Past Forgivings

Chapter 1

The storm raged; lightning struck and the wind howled, but my friends and I hardly noticed as we drove up the cliffs winding road in Emily's car, passing around a flask and happily enjoying ourselves. The flask was being handled from myself to Dianna when a set of blinding headlights beamed straight at us.

Emily screamed; Dianna jerked the wheel.

As our car headed straight for the face of the cliff, with the sound of screeching tires and the smell of burning rubber, I thought to myself, 'This is it. I'm going to die. Little Lucy will be without a mother. I hope Emily and Dianna live to look after my little girl.'

With that last train of thought the world around me grew black then, with a final crash as metal met rock, grew silent.

Consciousness slowly descended over her; her head felt filled with clouds and her body felt like it had been turned into lead, like it was deadened. She heard voices as if they were from afar, drowned out tones that she couldn't quite understand. She struggled to open her eyes but they felt heavy, like they weighed over a pound in stone, so she gave up and went back to sleep, allowing once again the oblivion to take her.

She came to awareness with a start. Someone was crying; heartbreaking sobs seemed to break through the haze and dream like state that she was floating in. Her head still felt like clouds lived there and her body still felt heavy, but not deadened like it did before.

She struggled once again to open her eyes; again she encountered the heaviness of her eyelids and the creeping in of the oblivion, but this time she fought it off for that heartbreaking sound. As her eyes opened, she was greeted with the sight of her blurred surroundings. Her eyes didn't seem capable of focusing so she couldn't make out where she was or what exactly she was seeing; once she heard those chest heaving sobs again she couldn't seem to bring herself to care about where she was, only about comforting the person crying. With an effort she was able to turn her head to the left and saw a blurred version of two females, an adult and a child.

Child. Lucy; my little Lucy.

Lucy was the one crying those heartbreaking tears, she forced her eyes to adjust to her three-year-old child, her little girl, and tried to speak, say anything to stop her crying. Nothing came out but a croak, the adult had been patting Lucy's back and murmuring soothing words but when the sound pass her dry, cracked and stiff lips her head sharply shot up and looked at her intently, she continued to her pat's and words as she studied her so she tried again.

"Lucy." she whispered, it wasn't enough to be heard, Lucy was being to loud with her sobs but the adult had seemed to understand because her face briefly sported a relived expression as she turned the child's attention onto her, by saying:

"Little one, your mother is awake now and wanting to reassure you."

Lucy shyly peeked out over her shoulder to look at her mother and she tried to smile for her, her head still felt fuzzy and her body heavy but with each passing moment she found it slightly easier to concentrate.

"Mama!" Lucy wailed as she tried to wiggle off the other woman and attempt to climb onto the bed she was lying on. She almost succeeded to except for when the female gently but firmly held Lucy off the bed, calmly and kindly explaining to her that ''Mama is still sore and in need of care.'' Lucy didn't like it, increasing her wailing, but held onto her mother's finger with her little hand and wiped at her flowing tears with her other as she sat on the female's lap.

... 3 Months Later ...

"Morning Louise. I brought someone with me who wanted to see you today." Stacey declared at the door of my hospital room. Stacey was the woman who has been looking after Louise's little girl since she was in the accident and has firmly stated that ''since you're in this hospital with a little girl you can't currently look after, then I will.'' Apparently Stacey was the other party in the car crash accident and has taken Lucy as her repayment charge because she feels ''partially at fault''. She sighed thinking of that first conversation she had with the slim figured brunette.

"Mama! Stacey says we can go for walkies!" Lucy exclaimed excitedly, hyper at the idea of walking around with the wheelchair then playing in it later.

She smiled; she haven't smiled completely since the accident, since she read the local magazine that read:

''Teenage mother Louise Rosemary, 18, was in a car accident not two weeks ago when her two friends Emily Clinton, 19, and Dianna McCarran, 18, went out to drink then decided to drive up the cliff sides while continuing their drinking. Emily Clinton and Dianna McCarran sadly perished that night on the cliffs while Louise Rosemary suffered internal bleeding and sever concussion. Stacey McHenry, 21, was the other party in the car crash disaster but thankfully walked away with nothing but a few cuts and bruises.''

But she learned to make it look like she was, for Lucy's sake. Most of the time she thought she even fooled Stacey into thinking she was really happy and on the mental road to recovery, but sometimes Stacey would give her a look that said she was trying to hard and that she was fooling no one- only Lucy.

Stacey pushed Louise's wheelchair to the outside gardens where there were several other patients sitting around enjoying the view by themselves or talking to loved ones or relatives.

"Hey Lucy, want to go run over there and play around while your mama and I talk for a bit?" Stacey asked, hardly waiting for Lucy's ''Yay!'' before she gently pushed Lucy in the direction of the open area in the garden. "Louise, the doctors informed me that they are discharging you tomorrow morning. Do you have some place to stay?"

"Umm sort of. I haven't really got any clue just yet." She answered while watching Lucy very carefully, waving and smiling whenever she looked her way.

"No parents? Or close friends? No one you can stay with once you leave here?" Stacey persisted, she looked at her with a confused expression, "I'm only asking this, Louise, because if there isn't anyone you can stay with I would very much like to have you stay with me."

Friend's... dead. Family... dead. Everyone she loved; everyone on this earth who meant anything at all to her is now dead.

She looked at her savior, the woman who looked after a three-year-old child she didn't know and help comfort an 18-year-old mother who was mostly responsible for trying to run her off the cliffs face, and tears welled in her eyes.

As if she had said the words out loud, Stacey quietly murmured, "It's alright now, I'll help look after you and Lucy until you get your feet back under you."

She fought her tears and gratefully nodded her head and said her 'thank-you' in an emotion-choked voice.