White Tears
Prologue
There was glass everywhere. I looked around the bleak darkness, unable to distinguish anything that was happening. There was blood running down my face; I could feel it everywhere.
The Escalade that was off to the side was smoking. The smell of burning chemicals permeated the air. Its windshield was completely shattered, explaining the mess of glass littering the ground.
Next to the Escalade was a body. It wasn’t moving.
My eyes shifted to the other car. It was unfair that it appeared to be unharmed. After all, it had pulled out in front of us. It had caused the accident. It was the one who had a person jumping out of the vehicle. Running toward me. Arms flailing wildly.
Sirens blared in the distance, coming closer by the second. They filled my mind, my body; everything around me as it all came reeling back.
The accident. The yell as my fiancé shoved me back into my seat, holding me there with his arm. The loud boom as the cars connected with one another. Glass shattering as my fiancé flew out of the window, with me not far behind him.
“Eric,” I croaked out, unable to fathom the fact that his body was the one currently lying face down on the ground. Not the man who had caused the accident. No, the man who had tried to save my life. “Eric.”
I stood up in the middle of the wreckage, pain tearing through every part of my body. I was able to ignore it, with adrenaline coursing through my veins. The glare I sent toward the man currently storming toward me halted him in his tracks. Had he come any closer, I would not have held back. I would have killed him, I have no doubt. But right now, my Eric needed me.
“Eric,” I called out hopefully. I walked slowly toward his body, forcing my body forward. There was a heavy feeling in my heart, as if it already knew what I would find when I got to the body. But in my mind there was hope.
The body wasn’t moving. It stayed still.
I knew, even before I did anything, that nothing could be done. “Please,” I whispered as I sank to my knees next to him. With a strength that I never knew I had, I rolled him onto his back.
A startled gasp left my lips as I saw his extremely mangled face. He had to have slid across the asphalt to have this much damage done. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood coming from some unknown wound on my head.
“Eric!” I screamed, pressing down on his chest repeatedly, attempting to gain a heartbeat somewhere. Nothing was happening. Nothing. His name repeatedly left my lips in a scream, until my voice was hoarse and broken beyond repair.
“Ma’am!” A paramedic rushed to my side, pulling me back, even as I fought to get back to Eric. It was pointless, but I had to try. “Ma’am, we need you to stay back! You need help. You’re bleeding.” But still I struggled.
A tearing came straight through my abdomen. It would have driven me to my knees had I not been held up by the paramedic. His words then registered in my head, “Stop, you need help! You’re bleeding!”
I shoved the paramedic back after glancing helplessly down to my stomach. Not only was I bleeding from a wound in my head, but there was blood in between my legs. A lot of it.
“No!” I bellowed. Strangled cries left my body as I collapsed to my knees, holding desperately onto my stomach. I held desperately onto the life that I knew was lost. The life that my baby boy could have lived, had one drunk driver never made it onto the road that day.
The Escalade that was off to the side was smoking. The smell of burning chemicals permeated the air. Its windshield was completely shattered, explaining the mess of glass littering the ground.
Next to the Escalade was a body. It wasn’t moving.
My eyes shifted to the other car. It was unfair that it appeared to be unharmed. After all, it had pulled out in front of us. It had caused the accident. It was the one who had a person jumping out of the vehicle. Running toward me. Arms flailing wildly.
Sirens blared in the distance, coming closer by the second. They filled my mind, my body; everything around me as it all came reeling back.
The accident. The yell as my fiancé shoved me back into my seat, holding me there with his arm. The loud boom as the cars connected with one another. Glass shattering as my fiancé flew out of the window, with me not far behind him.
“Eric,” I croaked out, unable to fathom the fact that his body was the one currently lying face down on the ground. Not the man who had caused the accident. No, the man who had tried to save my life. “Eric.”
I stood up in the middle of the wreckage, pain tearing through every part of my body. I was able to ignore it, with adrenaline coursing through my veins. The glare I sent toward the man currently storming toward me halted him in his tracks. Had he come any closer, I would not have held back. I would have killed him, I have no doubt. But right now, my Eric needed me.
“Eric,” I called out hopefully. I walked slowly toward his body, forcing my body forward. There was a heavy feeling in my heart, as if it already knew what I would find when I got to the body. But in my mind there was hope.
The body wasn’t moving. It stayed still.
I knew, even before I did anything, that nothing could be done. “Please,” I whispered as I sank to my knees next to him. With a strength that I never knew I had, I rolled him onto his back.
A startled gasp left my lips as I saw his extremely mangled face. He had to have slid across the asphalt to have this much damage done. Tears streamed down my face, mixing with the blood coming from some unknown wound on my head.
“Eric!” I screamed, pressing down on his chest repeatedly, attempting to gain a heartbeat somewhere. Nothing was happening. Nothing. His name repeatedly left my lips in a scream, until my voice was hoarse and broken beyond repair.
“Ma’am!” A paramedic rushed to my side, pulling me back, even as I fought to get back to Eric. It was pointless, but I had to try. “Ma’am, we need you to stay back! You need help. You’re bleeding.” But still I struggled.
A tearing came straight through my abdomen. It would have driven me to my knees had I not been held up by the paramedic. His words then registered in my head, “Stop, you need help! You’re bleeding!”
I shoved the paramedic back after glancing helplessly down to my stomach. Not only was I bleeding from a wound in my head, but there was blood in between my legs. A lot of it.
“No!” I bellowed. Strangled cries left my body as I collapsed to my knees, holding desperately onto my stomach. I held desperately onto the life that I knew was lost. The life that my baby boy could have lived, had one drunk driver never made it onto the road that day.