Dash Dash Dot Dot

Anger and Sadness

Willow stretched out on her bed, she was happy to finally be home, able to have time to herself to think without the sounds and smells of the hospital. She was laying on top of her blankets, taking in the soft comfort of her bed compared to the sterile hospital cot. Now that she was home she undressed and checked her reflection in the tall bedroom mirror. The egg shaped bump on the left side of her head was half the size it was when she was staring into the hospital bathroom mirror. The doctors had told her that it had more than likely come from her hitting the window. Then they continued, telling her that they were surprised that she didn't have any broken limbs or bones.

She had heard some talk about the truck driver that had hit them. He was finishing up a sixteen hour shift and had dozed off at the wheel. The worst of his injuries was a broken nose from the airbag deploying. Willow saw him twice. Once while he was being pulled from his vehicle and the second at the hospital. He had stared at her from the doorway. The person with him grabbed his arm and dragged him away. She assumed it was a friend of his but found out later that it was the lawyer from the company where he worked. He had two black eyes from the broken nose but there was no mistaking the sadness and regret in them. Willow felt nothing but anger when she discovered that he was the one that had hit them.

His face was burned into her memory and every time she thought of him she became furious. The guilt was momentarily forgotten under the anger. He had done this, he had taken Katie's life, he had destroyed so many lives by doing what he did. Willow didn't care that it was a horrible accident; he was the driver and therefore was to blame. The truck's dash cam showed that he drove through the red light. There was no denying it; the service station on the corner had also captured the color of the lights. And then there was the internal camera inside the truck showing the drivers eyes closed and his chin drooping to touch his chest. Willow had requested to see the footage, wanting to see what had actually happened.

Willow felt her jaw aching, she had been unconsciously clenching it in anger. She relaxed it and forced herself to take a deep breath. She exhaled and rolled over, picking up her phone. Her friends, Kira and James, had plastered all over social media about the accident and that Willow was alive but her sister didn't make it. They had initially named the company the driver worked for but were threatened with fines if they didn't remove the posts. But in the age of social media, it was too late. People saw the company name and began to send them threatening letters, calling for better work hours and such. Willow had to put her phone on silent; the messages of 'sorry for your loss' and 'glad you are ok' were unending. She was also getting calls from the news outlets. Her phone began to ring; she didn't recognize the number so she tossed it across the room and rolled over again.

***

"Get. Out. Of. The. Way." Willow heard yelling from outside. She peeked out the curtain, looking for the source of commotion. Damian was wading his way through the people gathered outside. Most of whom were reporters wanting to know Willow's story of survival. "Get out of here you vultures. The girl just lost her sister; she will talk when she's good and ready and not a minute earlier. Why don't you go talk to the company that had one of their drivers doing such a tedious shift that caused the accident?" He shook his head and turned his back on them as they started asking questions.

Willow quickly opened the door for her friend and shut and locked it as soon as he stepped inside. "You would think there would be other things to report on, they've been there since this morning cause I refused to open the door and talk to them. My phone has been ringing non stop and all the messages from well wishers is driving me crazy." She told him. He nodded and gave her a hug.

"I know," he stepped back and held up a paper bag he had been hiding behind his back. "But, I brought whoppers. Hope you're hungry-"

"Jack," Willow finished with a smile. The joke was one that she and Katie shared, which as Katie's best friend, Damian had been privy to, many times. The burgers were Katie's favorite fast food choice when she wanted something fast and didn't want to cook. "Katie was so lucky to have you as her best friend," Willow told him. "And so am I, I got a big brother to look after me." They sat at the table and ate, reminiscing about memories of her sister.

***

By the time Damian left it was almost midnight. Willow stood in front of her mirror again, studying her reflection. Her red hair was cut short, but still long enough to be able to pull up into a ponytail; her grey eyes were bloodshot and red from the tears. Her skin was fair which made the newly acquired cuts and bruises stand out more on her body. None of her injuries had required much more than an antiseptic swab and a band-aide. She was still in shock that she had survived and her sister hadn't. She shook her head and pulled on an old nightgown, one that her sister had given her for Christmas a couple years prior. It had a picture of a cartoon zombie on it and underneath said: 'Beauty sleep required!'.

Willow put the pills in her mouth that the doctors had prescribed her and drank several large mouthfuls of water to wash them down. One of them was supposed to help her sleep. She selected a book from her bookcase and lay down on her bed. She couldn't deal with her phone right now, just needing some time to disappear into another world and pretend that she wasn't here for an hour or so before the medication kicked in. Her favorite book gave her solace, taking her from the town of Queanbeyan to the magical land of Landover. The clumsy wizard, a talking dog, the living castle and the kobolds that served the new king, who had purchased the land through an old Christmas catalogue. It was also where her mother had found her name, that of the beautiful sylph.

She knew the book so well, but it was the one that made her fall in love with reading, she would read it every year, living in the magic of the world. She felt like she knew the characters. At sixteen she dressed as her namesake from the book. Such an obscure and old character meant no one got it, but she posted the picture on the writer's social media fan page and received many comments from those who knew the series. Her sister commented with how proud she was. They had both read the book as children, and while Katie had enjoyed it, she had not been as obsessed with it like Willow was.

She finally drifted off. She had been warned by the doctors that the medication may cause strange or scary nightmares; having lived through the car accident would also play a part in having nightmares rather than dreams. The first time she woke up she had enough energy to hit the remote of her fan to turn it on as she had been sweating heavily. Then she rolled over and was asleep before she could change her bedclothes.