Grabbing her keys, Alicia Thomas let the divorce papers fall to the ground. She was absolutely overcome with sorrow. She needed to drink away her sorrows, as she’d done every day since Juliana died. It barely even dulled the pain. But it was all she knew how to do.
Today was the worst day of her life. Her daughter was dead and the love of her life was leaving her. So she grabbed two hundred dollars.
Alicia cried the whole way to the bar. She drove down to O’Malley’s on Main & 5
th.
For the next five hours Alicia drank away most of that two hundred dollars. The bartenders were idiots to sell her that much alcohol. She sat before two different bartenders, one on the afternoon shift who left at 4:00. The only reason the night bartender sold her so much alcohol was because she lied to him and told him she was taking a taxi home.
When he finally cut her off , Alicia started crying. She didn’t want to go home. She didn’t want to be reminded of the mess she was in.
Somehow she managed to stumble to her Red Durango. She’d called Crystal for a ride home, but she hadn’t answered. She thought about taking a taxi. But she’d just spent most of her money, all except for five dollars. And then she’d have to get a ride back to the bar the next day. She just wanted to go home and sleep off her impending hangover.
She started her Red Durango and pulled out of the parking lot.
Kaiden Murphy scratched her neck as she stared at the clock. It read 6pm. Ravi should be off now. She knew he had something big
planned for tonight, but she didn’t know what it was. It was their two year anniversary.
She wanted to be ready for the night Ravi had planned. She had just finished straightening her curls out when Ravi called.
“Hey baby,” Ravi said softly.
“Hey you,” Kaiden replied in a flirtatious tone.
“I’m picking you up in an hour,” Ravi said. “I need to go home and change, and then I’m taking you to dinner.”
“Where are you? Did you just leave work? That seems like a long time for you to need to get ready.”
“I’m over on Main Street. I’m crossing 6
th right now—” Ravi stopped short and then yelled, “Oh my God!”
Kaiden heard a horn screech, then a horrible crash, twisting metal, and shattering glass. She screamed when the phone line went dead.
Alicia Thomas was having a hard time processing her surroundings. Her car had just slammed into a telephone pole. She noticed that her airbag was deployed. She was having trouble breathing around it. The skin on her face felt like it was burning. She tried getting out of the car but couldn’t. She was trapped. And her arm was killing her. It felt like she’d been stabbed.
Then she noticed that she’d been bathed in shattered glass. Her windshield was blown.
What’s going on? How did I get in a car wreck? Wait, that’s a stupid question dummy. You’re drunk. You just spent five hours and one hundred ninety five dollars at the bar
.
That’s when Alicia looked around to take in her surroundings. She froze when she looked in the rear-view mirror. There was a small blue four door sedan in the middle of the intersection. But it was smashed and looked like it’d been hit by a car. The windows were all blown and the driver’s side door was crushed.
Sharp memories started panging her. She saw a blue sedan in her mind’s eye. It was driving right in front of her. She veered to the side and crashed into the telephone pole, but not before she hit him. She’d probably run a red light. She was too drunk to tell.
Tears began spilling out of Alicia’s eyes. She’d caused this wreck. How could she have been so stupid? She might’ve killed someone!
Closing her eyes, Alicia begged God to take her life. She had no purpose. Her husband hated her, her daughter was dead, and she didn’t have a job. The world would be better off without her. And she’d have an end to her sorrow.