'Til Death Do Us Part - Part One

by Khaki


Anna sat on her soccer ball alone in the empty field, arms folded and face set in a frown. Finally, a familiar Jeep screeched into the parking lot. She watched as her harried mother burst out of the driver's side door and approached her in a quick walk/run.

"You're late."

Surprised by the venom she heard in Anna's voice, Marie stopped mid-stride. "Well, I love you, too."

"Everyone's been gone for twenty minutes, Mom," Anna whined.

Marie reached down and picked up her daughter's equipment bag, "I know, sugah, I'm sorry. I came as soon as I could."

They walked in uncomfortable silence back to the Jeep. As Marie threw the bag in the back of the vehicle, Anna opened the passenger door and asked, "Where's Dad? He was supposed to get me."

"He had a mission, honey. I just found out he was gone when you two didn't show up on time. How was practice?"

"Fine." Anna said, slouching in her seat and sulking.

"Kick any goals?"

"Yeah."

"You going to tell me about it?"

"No," Anna answered, twirling her shoulder-length dark brown hair around a finger.

Only the sound of the wind whipping through their hair in the topless Jeep kept them company as they drove through the residential streets and pulled onto the main, four-laned thoroughfare. Marie was the first to break the silence.

"Look," she said in exasperation. "It's not like this happens all the time. Your dad would've been here if he could, but an emergency came up."

"Why aren't you gone too if it's such an 'emergency?'" Anna said, rolling her eyes.

"It's not a full-scale mission, just a new mutant manifesting. The professor only sent Jean and your dad."

Anna scoffed. "If it's just a new mutant, why couldn't someone else have gone?"

"The girl's hurt. She needed a doctor, and her mutation makes her blood deadly. The professor thought Jean and your dad would be the best choices." Marie paused for a moment, and then asked, "Why is it such a big deal? This was only a practice, right?"

Anna sighed and unbuckled her seatbelt. Turning around in her seat, she fumbled through her bag, finally producing a piece of paper. Turning back around, she handed the paper to her mother. Marie glanced down, then back at the road. "I'm driving, sugah. What does it say?"

Anna cleared her throat and read, "For outstanding accomplishments both on and off the field, Anna Logan, has been voted Team Captain of the Spartans."

"Oh, Anna, that's wonderful," Marie said, reaching out to squeeze her daughter's hand. "Your dad'll be so proud. We'll go out and celebrate tonight, just the four of us."

"Do we have to bring Mike?"

"Anna," Marie said in a warning tone. "He is your brother."

"Yeah, but sometimes he's such a child." Anna said, in a haughty tone as she returned the certificate to her bag.

"Well, he is only five. Give him time. Now, where do you want to go?"

Anna settled back in her seat and replied, "I don't know... Could we go see Matrix: 5? That's supposed to be so cool."

"It's also very R. Pick something else. How about a dinner out?"

"Maybe," Anna said, playing with her seatbelt by hitting the buckle against the door. Marie noticed instantly.

"Put your seatbelt back on, missy."

Anna clicked the belt into place, pointing out, "You don't have yours on, either."

Marie looked down, surprised to see that she had, indeed, forgotten it. She was in such a hurry to pick up Anna and so distracted by their conversation that she, a stickler for safety, had forgotten. She turned, reaching around to grab it, when she heard the blare of a horn.

As she'd turned in her seat, the wheel had turned as well, and the Jeep crossed the yellow line into on-coming traffic. If she'd been paying more attention, if the truck hadn't been there in that one split-second, the accident would never have happened, but happen it did.

The crash was ear shattering as metal twisted and crumpled in ways it had never been intended to move. Marie was thrown forward into the windshield by the force of the impact as the Jeep and the truck glanced off each other, her forehead creating a star-like pattern in the glass. The Jeep spun ninety degrees and was struck again on the driver's side by the mini-van that had been following in Marie's lane.

The world spun out of control as the Jeep overturned and flipped three times down the road, coming to rest on its roll bar. Marie was thrown half out of the vehicle the first time it flipped, and the second time around, she felt a burst of agonizing pain in her neck and heard a loud crunch before the pain just as quickly disappeared.

Now, everything was eerily calm. She lay limp on the ground looking up into the passenger compartment of the Jeep as it lay atop her. She saw Anna bleeding and crying in the passenger's seat, suspended upside down from the harness. She wanted to say something to her, comfort her, tell her she loved her, but she couldn't breathe, and the image faded into darkness.

She could hear Anna calling to her, her voice getting more and more desperate even as it got fainter to her ears, "Mom?... Mommy?... MOMMY!!!"

She could smell gas and she could taste the coppery blood in her mouth, but like the others, these sensations quickly dulled and disappeared.

She felt herself getting lighter, her whole body just letting go. Her last thought was, `Logan, I love you.' and then she entered the light.


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