"Daddy, are you going to work today?" asked curious, five year old girl Courtney. Mike Schiffer walked to the kitchen table, joining his wife Jenna, and daughter Courtney. "Of course sweetheart," Mike said right before he took a bite of buttered toast with grape jelly. "It's only Thursday, sweetie." Courtney smirked and put her head down. "Okay daddy." Courtney loved her dad, and wanted to maximize their time together. Mike finished his coffee, stood up, and walked to a kitchen drawer to grab his keys. After picking the keys from the drawer, Mike turned around, facing the table. "Courtney, now listen to mommy and be a good girl, and when I come home we'll have taco night!" Courtney smiled wide and her eyebrows raised. "Yay, taco night!" Mike walked up to Jenna, giving her a kiss on the lips and a hug. Mike said, "I love you." Jenna smiled. "I love you too, honey!" Mike kissed Courtney on the forehead. "I love you Courtney!" Courtney got up from the table and hugged her father's leg, squeezing tightly just above his knee, as that was the hugging zone for Courtney's little five year old height. "I love you, too daddy." Mike hugged her back, and kissed her on top of the head.
Jenna smiled at the warm interaction between Courtney and Mike. Jenna and Courtney waived to Mike as he walked out the door. After about four-seconds, Mike reappeared back in the house. "Courtney, I have some good news, besides it being taco night!" Courtney ran up to her father, hugging Mike above the knee again. "What is it, daddy? What? What?" Mike smiled as he put each hand to the sides of Courtney's shoulders. "I was finally able to get that time off so we can plan the Disneyland trip!" Courtney jumped up and down smiling. "Yay! I love Minnie Mouse." Mike smiled, turned, and walked towards the door. As Mike reached for the doorknob, he was almost knocked down by the power of Courtney's second hug within one minute. It was an adorable moment, Courtney hugging her father while wearing her favorite Minnie Mouse shirt. Courtney has been very patient in waiting for a trip to her beloved Disneyland. Mike turned. "Okay honey, daddy has to go now. See ya later for taco night."
Mike finally made it to his car.
Mike drove down the street, starting the short eight minute drive to work. Meanwhile, seventeen year old Madison was driving her car, a ten year old compact car her parents bought for her to drive to her senior year of high school. Madison was accompanied by a friend in the right front seat Beth, and in the back seat, Kaitlyn.
The girls were talking and laughing, as they did throughout much of their day in addition to focusing on social media and boys. A familiar buzzing sound was barely heard. It was a text from Madison's boyfriend Devon, who texted that he misses her and to hurry
up and get to school. "Oh my God, Madison!" remarked Kaitlyn from the back seat, continuing, "I think this is love girl!" Madison replied with a very large smile of excitement, "I know, right?" Madison picked up her phone and texted back to Devon, "I'm almost th..." Madison could not finish the text. While looking away, texting while driving, she failed to observe the stop sign at the intersection. The front of her vehicle violently slammed into the side of a car that was lawfully in the intersection, as that vehicle did not have a stop sign. The two cars spun around while connected, coming to rest amongst broken glass, plastic, and a lot of metal pushed in on both cars. Unfortunately for the innocent car, the driver took the hit broadside, directly in the driver's door.
After the cars stopped moving and the dust settled, you could see an arm hanging out of the broken out driver's side window of the innocent vehicle. Attached to the arm was a hand that had blood on it. The early morning sun shown on the hand, revealing the shine of a gold wedding ring. Not only was the deceased driver married, he had future plans. He had plans on enjoying tacos with his wife and young daughter tonight. He had plans on taking a long awaited trip to Disneyland, sharing fun times with his family, bringing great joy to his daughter, a huge fan of Minnie Mouse.
