A Vacuum in the Night

(Since it's kind of hard to tell when it's italicized and not, I'm going to start and end italicized passages with asterisks)

A Vacuum in the Night

*Dear God what happened? Please be with them. Please. Be with them. God pleasebewiththem. I can't get it out of my head. It's just so. How did it even happen? I always see it on the news, or the aftermath from afar. But this is like it's real life or something. It's so real. So close. I can see the pain. I can feel that someone is gone. Maybe two someones. Maybe more.*

It's a full moon, not that you'd know it by looking--the clouds cover not the sky. The clouds cover the moon. Just the moon, in its full brilliance. The one light in the night is severely dimmed. It's so dark outside.

The worst part of it all, is my own impatience. I was going home, quite tired, and quite ready for my pillows. I am still ready for my pillows. *Going home, my usual route, the stupid car in front of me starts to slow down. It's going so slow. Why are you stopping? Gah, it's 3:13 AM, what could you possibly need to stop in the middle of the road for? It's probably some girl who thought she saw a turtle in the road. No...no sane girl would stop this late. Early. For a turtle. Oh yah, there's another car stopped too, with their brights effectively blinding me. Thank you for that. Why are they all stopping? This is stupid, I'm just going to go between them. And they don't even have the decency to wave me through or anything. Jerks.*

How did it happen? I couldn't even get through. Well maybe I could've. I didn't want to. So much destruction. And why couldn't I bare to get closer? Because I knew someone was gone? How do I know that? *My windows are partly down as I watch the girl--so it is a girl--get out of her car in front of me. The air is so still. Where once I felt wind cooling my face, a cold mist takes over, vacuuming off the area. It's silent. Nothing. It truly is a vacuum here. No wind blows. The full moon draws no creature out tonight. No people talk, even though there are many there to speak. I've never seen a group of people so silent.*

It looked so awful. So painful. So loud. But it was so peaceful. And scary. “Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men!” It could have been me. It could have been mom or dad or my....no. It couldn't have been her. She's not allowed to die before me. We're going to get married, make babies, love them, love each other, and live 50 years together. Then die simultaneously. Yup, that's how that's going. *Whoever is gone. They were someone's child. Someone's friend. Maybe someone's husband or wife or mommy or daddy. There's no way they're alive. God, I hope it was instant. The road says it wasn't, but I hope for them and their family it was. There's so much debris on the road. Shattered glass, a bumper, pieces of vehicle. Then in the ditch. The big...thing. Explorer? Expedition? Something like that. Is flipped. I don't know where it flipped, but somehow it's upside down now. And all the front end. Up to half-way back. It's crushed. Just smooshed into the ground. The cabin has space for a mouse to crawl through, if this were the middle of nowhere, where mouse frequented the roads. It's not the middle of nowhere though. This is Keller, TX. Middle-class suburban America. Aren't there supposed to be lights out here? It's so dark. How is it still so quiet? Did these cars just stop out of kindness and concern? There's no wailing or screaming. Just silence. And why can't I force myself to get a closer look? Why can't I stop to help too? I have to get home and sleep.*

I turned around, and took back roads home. On my way home, it seemed to get foggier. Or maybe it was me breathing more, fogging my windows. Either way, it got harder to see. The wind started to slow itself. The night ceased its sounds. Until I made it home. *I just want to lay in bed and forget this. I don't want to remember that. I don't know them. I hope.*

*That sound. Sirens. Police. Ambulance. There should be a fire truck as well. Mom. Dad. Rachel. I want to wake them all up and hold them close. I want to know their okay. I want to feel their heartbeat against me. I want to hear their breath in my ear. I want them to be able to feel my tears of gratitude for having just one more day with them. I don't want to lose them. Someone needs to hurry up and figure out this whole teleportation thing so driving becomes useless.*

*The sirens are getting louder. They're going towards the wreck and the people waiting. God please be with them.*