There had to be a limit on how many tragedies a single family could sustain before cracking under pressure. You would think at this point the higher power up in the sky was playing jokes on them for the hell of it. From gunshots to cancer scares, to multiple threats over the past few years, who knew this was how it could possibly end?
It was supposed to be a smooth day of running a few errands. The girls had just gotten back from a trip to the beach with both sets of grandparents while Kirsten and Jennifer stayed at home. The house was completely stocked with all the food that they would need for the rest of the week, but something was missing. Something crucial that came in handy during the scheduled time throughout the week that the two adults set aside for themselves. Most the of the wine has been consumed within a day after the children left, and the two women loved to have something paired with the homemade Italian dinner Jennifer always prepared from scratch.
Finally deciding on a bottle of red wine, Jennifer carried the brown paper bag out carefully to the black Tahoe, strapping it into the seat pocket in the back. Pulling the cell phone out of the oversized handbag, she scrolled through her contacts until she found her wife's name and hit the call button. With the device tucked safely between her ear and shoulder, the brunette climbed into the driver's side.
"Hello, my love. Did you get the girls washed up for dinner?" She asked softly while fingers pulled the aviator styled sunglasses over her dark hues.
"Of course! We are all watching one of the SpongeBob SquarePants movies right now. So please, hurry. Like, really try and hurry." Kirsten's voice now whispering into the speaker, "There is only so much more of his laughing I can take before I break the actual television."
Jennifer rolled her eyes and did her best not to laugh too loudly at the predicament her wife was currently in. Looking both ways before pulling out onto the main road, she began the normal route she took home every single day. The best thing about the location of their newly built home was how centrally located it was to everything within the town but yet hidden away in a nice community that allowed them to block out the world at times.
"Stop it. The girls love their sponge friend. Anyways, I got your favorite red wine for tomorrow night safely tucked away. And just think, I'll be home soon and we can turn on Sinatra and have the girls out in the backyard in no-."
Just like that. In the middle of a sentence. In a second, it was all over. The sound was so loud that everything went silent in a matter of seconds as her body fought against the impact of the other car crashing into her own. What seemed like hours of being thrown around only lasted less than thirty seconds. The vehicle that was advertised as strong and durable now upside down on the side of the road.
She was in and out of consciousness throughout her period trapped in the seat by the material of the seatbelt that had now burned into her tanned skin. Flashes of paramedics, the jaws of life, and ambulances seemed almost like some sort of hallucination. It was not until the gurney was rattling against the hospital floor did she understand what was happening. The wind from the doctors running down the hospital hitting her exposed open skin and causing everything to burn while brown hues fluttered, doing best to stay open but failing.
She could make out the faces hovering over her at times. There was a doctor with a bright white jacket, embroidered with his qualifications near the pocket. There were two female nurses with patterned scrubs on, obeying every order the man barked at the time within a matter of seconds. And then there was a police officer, who had ridden with her on the ambulance from the scene of the crash to the hospital. Jennifer did her best to focus on the face, giving it all her energy for the blurriness to clear for a moment. The brunette felt the air slip from her lungs at the identification and moved her hand weakly around for the man. The man whom she had grown up with and protected throughout the years. The man who was her younger brother, Frankie.
"Don't worry, Jen. You're going to be just fine, alright? I've called Ma and Kirsten and they are coming, alright?" Frankie spoke loud and clear, all while having a gut feeling that the brunette was unable to comprehend anything.
"This is as far as you can go, Officer. I'm sorry." One of the nurses pushed the man backwards as the gurney traveled through the double doors and into the restricted area of the hospital where swarms of people now flocked around Jennifer's body.
Brown hues flicked back and forth as she tried to take in everything that happening, trying to listen for what they were doing to her while remaining calm. This wasn't supposed to happen. She was not supposed to be in the hospital in critical condition. Jennifer was supposed to be at home with her wife and two children, enjoying family time and telling them how much she loved them.
"Her pulse is dropping!" Words echoed out as her eyes fluttered shut and she slipped back into the silent state of pitch black.