About forty minutes later there was a knock at the front door and Jenna made her way from the kitchen to the door. Little Courtney ran to her mom shouting, "It's Daddy! He came home early!" Jenna said as she walked to the door, "Oh, I wonder what your father forgot this time." Jenna opened the door and was shocked to see two policemen standing on the porch. Courtney, seeing it was not her father, stood behind her mother's right leg, holding on to the bottom of Jenna's tee-shirt. "Ma'am, i'm Officer Hill and this is my partner, Officer Kahn." Jenna had a look of worry but more curious of what the officers could possibly want to talk to her about. Can you tell me your relationship with Mike please." Jenna interlocked her fingers together, a subconscious act she does when stressed. In a cracked, nervous voice she replied, "I'm his wife. Is he okay?" Officer Hill took a deep breath in then let it out forcefully. "Ma'am, I regret to inform you your husband Mike was killed in a traffic collision not far from here." After a few seconds of silence due to shock, Jenna fell to her knees and screamed, "No! No!" Little Courtney screamed as well, and cried uncontrollably on the floor, hugging her mother tightly.
The officers contacted the next door neighbor who came over to comfort Jenna and Courtney. During a moment in between screams from either Jenna or Courtney, Officer Kahn mentioned, "It wasn't Mike's fault. A teenage girl was texting while driving and ran through a stop sign. Jenna wiped the tears from her eyes then blew her nose into a tissue. She asked, "Is the other driver okay?" Officer Hill answered, "Well, she got pretty banged up but will be fine. Her passenger in the right front seat, another seventeen year old friend of hers died in the collision, and her passenger in the back seat sustained a broken ankle and cuts to her face, but will be okay. Within fifteen minutes, Jenna's sister arrived, having received a quick text message from Jenna. Courtney ran to her aunt as she came in, giving her a hug while crying hysterically.
The next week was rough. Jenna's sister stayed at the house until a week after the funeral, before having to return to her job and her own life. Little Courtney was hardly able to sleep at night, only drifting off from shear exhaustion, but never for very long. She slept in the same bed as Jenna for comfort, frequently waking up and calling out, "Daddy, please come home!" The seventeen year old driver, Madison, who killed both Mike and her best friend Beth, was like a zombie, alive, but not really. Understandably she was a complete emotional wreck. She spent a little time in juvenile hall where she went through a program of learning about the evil's of distracted driving, and a mental health counseling program to help her cope with this horrible, tragic history she now has to live with forever. Although it's true she killed two people, she had no intent to do so, and was otherwise a smart, well liked, compassionate girl with a bright future.
One year later, Madison graduated from High school and went to college. During the past year she would often wake up in a sweat with an elevated heart rate. The incident was haunting her at least weekly, as she lives with great guilt, great remorse. From time to time she would hear a voice, as if a man was speaking softly into her ear. She knew the stress of the incident was making her brain play tricks on her. The voice would say, "What will you do now?" Or, "How will you move forward?" Her therapist, who she has seen regularly since thee incident, agrees that stress can cause people to think they hear things. Madison would hear the same sayings being spoken softly to her for the next three years, all during college, where she was a film and journalism major. During her senior year of college, the same voice changed things up a bit by saying, "Help," or "Others avoid trouble." Madison spoke to her therapist about the new phrases she was hearing. The therapist concluded the words, "Others avoid trouble," is Madison's subconscious hammering home the point that others receive text messages, but they avoid trouble by waiting until they are not driving to check them. The word "Help," Madison fears is what Mike probably said right before he died. The words haunt Madison to the point she has had several nervous breakdowns, being hospitalized for some of them. Madison fears she is being cursed by some demon in her head, talking to her, keeping her up at night, reminding her of the tragedy she created as some sort of punishment.
Towards the end of her senior year in college, Madison was tasked to create a short film as part of her grade in film production class. She said to herself, "Hmm. My mind is a mess. I have, no clue how to start my project, or what topic to write about, and how to develop a story." She had more than writer's block, she just couldn't focus as the voices came with more frequency the past two weeks. The repeated phrases, were imbedded in her brain. "Help." Or, "Others avoid trouble." She sat down at the kitchen table and took a sip of orange juice, then stared at the ceiling, searching for answers. She yearned for a little clarity on how to write her script. She did not want to fail a class, having struggled through the past almost four years of college due to her internal strife. Her mind raced as she thought about making a film about relationships, lost pirate treasure, and even talking animals that operate food trucks. Her mind was all over the place, unable to zero in on a solid idea...until it hit her.
