Disclaimer: The Legend of Korra does not belong to me.
A/N: This story is for everybody out there who has any regrets and/or is suffering from a disability. Never forget that you're important and loved.
From My Heart to Yours
Prologue
I think about a lot of things, but nothing hits my mind as frequently as the night of the accident. I remember that night like it was yesterday.
I've tried to shake the memories of it from my mind—but I can't.
Sometimes it's all I can think about.
It's nearly three a.m., and I can't sleep. I tossed and turned in my bed for hours before finally giving up. Now I'm in my office, sitting at my desk, and writing down my thoughts under the light of my desk lamp with a ballpoint pen.
Why am I doing this?
What good am I going to achieve by reliving past events?
I can't answer those questions clearly. All I know is that I have a story to tell, and it's about time I told it.
The truth is, I used to have a strong need for speed. The desire ran rampant in my veins like cocaine runs in an addict. And believe me, I was addicted.
Something about driving fast made me feel like I was flying. I've never done drugs before, but it gave me a high that I imagine drugs would.
I kept this addiction well hidden from parents. How? I never drove fast on the highway, only on rarely used backroads. I also kept my grades up, behaved, did my chores, went to church every Sunday, and I was always home before dark, so they never had any sufficient reason to complain or worry. All in all, I was the ideal child.
Until one day, I wasn't.
That day came the day after my high school graduation. My family was on a high of pride while I felt invincible, like I could literally do anything in the world.
Since I was so "invincible" I decided to do something that I had never done before: sneak out of the house at midnight and race down the highway.
It was a dumb idea, and I was dumb for doing it. I endangered the lives of innocent people that night.
And my life? Well, it was forever changed.
As midnight approached, doubt increasingly wreaked havoc on Korra's mind. All evening a foreboding shadow had followed her body, haunting her, warning her not to leave. Still, she was stubborn, and that burning desire to get out and taste the highway bled through her conscience. She quietly got off her bed, put on a hoodie, some sweatpants, a pair of sneakers, and grabbed her keys off of the dresser. She was ready to face whatever consequences lay ahead.
She tip-toed out of her room, down the stairs, and out the back door. Like the pink panther, she crept through the backyard, slowly opened the rickety fence gate, and slid through. The sight of her baby in the driveway made her heart race. It was party time.
Being behind the wheel of her black four-door car gave Korra an adrenaline rush unlike any other. Wind came gushing in through the open windows, and it rustled her hair while the cool temperature flushed her cheeks. She howled, just for the heck of it, and pressed her foot down harder on the gas.
"Come on, baby!" She patted the dashboard affectionately. "Let's see how fast you can go!"
Korra skirted in and out of sparse traffic. The few cars that were out honked at her recklessness as she soared blissfully by. She rounded a curb at 90 miles per hour when she saw a person on a bike, facing her oncoming headlights, frozen by fear.
Excitement turned into dread and settled like a stone dropping in the pit of her stomach. She was going too fast to stop, but fortunately instinct took over and she slammed on the brakes and spun the wheel, narrowly missing the frozen biker. Her breath came out in frantic pants. Everything felt like it was going in slow motion as her car skittered diagonally across the road. She smashed into a tree, the sound of glass shattering and metal twisting broke the still night air. Her body, unprotected by a seatbelt, slammed forward into the steering wheel. A searing pain reverberated in her head before everything went black.
Life is unpredictable and oftentimes has a way of surprising you at the moment you least expect it.
Sometimes good surprises, and sometimes bad surprises.
Senna's life had never been that surprising. In fact, it had always been textbook ordinary, but lovely all the same.
At twenty-one she graduated from college with a business degree, at twenty-two she met Tonraq, at twenty-three she fell in love with Tonraq, at twenty-five they got married, and at twenty-seven she had Korra. Korra was her greatest accomplishment, her pride and joy, her baby. Korra's brief stint with rebellion stopped in elementary school, after that her daughter rarely got in trouble.
Sitting next to her husband in the hospital's intensive care waiting room, Senna wondered when her life ditched the textbook and became a nightmare, a freaking spinning disk with no control. She couldn't stop shaking and she gripped her husband's hand hard enough to break it. A blanket coated her body, but she still felt cold. Dried tears made her cheeks sticky, and new tears repaved the way.
"She's gonna be okay, Senna." Tonraq said quietly. He was gazing at the opposite wall where a flat screen TV hung, his features tight, his eyes bloodshot red. His usually confidant voice trembled slightly and he sniffled. "Our daughter is a fighter. She will survive this."
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and Senna collapsed into him. She closed her stinging eyes and sucked in a huge breath of air, telling herself she wasn't going to cry. Not again. Apparently her body was just like her life. She fell apart at the seams, sobbing loudly into Tonraq's chest.
A/N: Please let me know what you think. All criticism is welcome :)