It was the worst day, my son, wife and I are all heading home after picking up our son from school. The roads were wet and it had been a very down day; it was raining, and my wife and I had been fighting all day. Ever since I lost my job, bills have been hard. 

“I wish you’d shut up for once. All you do is complain” I screamed at my wife as I was trying to pay attention to the road.

“Daddy stop yelling at mommy; you’re hurting my ears” my son cried from the back.

The car got quiet, the rain came falling down hitting the roof making a loud pinging noise. The roads became harder to see. My wife just wouldn’t shut up. I couldn’t focus. She kept going on about the bills we needed to pay. 

“I know what we need to pay, shut up!” I screamed and hit the steering wheel.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes then turned her head away from me. She didn’t look at me, she just watched the road for the rest of the ride. We all sat in silence for so long. I turned my head looking away from her. 15 minutes later, I looked at her and wanted to apologize. She still sat in silence. As I turned my head back to the road I saw something in the distance. I couldn’t make it out. It looked as if a woman was standing there. But in the pouring rain? Down an old back road? I knew I was seeing things so I shut my eyes for a quick second, when I opened them she was even closer than before. I slammed on my brakes and tried to turn the car so I wouldn’t hit her. My son started to freak out and my wife hollered for me to stop the car. I told her I had it under control. The car flung side to side. It was such a fight with the steering wheel I couldn’t get the car to stop. I hit a puddle of water and we hydroplaned. The car rolled 4 times, I could hear my wife and son screaming as we hit the concrete. The shattering of the windshield was so loud everything went blank. I couldn’t see or hear anything. Just a loud ringing. I glanced over at my wife. Blood was everywhere. I couldn’t even see her face anymore. She didn’t look like her. I grabbed her by her shoulder and yanked back and forth, I wanted her to answer me. She wouldn’t answer me. 

“Daddy” my son said in a low tone from the back.

“Buddy are you okay!” I hollered.

“I think so, my head hurts” he cried.

“Okay just a few more minutes, help is coming” I said as I lost all train of thought. Everything went blank again. 

I woke up in an ambulance, with my wife’s body covered up beside me on the other stretcher. 

“Can you tell me your name sir?” the EMT asked me.

“Dave Sprouse” I mumbled back. 

“Okay good I need you to tell me your son’s name.” he replied.

“Sam. His name is Sam, where is he?” I fought to sit up. 

“He’s in the ambulance behind us.” He said pushing me back to the bed. 

What did I do? My wife she’s gone? I can’t raise my son on my own, I said to myself as I closed my eyes and fell back asleep.

I remember waking up in the hospital my son was perfectly fine with only a couple scratches, and he had to get 6 stitches across his head. My wife died on impact after the first roll she bashed her face through the window and busted her head off the top of the ceiling. So they think that’s how it happened. I never said anything good to her before that, the whole ride home after we got discharged from the hospital I cried out. “My wife. I treated you like dirt, I’m sorry”. We were only in the hospital for 2 days. Sam and I walked out with only a couple cuts and bruises. The whole ride home was silence. 

Sam ran into the house when we got home, clenching his teddy bear the cops gave him at the scene of the accident to calm him down. He doesn’t seem like it’s hit him quite yet as if he doesn’t realize she’s gone. It’s around 5 in the afternoon and Anne my wife should’ve been cooking right now but there was no smell, no light, no hope in the air like it use to be.

Walking past my sons room I can hear him talking to that stupid teddy bear, calling it mommy. Everywhere we went he called it mommy. Talked to it as if he was talking to Anne.

I busted his door open, grabbed him by the collar and said “So help me God you cry out mommy one more time and I’ll give you mommy” throwing him back onto the floor he cried and crawled away from me. I walked out with a sense of anger. I can hear Anne in my head and I can hear her blaming me. I was going crazy, popping every pain pill in sight, till I couldn’t take anymore. 

Hours passed , Sam was asleep. I went to his room every night and stared at the worthless kid that ruined my life and relationship with Anne. I was standing over him with a bottle of dark liquor in my hand and a knife in the other. He looks so much like her. It pisses me off. I looked through the mirror on his wall and I saw her, she was there again. The same woman that was on the road the night of the accident. All I could hear was her screeching sounds like a jagged nail down a chalkboard. I covered my ears and I hollered to shut up. It kept going I swear it’s as if she was telling me to do something. My son woke from my screams and said “Daddy what are you doing?” He tried to say over my screams. 

“Shut up boy, shut up I say” I hollered 

“Daddy you’re scaring me, please stop yelling,” he screamed through tears.

I couldn’t do it, the screaming wouldn’t stop. Sam screaming on top of it, me being high off pills and intoxicated. I didn’t see the girl when I looked through the mirror but the stretch continued on. Sam grabbed his teddy bear called it mommy, asked it to help him. I felt the blood run out of my ears. Filled with rage I picked Sam up and said “That’ll be the last time you say another peep little boy”. I grabbed him by his hair and brought him to the stairs, at the bottom was the girl, her mouth open screaming. 

“Stop it” I screamed.

“Daddy stop who are you talking to! Daddy you’re hurting me.” Sam cried.

I shoved him to his knees, kicking the back of his head, watching him fall down every stair. He laid at the bottom, cold and lifeless. Silence, there was silence now. The screams were gone, I closed my eyes and dozed off to silence for the first time.