ll get Tom to get it for you,” I turned on my heel to call for Tom, but there was no need to. He was walking right up to me, a glass of water in his hand.

“What’s up?” He asked, bringing the glass to his lips, only to drop it to the floor before the water had even touched his lips. The glass shattered all over the slabs and water spilt all over the ground. But that didn’t seem to bother Tom. He still ran out of the house. Why? I have no idea.

But then I looked up from the broken glass to see Megan walking out into the road.

“Megan!” I screamed, running out of the house, ignoring the shattered glass on the ground. She was safe. She could pick up the Barbie ball and run back to the kerb. Or so I thought.

By the time I had reached the end of the driveway, a car had already come hurtling down the road at a speed that definitely wasn’t 30mph. I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out. Tom stepped forward to get Megan out of the road, but realised she was too far away. Heidi was screaming for Megan to get out of the road. But Megan didn’t move. She looked like a dear in highlights. She was petrified.

It was all a blur. It happened so fast.

Tyres screeching. A little girl screaming. The thump of a body hitting the floor.