Amanda shivered as she and Jeremy sat in the pouring rain at the bus station. Her long, blonde hair fell limply on her shoulders. She pulled her bag closer to her as she stared at the raindrops falling into a puddle in the road.

“I can’t believe you’re leaving,” Jeremy said. Amanda continued to stare away from him.

Jeremy glared at her. “Are you even going to talk to me?”

She looked at him sadly, instantly remembering the tragedy that had recently befallen her as she did so.

It had been a cloudy autumn night. Amanda and Jeremy laughed loudly in the backseat of his brother Alden’s car. All three of them were drunk.

“Did you see her face?” Jeremy laughed as they zoomed out of the club’s parking lot. Amanda looked out the rear window to see a woman shrieking over the scratch they’d just left on her Lexus.

“We’ve got to get out of here before she calls the cops,” Alden slurred, stepping on the gas.

“Calm down, Alden,” Amanda said. “You’re just going to draw more attention to us.”

Jeremy laughed. “What’s the big deal, Mandy? We’re only going a little over the speed limit.”

Amanda cringed as they barely missed a telephone pole. “Slow down!”

Jeremy sighed. “Just listen to her, Alden.”

Alden didn’t let up on the gas. “Alden, slow the car down!” Amanda shouted.

Jeremy began to yell as his brother clucked at her. “Alden, stop the car! You’re scaring her!”

He laughed. “I’m just having a little fun!”

“Slow down or I’ll –”

Amanda screamed as they collided with a red Saturn. Immediately she knew who the car belonged to.

It belonged to her mother.

Now, soaking wet as she stared sorrowfully at her boyfriend, she whispered, “You couldn’t stop him.”

“So this is my fault?” Jeremy shouted.

“No!” she shouted back. Getting a hold of herself, she continued, “On some level, I know that you didn’t kill her.” She clenched her eyes shut, struggling to hold back tears. She knew that if she started crying she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Jeremy sighed, the anger in his eyes replaced by dejection. “I guess it’s pointless to ask if you’ll ever forgive me,” he said, avoiding her gaze.

“I’ll forgive you long before I ever forgive myself,” she replied sadly. “I love you.”

Jeremy stared at her in awe as the bus pulled into the station. A voice called over the intercom, “Bus 16 to Portland now boarding.”

Amanda got to her feet, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She squeezed the water out of her hair. “I guess this is goodbye,” she said.

Jeremy nodded in acknowledgement. She smiled faintly, and kissed him softly on the lips. “I’ll call you when I get to my dad’s,” she said.

On that note, Jeremy unhappily watched her get onto the bus. He continued to sit in the hammering rain long after she had left.

A thought suddenly occurring to him, he got to his feet and approached the ticket window. “May I help you?” the kind old woman in the booth asked.

“When’s the next bus to Portland?”