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Junior watched the crags in the looming stone cliffs flicker by as the car sped down the road. He rested his head on one forearm, and used his unoccupied hand to draw in the fog that had gathered on the glass from a combination of the warmth of the car and his own breath hitting its rain-coldened exterior. Further up, his dad was talking on the phone, clearly worked up about something. Absent-mindedly, he watched the water he was wiping away slide down the window in fat droplets leaving a clear trail in their wake.
Picking himself up off the windowsill, Junior watched the cars ahead of his own blazing by, reduced to blips of color from the water streaking across the windshield. Occasionally, the windshield wipers would fire in one graceful motion, and he could make them out far more clearly. His dad hung up on the call as he watched and began typing out a message, one hand still resting on the steering wheel. He looked up from time to time, though he was clearly more focused on the small screen he was now so eagerly awaiting a reply on. Eventually, he snapped the phone shut with a small sigh and turned back to ahead of him.
Junior leaned out of his seat a bit further forward, watching him drive. After a few moments, the phone began buzzing yet again, and his dad hurriedly grabbed it only to engage in another tense conversation. Junior could just barely make out a summary of whatever he was talking about– something along the lines of being “unable” to come back to the workplace tonight. It didn’t seem that he was going to be home for the night, but Junior didn’t worry about that much. Things always got pretty tense between him and Mom when he was there, anyway.
Junior went back to watching the other cars whir by. The streaks of light seemed closer than last time, and he noticed that they were drifting into the other lane. Softly, he tried to let his dad know, but to no avail. After a few moments, Junior spoke a little louder, and he corrected the issue quickly with a hasty apology. Though, not too long after, they began to move back into the wrong lane.
Dad had begun to get completely taken away from driving as he argued into the phone, and Junior watched the other cars getting closer to his side. In fact, they had started to curve away from his own, a quick correction to avoid scraping either’s side. He pulled at Dad’s sleeve hurriedly and tried to get his attention, but was met with him moving his arm away disapprovingly. Out of nowhere, another car– a gray one– rounded the upcoming corner and came barreling down in his direction. Junior cried out in fear and the car lurched to the side as Dad cut the wheel away from the gray car in a panic. In turn, the opposing car’s brakes screeched in protest as they attempted to stop before a collision occurred, but it was far too late.
The two cars collided, sending his own into a roll down the incline they’d been travelling up. Junior crashed into the window, sending a small web of cracks through the impact zone. His body went numb as he heard a sharp cracking noise, and he lost consciousness.
Junior awakened to the blaring sound of car alarms, blood trickling down his head and pooling around the sockets of his eyes before dripping onto the wrecked flooring. Everything tasted like iron. He began to feel harsh pain behind his eyes as he caught sight of gleaming streetlamps. They were nearing a town. Junior tried to unbuckle himself from his seat and crawl up to his father. He couldn’t move. He felt his nose running, though he knew it hadn’t been doing so before. Squinting, he looked up into the front seat and saw a figure covered in shadow from the streetlamp. Faintly, he could make out his dad’s jet-black hair, now messy and tangled with his own blood. There was no rise and fall of his chest, and Junior began to feel tears well up in his eyes, tears previously blocked away from the shock of the moment. Everything felt wrong. He couldn’t tell if he was dreaming. He wept, each gasp for air allowing the sound of a cheery ringtone to penetrate the oppressing din.