Chapter 1 - The accident
7:00am - My alarm goes off, I take my hand out of the blanket to reach it and turn it off. The cold of my room gives me goosebumps. I always hated mornings! I get up reluctantly and goes to the bathroom.
After taking a shower, I look at myslef in the mirror. I have huge dark circles under my eyes, because of the long tired days at work. My dark hair brings out my too pale skin. I look like an old black and white photography... The only thing that gives my face a glimmer are my green eyes.
I take my make up and highlight my eyes with a light brown eyelight and a thin layer of mascara. After applying a lot of concealer I can finally get out of the bathroom.
I head to the kitchen and start preparing myslef a huge cup of coffee. While I'm waiting for it to be ready, I hear my phone ring on the counter top. I take it to check who is texting me that early in the morning : It's Damien.
Damien : Good morning, love. I hope you slept well. Are you still coming tonight? You know, the diner at my parents' house?
It's been almost two years since I'm dating Damien. We met at a party with friends. With his blond hair that hung before his eyes, and his blue eyes, I immediately fell for him.
He's the one who came and talk to me, just before the end of the party, and asked for my phone number. We met again a few days after and step by step our relationship became more serious.
A smile crosses my face as I remember this memories and I answer him right away.
Lola : Hey Damien! I had a good night. Yes, I'm still coming. I'm working all day today, so I should leave work around 6:00pm. We meet at your place before driving to your parents'?
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After eating breakfast, I head to the city hospital. Light rain hits my face while I'm walking to work. Once I arrive I find shelter under the covered area next to the main entrance, and light up a cigarette.
I see from away, a woman walking toward the hospital. Blond, her hair pulled back, in her fifties, I immediately recognize her : Catherine. Shit! According to her gaze, I can say it's going to be a long day.
Catherine is in charge of the ward I work in. Although very competent, always human and caring with her patients, she leads us hard. But despite her strong character and her demands I could not have dreamed of a better manager. After more than 20 years as an nurse, it must be recognized that her surly air and her almost constant bad humours are part of the shell she forged to face this difficult profession.
"Come on, Lola, hurry up! No time for smoking, you know we have a lack of staff, and with the summer holidays it's even more difficult!"
She walks past me in a hurry and entered the hall of the hospital without looking at me.
"Morning Catherine, I'm fine thank you for asking. And you? How are you?" I mumble to myslef while I smashed down my cigarette.
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I stretch while yawning, and look at my watch : 12:51pm, morning flew by so quickly!
On my way to the cafeteria I check if I've received an answer from Damien.
2 new messages
5 missing calls
I open my messages app, to check who texted me so many times, and notice it's Claire, my younger sister.
12:03 pm
Claire : Hi Lola, I've just arrived to the restaurant, I'll take our seats and meet you inside?
12:44pm
Claire : Lola, I've already called you five times but you never answered. You promised me we'd have lunch together! You already canceled last time, remember? Ugh... Leave it, I'm going back home. We'll talk later.
Shit! I totally forgot I had planned to have lunch with Claire today! We were supposed to go visit her university before school starts. I bit my lip and hurry to call her back.
"Claire! I'm so, so, sorry. The morning passed by in a flash, we're understaffed right now and I haven't had time to warn you."
"You promised!" I hear Claire pouting, "You told me you arranged with your colleagues so you could come!"
"I know, but Sarah calls in sick today and Catherine asked if I could replace her."
"And you didn't think to warn me?" Claire answers sharply.
"It's crazy these days at work, I'm sorry but I totally forgot." I try to defend myself but know Claire won't see it that way.
She scoffs, "Yes, it's surprising. I understand you love and care for your job, but I'm still your sister for fuck's sake! You could think of your family sometimes, instead of always focusing on what happen in the hospital!"
Ouch! Her comment leaves me speechless. She has nerves! For years, I gave up all my projects to look after her and she dares tell me that I don't think about my family? I close my eyes and try to calm do, there is no use to add fuel to the fire. Claire is mad and I get it. I take a deep breath and answer softly, "Listen, Thursday is my day off. We can meet after breakfast and we're going to visit your university together, okay?"
"If you say so."
"Claire! Stop complaining ! Did I ever let you down?"
"No, of course not," she starts to calm down.
"Sorry I need to go, I'm starving and the day is far from over. See you on Thursday?"
"Yeah... Sure." and she hangs up.
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The rain keeps falling, I hurry back home to quickly get prepared before meeting Damien at his apartment. Once I'm ready, I go in my car and start driving. Damien lives in the nearby town only a few kilometers from my place.
Once I arrive to the county roads, the rain gets heavier, I can even hear the thunder rumbling in the distance. I slow down and narrow my eyes to focus on the road. I arrive at a crossroad and notice that the road I usually take is totally flooded. I check the time, 7:15 pm, I'm already late. I know how much Damien's parents hate people who are late! No matter the reason. I sigh and decide to deviate from the main road.
The road is winding and next to a huge ditch. My stomach churns, I hate driving here when it's sunny but now with this awful weather it's even more reckless. I slowly breathe and tighten my grip on the steering wheel. I slow down at each turn trying not to brake. After five minutes I finally start to settle down. I have less than six kilometers to drive and I reach the last turn before I can go back to the main road.
Suddenly, I feel the steering wheel trembling under my hands. I try to slowly turn to avoid the bend but nothing works. My car is driving dangerously toward the ditch. Everything goes too fast and I lose control of my car. I can do nothing and watch the vehicle falling into the ditch as if I were just a spectator. With a last reflex, I scream and lift my arms to protect my face. Then, everything goes black.
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Thank you for reading ❤️ If you liked this first chapter feel free to let me know.
See you soon 😊
