Kendall kept his eyes focused on the glaring red taillights ahead of him as he steered the motorcycle through torrential downpour. Dirty blonde hair fell in clumps from beneath his helmet, the rain causing it to stick to his forehead. Water droplets collected on the strands, quickly falling into green eyes and rolling down freckled skin.

As soon as the light turned green, Kendall revved the engine, quickly accelerating towards the intersection. The impact came unexpectedly; a car from the oncoming lane had turned left as the motorcycle sped across the intersection.

Neither driver saw the other until it was too late.

He could feel the tires slide beneath him against the slick road as he tried to dodge the car's fender last minute, but the contact was inevitable. The headlights of the car collided with the taillights of Kendall's bike. A mosaic of red, clear, and orange shards of plastic cascaded into the air, and Kendall instinctively covered his eyes before he felt his body being propelled into the air.

He was flying, and everything felt like it was happening in slow motion and black and white grainy film.

As his body flew through the air, Kendall could no longer feel gravity pulling him to the earth. All he could see was her face.

The way her dark eyebrows furrowed in frustration when he had to miss a date, the way her brown eyes softened when he touched her, the way her soft pink lips melted into his when they were all alone in his room: all things he'd previously taken for granted until that instant.

Though the squeal of metal grinding against metal filled the air, all he could hear was her voice.

Her raspy laugh, her carefree tone as she sung along with the radio, the words she whispered in his ear when all his friends were around, the words only meant for him; he longed to hear them all again, just one last time.

As his skin tore against the pavement, all he could feel was her bare skin, the way she trembled at his touch.

He remembered the night she'd told him she loved him. They had been sitting by the pool at night with their feet dunked into the cool water and without a care in the world. The streaks of light reflected from the water made her features seem to glow. He playfully splashed water against her bare legs, causing her to shriek and splash him back. As they recovered from a fit of giggles, the three words escaped her lips almost listlessly, and though he'd never heard them before, it felt natural. That was the moment that changed everything, the moment that sewed her frame against his and etched her face into his thoughts.

It was also the moment he was taken back to when everything came crashing down around him, and there were so many things he wished he could take back. There were so many words they exchanged that flickered in the back of his mind and caused him to flinch.

He just wished they'd had more time, wished he would've worked harder to make things right instead of adding fuel to the flames.

When Kendall came to, he was surrounded by people, all staring at him with wide eyes and worried frowns. Emergency technicians hovered over him, checking his vitals and waving a light in his eyes. Their words were muffled, and though his vision was blurred, Kendall could still see her face perfectly.

As the crowd began to disperse, he rolled to his feet and watched as bloodstained water flowed into the gutter. Though his body ached, he felt different, stronger somehow, as if the crash had resurrected him. His thoughts were never clearer than in the chaos that surrounded him.

A shard of glass on the sidewalk caught his eye, reflecting the hazy outline of a phone booth. Kendall moved towards the beaten booth, his clumsy finger dialing the number he'd dialed so many times before.