Part 1
The two screeching cars collided and crumpled. The other car swerved from the oncoming lane and we collided head-on. Both vehicles bounced off one another like a trampoline. In the haunting moment milliseconds before the collision, he slammed the brakes and swung the wheel in an attempt to shield me from the inevitable impact.
That act of selflessness placed him in a direct collision course with the oncoming car. The dreadful realization of his sacrifice burrowed down on me. Knowing and owning that responsibility was going to be excruciatingly painful.
During that split second before the life-ending collision, he looked at me. We peered into each other’s souls. A deeper, stronger, and more meaningful connection bound us. A profoundly, beautiful thing, greater than emotion, washed over our two bare souls in that fraction of a moment. Nothing was wrong, just us, the moment, together.
The two cars hit but we barely noticed. The door and corner of his side of the vehicle caved in. He was literally ripped from our trance. The oncoming car mounted his side and the front left wheel came through the windshield. It hit him in the head, instantaneously crushing his dome.
His head exploded, like a watermelon imploding from a gunshot. Blood and brains were littering the car’s interior. I was coated with a red mist of blood. Everything in sight had a red misting, giving my sight a red hue.
My body and throat produced a sound that could have shattered a city made of glass. It was a wail that wrenched out the heart and crushed it like a bug. It was like the sound of a hundred nails grating against a chalkboard. The blood was slowly drying over my hair and face, making me start to lose sight. It was in my mouth, up my nose, and behind my ears.
I looked over to see him, what was left of him. He was sitting limp and lifeless. The combustion of his head was not a dream or a vision. It was real, the whole experience was real. I kept screaming, hoping this nightmarish reality would fade from existence and I would wake. The situation was too much for me to handle. My wish came true when my mind slipped into oblivion.
