The Girl Who Wasn't There

Some people say loneliness fades with time,

But for some of us, it waits quietly,

someone like her, to find us...

1

The Accident

The sky was painted in soft hues of orange and gold. Sun is dipped behind the hills as a car sped down the road. The trees waved their leaves like hands saying goodbye to the day. Inside the car, laughter fills the air. Satoshi, an 8-year-old boy, is returning home with his parents after enjoying his summer vacation. He smiled faintly and said.

“Okay, last one, if you get this riddle right, I admit defeat.”

His mother, who wore a blue top and white jeans, peeked at him through the rear-view mirror.

“I’m ready.”

Satoshi lifts a dramatic finger. “What is the thing we create but can’t see?”

His father chuckled, both hands on the wheel, “This one again, you already told us this riddle three times.”

“Yeah, but you forget the answer every time.”

“That’s because it’s not a real riddle.”

“It’s imagination, right?” His mother replied.

“No, you’re wrong,” Satoshi says with quite irritation.

“It’s imagination, just accept your defeat,” his father declared. “Ugh, I create an imagination and talk, sleep, eat with that, and then I win.”

“But before that, you are defeated,” his mother said proudly.

“Can you guess, Satoshi, what your mother wore on our first date, even though I forgot it was a date?”

“She wore blue.”

His mother gazed at him. “How did you know that?”

“You always wore blue when you were really happy.”

His father reached over and squeezed her hand. The moment felt perfect. Whole. It didn’t need words. Satoshi leaned against the window, smiling to himself as the trees passed in a blur. “Hey, can we stop by the lake? I want to draw it again?”

His mother nodded. “If it’s not too dark.”

“I will draw fast this time.”

His father gazed at him through the mirror. “You better not make me look bald again.”

“I will never make you look bald,” Satoshi replied.

“You gave me two hairs and a leaf!”

“It was an artistic choice then!” Satoshi protested.

Then, both parents laughed again. The car rolled on gently, the music of the car beginning to hum outside. Suddenly, the steering wheel jerked. The tires screamed as the car swerved left. His father yelled something, but it got lost beneath the noise. The world spun. The metal twisted like paper, the window burst like ice, sparkling like a diamond.

“Satoshi...” His mother reached for him but was pulled back by her seatbelt. The door became the ceiling, and then it became the ground, and finally stopped. Silence. Only the faint sound of birds startled into flight. Satoshi opens his eyes with a thin line of blood running down his forehead. The old cheerful word still echoing in his mind, “...if it’s not too dark...”

He turned his head weakly. The front seats are still. Unmoving. “Mom...”

No reply.

“Dad...”

He came out of the wreckage. The trees outside stood still. Like they were holding their breath. He looked at his wristwatch, and it stopped at 8:17. His teddy bear was smiling at him, of course,e he always was. “Help”

He whispered, and that’s when he saw her at first; he thought it was a blur of his eyes or the broken headlights catching something in the mist. But no, she was real or something like that. A girl in a pale blue dress, standing still beneath a crooked tree, not rushing for help, her back facing him, her pale blue hair the same as her dress. “Help me, please.”

He whispered, barely audible.

Crack.

A sharp, delicate sound broke the silence, made by a piece of wood underfoot. Satoshi lifted his head.

The girl started turning slowly... slowly... but as soon as her chin came into view. Before he can glimpse her face. Satoshi was swallowed by the dark.