Flash

Ted is on the phone when I get home.
His face is blank and he's nodding his head
up and down up and down
as if to keep everything chaotic in some twisted sense of control.
"Yes. Yes, I'll be right -"
Then he sees me standing there, and his eyes find the plastic bag I found in the street in my hands
and he somehow knows Frederick is in there.
His eyes find mine and, apologetically, he mouths "hold on"
I do, even though I want to burst out into tears because I already know who is on the phone.
"I'll be right there, thank you," Ted says and then hangs up the phone.
He moves towards me and kneels down, taking the bag from my hand.
"Before you let me know what happened, I need to tell you something."
If he's sad, he doesn't show it.
The thing is, I already know. I saw mom in the car with that guy.
Right before they hit, I saw her eyes and she saw mine, and I think she just knew.
It was all down hill from there.
"Mom died, right?" I asked. "In the car accident?"
Ted's eyes widened, and he looked down at Frederick in the plastic bag.
"How..."
I close my eyes, collect my thoughts, and then look back up at mom's now distraught boyfriend.
"I was there... I saw it. That's how Frederick died."