Something New
Raindrops bounced off the pavement as I raced back across the street and inside to lock up and head back over the bridge to go home.
∞∞∞
My clothes were soaked when I got inside the car and drove off. The thunder had my windows rattling as rain pounded on the roof. My windshield wipers worked overtime, racing to beat the drops pinging against my windshield. The roaring downpour caused me to turn up my music as I took the exit to the bridge. I yawned while trying to beat the rain. I noticed the construction worker standing with his sign turned to stop while they continued to wrap up what they were doing before the storm. After a few minutes, he waved our side of the bridge to come through. Minutes after I pressed the gas to move forward, I watched a car on the opposite side jump the median, and before I could even react, my car was smacked head-on, and everything went black.
Isa
I arrived home and immediately put my phone on the charger before sliding off my wet clothes. After getting out of the shower, I turned my phone on and saw that I had three voicemails. I rolled my eyes the moment I realized they were from my mother.
BEEP!
“Isa, it’s me. I know you’ve asked for your space, and I’ve been trying to give it to you, but it’s been months. I miss you. I miss us. Can we please meet up and talk? I was staging a listing in Seven Pines, and I’m in the car about to head home. Call me back.”
I rolled my eyes after listening to the first voicemail. Her constant repenting was suffocating the both of us.
BEEP!
“Hey, Isa. It just started raining pretty hard here, but I want to see you. This void is killing me, and I can’t take it anymore! It’s driving me crazy! So, if you keep ignoring me and avoiding me, then I will have to just show up at your front door! If you don’t call me back in five minutes by the time I get to the bridge, I’m coming over to your place!” she warned before hanging up.
BEEP!
“Isa Marie Lavender! So, you’re going from ignoring me to sending me straight to voicemail now? How many times can I tell you I’m sorry for what I did? I’ve groveled at your feet for months, begging for your forgiveness. I’ve given you time! I’ve given you space! I love you! I will always love you! Please just talk to me! I’ll never forgive myself if you don’t, I–I–ah!” she screamed before I heard her brakes screech and a loud crumpling sound before the line went dead.
My heart leaped out of my chest. Fingers trembling, I tapped her name to call her phone as quickly as possible. It went to voicemail then, and the three times I called after that.
“No! No! No! No! No! No! No!” I panicked before throwing my phone down.
Two minutes later, it began to ring, and I dove over to it and scrambled it around in my hands before looking at the screen. It was a number I didn’t recognize but was local, so I answered.
“H–hello?”
“Is this Miss Isa Lavender?”
“Y–yes.”
“This is Officer Brian Jordan. I’m calling to inform you that your relative, Jeanine Lavender, has been in an accident.”
“Is she okay? Was she air-lifted to the hospital? Is she–”
“I’m calling because I retrieved your mother’s phone from her vehicle,” he interjected, “she was pronounced dead at the scene. I’m so sorry.”
My breath hitched. “W–what?”
“We need you to come down to the hospital morgue to identify her body before they’ll release her to you. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.”
The call ended, and I stood frozen in place. There was nothing I could say or do. I couldn’t move. My fingers were numb, and so were my legs. My mother was dead.
∞∞∞
With clean clothes on my back, I got down to the morgue. Time stopped the moment he pulled back the cloth to reveal her face. I couldn't think or even breathe. My mother. The woman who gave me life was dead.
“Is that her, ma’am?” the coroner asked.
I opened my lips, and they instantly began to tremble. All I could do was nod. He quickly placed the cover back over her.
“I’ll give you a minute.”
My heart sank instantly, and I felt every piece shatter. I clutched my chest tightly, unable to draw long breaths as my heart rate quickened. I raced to the nearest bathroom and once locked behind the stall; I started screaming and crying until I made myself sick. Even thinking about having to say the words out loud, let alone tell Imani, made me sick to my stomach. While dying inside and trying not to fall apart, I dialed her number about four times and kept hanging up before the call had time to connect. When I finally got the courage to put the phone up to my ear and let it ring, she didn’t answer. It took me thirty-seven minutes to get a hold of Imani, and every minute that passed felt like another anchor had been placed on my heart.