They had reached the highway without a single word spoken between them; both were too focused on their destination and what they would find there to talk. Lina stared nervously out of the car windows, somewhat scared by the fact that they were driving in whiteout conditions. She couldn't even see the front of the car, much less the road. But the GPS was helping them at least go in the right direction, and as they hadn't ended up in a ditch or pond yet she had hope that they might actually get to the general vicinity of the hospital without losing their way.
But what she and her mother didn't know was that other people who had ventured out had not had such good luck. Lina glanced at the speedometer, then back out at the blizzard.
"Mum, slow down a bit. Please? Just a little bit, just a little. I know you're not going fast or anything, but can we go a tiny bit slower? It's just making me really nervous. Maybe I could drive for a little bit," she suggested tentatively, glancing sideways at her mother, who was still crying quietly.
"Every second counts, Lena," her mother said huskily, not looking over. "We have to get there as quickly as possible. There's no time to switch if we want to make it in time to say goodbye." Her mother choked on a sob. Lena swallowed hard, fighting back her own tears.
"I know, but...just—what use will we be to Dad if we're dead on the side of the road because something went wrong and with all the ice and snow we were going too fast to fix it? It's physics, mum. At a certain point you're not going to be able to correct for mistakes or unforeseen problems."
"I know!" her mother snapped, a bit more forcefully then she had intended. Then, sighing, she said, "I know. All right. I'm sorry. I'll slow down a bit if it makes you feel better." She decelerated.
Silence fell once more. Lena saw the speedometer rise a bit again, but didn't comment. She went back to staring out the windows and trying not to let herself think about the painful event that was rapidly approaching. Suddenly she saw something glint up ahead. She sat forward, alert, trying to see if it was really there or if she had just imagined it, and started to warn her mother.
"Mum! Mum, slow down! I think there's a—"
She was cut off as their car side-swept another vehicle that was stuck in a snowbank on the highway. It sent their car fishtailing, and her mother tried to straighten it out. But the ice on the road and the snow layered heavily top of it made that impossible, and in seconds they were spinning in circles, out of control. The car slid off the edge of the highway and hurtled down an embankment before coming to a sudden, jarring stop as it slammed into the edge of the tree line that ran all along the highway. That was the last thing Lena saw.
Hi! I hope this is decent so far. I haven't had anyone beta it yet, and I claim all responsibility for any mistakes in this. If you like it, please drop me a little review to let me know! ;)
~Starlight