Madison wrote down all the words and phrases she has heard in her head that spoke to her since the accident. She assembled them different ways, not liking their order, then changing them up again. "Hmm...This may be it," she thought. She finally wrote, "What will you do now?" as well as "How will you move forward?" She scratched her head and wrote down, "Help" and "Others avoid trouble," and linked them together. She exhaled hard to relieve some stress then she wrote the words in one sentence together, "Help others avoid trouble." She put her pen down and nodded with a long lost smile across her face. "That's it! The voices were telling me all along that I am supposed to move forward, and help others avoid trouble."
She thought that perhaps the words were not from a demon curse in her head, but from another place, a good place.
Over the next two months Madison worked hard and wrote the script. She filmed an educational short story about the hazards of distracted driving. The film starts out discussing Mike and her friend Beth's tragic, preventable death, and the families that were torn apart because of her momentary distraction. The film showed large photos of Rick and Beth so the audience would build a relationship with the two, realizing these were once actually living and breathing people. They were a husband, father, daughter, son, brother, sister, cousin, and friend to many.
At the end of the film, the killer is revealed that it is actually the writer and creator of the film. That had a strong impact on the viewer especially when it is mentioned she has to live with the guilt for the rest of her life, and she was only seventeen when the accident happened. The film in closing shows Madison speaking from the heart, talking how she regrets her actions of texting while driving everyday. She highlights that the text could have waited. She also highlights the preventability of such accidents. "Just wait a moment. Wait until you are not driving, because those few seconds of distraction, a measly few seconds or even one-second, can tragically change the lives of many, including yours, forever!"
After success with her film, she earned the top grade in her class, and many school districts heard of the powerful message of the story, and how artfully the information was presented. Five high school districts incorporated the film into a mandatory viewing for all new high school students. Two weeks after graduation from college she heard the voice. The same familiar, haunting voice she knew all too well. This time the words were different. "Good work." Her heart started to pound and she felt chills, as goosebumps appeared on her arms. "Wait a minute," she thought to herself. "Maybe, just maybe, the voice belonged to Mike, the one I accidentally killed."
Perhaps it was Mike's voice reaching out to Madison, forgiving her and motivating her to use the incident for the positive future of others. "Nah, that couldn't be. The voice is just the stress inside," Madison thought.
Although the voices subsided, Madison still lives with tremendous guilt that she fears she will never be without. She continues to have restless nights, unable to get a solid rest. A few weeks after graduation, Madison contacted Jenna and Courtney by e-mail.
"Dear Jenna and Courtney...Again, words can't describe how sorry I am for your loss. I have grown since then, and have created a safety video that is being used in many schools, across five school districts. The incident will serve to prevent future tragedies, and will honor the spirit of Mike, as his sacrifice will help thousands of young people to live."
Jenna read the email and smiled. She realized Madison's remorse, and appreciated the fact others will live due to the incident, and the film bringing awareness to many. The next day, Courtney, now nine, spoke to Madison on the phone and told her she gets visits from her father all the time. "I know he is still with me." Madison replied while smiling, "He always will be." Courtney added, "Last night my dad's voice came to me. He said, 'Madison helped others avoid trouble.' I think my dad knows about your film." There was silence for about ten seconds on the other end of the phone. The words Courtney just mentioned, were words spoken softly into Madison's ear for several years now. Madison's legs became shaky and weak. She sat down in her kitchen as her legs were too wobbly to stand. Madison trembled as she stared at the ceiling. ten- seconds"Madison? Are you there?" asked Courtney due to the air silence. Madison smiled, and felt a warmth inside that she hasn't felt in a long time. She excitedly commented, "Yes, your father is still around, that's for sure!" As Madison hung up the phone, a tear dropped onto her smiling face as she softly whispered towards the ceiling, "Thanks for the motivation to pick myself up, Mike."
The lights in the kitchen immediately flickered and Madison heard that old familiar voice say, "Thanks for being a friend to Courtney." Madison smiled even wider, now both eyes were shedding tears. Madison quickly blew her nose with a paper towel then responded in a cracked, joyful voice, "I'll take her to Disneyland soon." Again, the kitchen lights flickered. Madison watched a little TV, then finally, after years of agony, was able to get a good nights sleep.