"Hello?" Cindy said into the telephone, silencing its ring. "Oh, hi Mary Ellen."
As the warm sun shone through the windows, Cindy reflected on how quiet the house was. Virginia and Charlie were both teenagers, and were out playing with some of their friends, their cousin John Curtis included. Cindy and Ben both had been distraught when the doctor told them they would never have any more children, but that piece of information had made them closer to the two that they had throughout the years.
"Sheriff Bridges wants us to meet him at the station immediately." Mary Ellen's words immediately snapped Cindy out of her thoughts. "Is something wrong?"
"He wouldn't say," Mary Ellen replied. "I can only hope our children are alright."
"I'll get Ben from the mill and meet you there," Cindy said and hung up the phone.
The look on Sheriff Bridges' face when Ben and Cindy entered the station told them that something was not right. Mary Ellen and Jonesy were seated in the room, both looking pale.
"Well," the sheriff began. "There's no use sugarcoating the situation. Your children have been in an accident."
"Are they all right?" Ben asked.
"Your son Charlie is fine. He hardly received a scratch." He turned to look at Mary Ellen and Jonesy. "And John Curtis has a few broken bones, but the medical staff is positive he'll make a full recovery." He sighed. "As for Virginia…"
"Yes, sheriff?" Cindy said, with the sickening sense that she was not going to like whatever the sheriff was going to say next.
"Virginia is in critical condition. You can go see her now, but I feel I should warn you that the doctors are saying that nothing can be done."
Cindy and Ben fell into each other's arms and began weeping. Mary Ellen and Jonesy had to coax them apart from each other and into the car that would drive them to the hospital, and most certainly, the sight of their daughter's death.