As her life ebbed away in the crumpled Mercedes she thought of her two sons.
Who would take care of them? Who would guide them through their early years?
Not their father. Oh God, not him and all he stood for. How could their lives be normal?
Now her mind, along with her flesh, was becoming cold. She could feel herself drifting away, far, far away from this ruined metal shell that entrapped and hurt her body so.
She was aware, vaguely, of incessant bright flashes, a gabble of shocked, greedy voices – the last sounds she would ever hear – as closure softened her remaining moments in this intrusive world.
Even as her life faded, her final concerns returned to those of the living. Her two sons – who would be there for them?
For the briefest of moments, their images followed her into the painless, velvet void, but then they were gone, leaving her to wonder for a second if in death she would find the soul of the barely born child she had lost.
Oblivion took her just as hands reached in to help.
