ON HIS WATCH

She typed until her eyes were blurry and she couldn’t see. Even with her glasses. Tossing them on the table next to her laptop, she stood and stretched. Looking through her cabinets, she decided it was time to go to the grocery store. She was getting low. Picking out a pack of ramen, she filled a pan with water and began to prepare her bowl.

After eating, she saved her work and powered down her laptop. Going to shower, she let the hot water wash over her and let it soothe her tired muscles. Tonight, of all nights, she wanted to be as relaxed as possible. It was the anniversary of the wreck and the night before was always worse than the day and night of, for some strange reason. Drying off, she put on a ratty t-shirt that had belonged to her dad. Deciding not to take a sleeping pill, she settled in to sleep.

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The storm had gained strength as they traveled, getting worse the farther they drove. Her mom looked back at them and smiled. “We’ll be at your aunt’s home soon and out of this weather. The interstate exit is just up ahead about two miles. We’ll be at Aunt Sarah’s in less than twenty minutes. Aurelia, I know you don’t mind the storms, but Brandon, are you alright?”

Her brother, frowning, answered their mom, “Yeah, I’m good. We’re in a car. The storm can’t hurt us.” Just then, they heard their dad exclaim and felt the heavy SUV jerk as he tried to compensate for the vehicle coming right at them from the other side of the road. Somehow, it had managed to jump the median and head into their lane, out of control. Aurelia could see the horrified driver’s face just before they crashed. She was screaming and crying, trying to fight the seat belt. Knowing that there was no escape and knowing what was coming, having lived through this and dreamed it many times, she lay there and cried.

Alexzander stood outside of his ward’s bedroom window. Her cries wrenching his gut. He knew she was dreaming. Over the years the dreams had gotten less frequent. But, it never failed, on the anniversary she always dreamed of the accident. He remember the pictures that had been given to him by The Order the day he had been assigned to her. No one had understood how she had survived. Especially, without anything but bruises and a broken arm and a lacerated scalp. The front half of the vehicle was completely crushed. The back half was smashed in an almost pancake like fashion. After the other driver had hit them they had rolled several times. Somehow, during that time, Aurelia had been thrown free of the vehicle. Everyone else had been crushed from the initial and subsequent impacts. A motorist following behind them had seen the whole thing and called for help immediately, and tried to keep Aurelia alive and from going into shock.