The sun hurt my eyes when I finally opened them. I was alone in the car, and lying flat on the roof.
It took me a while to get out, my body felt like everything inside it was swollen and bruised and creaking. My brother was talking to someone, a man, both standing in front of another shattered car. Both looked maimed and broken, too tired to argue about whose fault it had been. Leo was sitting ar the side of the road, face buried in his hands. There were cars standing still on both senses of the street. Our wreck had blocked traffic for God knows how long.
Suz wasn't there. I couldn't find her. Our car was empty, all windows shattered. It gave the impression of a sloppy turtle, unable to get back on all fours.
I walked around, away from the mess that was too much for my pummelled brain. It took me a few minutes to notice a white sneaker lying next to a large, thick tree. It was Suz's shoe. She was lying down on the foliage, her her mingling with dead leaves and purple flowers. She was looking at the sky with a lost gaze.
Something switched inside me, a lever moved, a dam broke, I don't know, but I realized when I saw her that way that she was going to die. Probably not from the crash, because it hadn't been all that bad and my brother had probably taken the worst of it, but the fact was that she, Suz, the beautiful Suz, was going to die one day. I wasn't sure what to make of that, what I felt was not sadness or pain, but more of a strange silence. I walked up to her and sat beside her.
Suz smiled without looking at me. I enjoyed her smell, now that she was so close: closer than she had ever been before, with all her guards down, looking relaxed.
'You know what the best part of this crash happening is?' she asked me. 'That there's absolutely NOTHING I can do to get there on time'.
I didn't ask any questions. I knew she was talking about whatever that someone who had called had told her to do, or go to.
'And maybe I won't get there at all' she sentenced. Her entire body exuded peace, and it was contagious.
'Suz' I said, feeling sincerely confident and calm about what I was about to do. 'I'm gonna marry you someday'.
She laughed, still keeping her eyes on the clouds. 'I'm not gonna marry anyone, silly'.
'But you should' I replied.
'I think it's cute you like me, and maybe we will meet in ten years and you will be all sexy and I'll be like... damn!... And I'll want you and I wont care, y'know? But today I care, cuz you're a kid. And you don't even know what marriage means'
'Course I do. It means two people forcing each other to stay together because alone sucks'.
'Except alone doesn't suck, they just don't remember that'.
'It means also that they loved each other so much one day that they said: You are the only person in the world I could live with forever'
She knew I was addressing that last phrase to her, and I watched her blush with satisfaction. I hit a nerve. Suz then turned in my direction, but still looking at the sky. She was pointing at something. I looked behind my shoulder thinking it could be someone approaching, but I saw was the sky, now overcast, among the large branches of trees.
'Maybe I might marry you' she said.
Had I moved my head a quarter of an inch, my nose would've made contact with her forearm. Her milky skin smelled like grass and wet soil. She made a gesture with her hand, like one picking fruit from a tree. As her arm retreated, she let the back of her hand caress my cheek. She smiled again, and I felt ashamed because I knew she was laughing at my total lack of facial hair. But at least she looked at me in the eyes, finally, and her gaze was sincere.
'Here' she said, and handed me something. Voices were calling for us. Suz got up in a hurry, her face flustered and red. 'Tell them I left in that direction' she said, pointing to the road opposite the one she was taking.
She had left a white ball of some ethereal nature, like cotton, but moised and much lighter. My brother came along with thrree paramedics, all busying themselves with me, asking me questions I don't remember having answered, even though I probably did. All I kept thinking was that I had to put the thing away before someone made me drop it. So I hid it. When they asked about Suz, I told her what she asked me to. My brother understood that she didn't want to be found, and Leo didn't even insist on finding her, he seemed to be convinced that she had died in a ditch.
The paramedics took us to a hospital, mom and dad picked us up. Leo never came home again, which was great. My brother got grounded until graduation day for reckless driving. No one called home asking about Suz. And I still keep the gift she gave me, tucked away somewhere safe.
Thank you for reading :o)