Heart on Fire | Noah Sebastian

Chapter 3

Making headlines this morning, a 31 year old man has been charged with vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol after a four year old boy lost his life and three other people were injured last Sunday evening when the man lost control of his vehicle and careered into oncoming traffic. The man returned a positive drug test for methamphetamine and a blood alcohol reading of five times the legal limit. The drunk man caused a three car pile up on the northbound freeway into the city which saw the roads closed for majority of the night with emergency services having to land multiple helicopters on the freeway. The four year old boy, believed to be the son of the drunken man unfortunately died at the scene and the passengers of the other vehicles were all conveyed to nearby hospitals and are believed to be in critical yet stable condition.

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A week after my accident and I'd managed to finally set up some sort of a bed – well a mattress on the loungeroom floor – and order in some groceries to keep me going until I was able to get to the store. All my other moving boxes lined the hallways and bedrooms until I was able to function better and move in properly. Unfortunately, my phone had only cracked the back casing in my accident and otherwise was fully functional, leaving Alyssa wide open to call me a hundred times a day and text me a hundred times more. The messages ranged from apologies for fighting to wanting to know how I'm healing and how much of a bastard I am for hurting her. It was never my intent to hurt Alyssa. I don't believe I ever did. She controlled so much of my life and manipulated me to a point where I wasn't allowed to speak to my own mother without her consent because I 'couldn't be trusted'. I eventually broke free and obviously that crushes a narcissistic person because they've lost the stronghold on the other person.

I don't believe she truly loved me. I believe she loved being able to control me.

Because I couldn't get down town sooner, I couldn't change my number and eventually blocked her number. It was humorous at first how much she carried on like a child but it got old so quick.

But today I finally feel well enough to go downtown. I'd rested in bed literally all week, only emerging to use the bathroom or make myself cheese toasties when I was hungry. My leg was in a brace to help the healing process and painkillers helped manage the cracked rib situation. Sleeping with cracked ribs sucked considering I'm a side and belly sleeper. Not that I got much sleep with the thought of Lifesaver Belle dancing on my mind. She consumed so much of my mind that everytime my phone buzzed I hoped it was Belle, even though I never gave her my number. I even tried to keep a still in my memories of the first time I saw her, even though she was crawling in glass and wiping blood from my brow. Or the time she stood beside my bed in the hospital holding the rung of my bed, her hands so close to mine.

I'm not proud of it.

I grabbed my crutches along with my phone and wallet. It felt weird not grabbing my keys... and found the closest coffee shop and store near me. A proper coffee was of utmost importance today.There was a coffee shop café just down the road from my house. If they serve decent coffee I'm sure my wallet will be in danger.

I hobbled my way down to the coffee shop, enjoying the feeling of the warm sun on my skin. The sun truly helps the healing process. I was thinking of putting a small table on my new front porch so that I can sit in the sun, write my music and watch the world go by. That doesn't make me an old person, does it?

I awkwardly entered the café and stood in line to order my coffee. After I ordered my coffee, I found a stool nearby to sit on whilst I waited. Before I could look around the cute little café, an infectious laugh graced my ears behind me and immediately grabbed my attention. I swung around slowly, to find out who was laughing. I was shocked to find Belle. Lifesaver Belle, standing there in her uniform, holding a large coffee between her hands laughing with who I assumed to be a colleague. They were both dressed in yellow button down shirts tucked into navy pants and both wearing large boots.