Why Me (standard:drama, 786 words)
Author: Kittykat	Added: Jan 14 2001	Views/Reads: 3879/1	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Cheri was alone and the memories kept coming back to haunt her

The light of the moon was shimmering on the lake when the cry of a loon
broke the silence.  Cheri sat in silence on the wet sand of the beach, 
oblivious to the activities and sounds around her.  Memories kept 
flowing back to her, ones that she had tried to block out for the past 
two years. Recent situations had brought it all back to her, starting 
with a frightenly familiar recap of what had happened.  Now the memory 
would not go away as it has so easily before. 

Sighing she got to her feet and walked towards the beach house on the
hill.  She almost expected the lights to be on, showing that her loving 
husband was waiting for her to come home.  She knew she was kidding 
herself; he'd never be there again, waiting.  He hadn't been there 
since that tragic day, but, somehow she still felt his presence, as she 
had felt her parents presence when they had died. 

As she approached the house, Eclipse looked up at her with his sad puppy
eyes.  She knew that the dog missed them as much as she did.  On the 
front porch lay a rag doll, all but forgotten, a memory that children 
had once played there.  As Cheri opened the door and stepped into the 
dark hallway, the memory of what had happened came flooding back to her 
again. 

The morning had been a cheerful one with birds singing in the trees and
the sun shining bright.  Derek had gotten the children ready for the 
picnic he was taking them on, while Cheri had prepared herself for 
another day at the office.  Amy and Troy had been excited to be going 
somewhere with their father.  Amy had been so excited that she had 
accidentally left behind Mrs. Moppat, her favorite ragdoll.  Derek had 
safely buckled the children into their seats and after giving Cheri a 
quick peck on the lips had driven off with the children waving goodbye 
through the back window of the car as Cheri stood on the step watching. 
That was the last time Cheri was ever to see them alive. 

Cheri had received the news of the accident while she was still at work.
 She had broken down right in front of everyone.  She didn't remember 
passing out, but, she knew she awakened in her old bedroom of her 
adopted parents house.  It was all too familiar to her.  Almost the 
same thing had happened many years before when her parents were killed 
in a car accident.  On both occasions Cheri had not been with her 
family and they had been struck down by a drunken driver. 

Cheri once again started to pick up the picture she had taken of Derek
and the twins that fateful morning, but, she couldn't bring herself to 
do it.  She missed them so much that the agony reached deep into her 
soul and she often wished that she had been with them and had died 
along with them, instead of being left to bear the pain and lonliness.  
She reached for her glass of scotch that she had set on the coffee 
table beside the picture.  She needed something to settle her nerves 
and alcohol always seemed to do the trick.  Then realizing what she was 
doing, she hurled the glass at the wall in a blind rage.  I have to get 
out of here, she thought to herself as she stumbled drunkenly through 
the darkness to the front door. Slowly she made her way to her car and 
got behind the wheel.  As she sat in the silence a fresh flood of tears 
came, adding to the agony that she was in inside.  She started the car 
and wiped away the tears.  Quickly she backed out of the driveway 
causing a terrible clatter when she hit the metal garbage cans at the 
end of the driveway.  Once she was on the highway she stepped on the 
gas and sped away, oblivious to anything around her the tears falling 
freely. 

She saw the car a minute too late.  It loomed out of the fog and
directly into her path.  Then there was the eeiry screech of metal on 
metal and Cheri was thrown forward.  Then everything went black. 

The occupants of the other car were killed in the impact, among them a
child the same age as Cheri's twins had been.  Cheri wasn't there to 
regret her actions.  If she would have been, she would have realized 
that the same thing that had happened to her, she had caused to happen 
to someone elses family.  Now someone else had to deal with the empty 
pain.  Cheri had died because of a drunken driver, herself.


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