Aris lives alone with her parents. They are very lively. Too much, actually.
They just went into their room after finishing dinner. But Aris hasn't. She doesn't feel like eating. Though she had a fun day at the beach and at school with her friends today, she just feels numb. It's not like she is sick tho. Why does she feel dull? Her friends cheered her up, but she still doesn't feel happy enough. There is one thing that can make her happy, though.
Aris glances at the clock in the living room above the TV. It's 8 p.m. Perfect. She gets up from the table, throws her food in the trash, and takes her car keys from above the fridge. '' Bye, guys! I'll be back by 10, don't worry!" she yells before slamming the front door.
She meets the cold air for a few seconds before she gets inside her 2023 Honda Civic.
---
At 9 p.m. on San Francisco's famous Bay Bridge, a car accident happened in the middle of the empty road. Aris was 13 years old. She and her family were returning home after a long vacation at her grandparents' home. That's when it happened. They had all been sleepy and tired, so that when a police car was passing by, they had no clue and accidentally crashed into it. The events after that were so blurred. The only thing Aris remembers perfectly is that she heard a tall and skinny woman hiding her away from the fire the accident has caused, telling her softly," It's fine, dear. You're fine." Everything else is too blurry. Even the sounds were blurred.
The next day, she heard her family crying and asked them gently for the reason. Her sister told her the news, sobbing so hard, it was almost impossible to make out what she was saying," They are dead, Aris. They died. We killed them."
Those words burned on her skin. "Th-them? There was more than one person in the car? How did nobody see?" Aris asked herself quietly. Ava heard Aris and answered, her sobs calming down, "Yes, there was a husband and a wife, both were police. We killed both of them. That's our biggest regret, Aris. How did none of us notice?"
Little Aris fainted on the spot. That's all Older Aris remembers. The following days' events are completely gone from Aris's head.
And now, back to the present, Aris parked her car on one corner of the Bay Bridge. It's pretty wide and beautiful at night. She drives here very carefully, always does. She comes here occasionally. On those days, she just wasn't feeling it. Like today.
She likes to think about who it was that told her she is fine. Was the woman who even told her that, fine? Who was she, Ava, her mother, or the woman in the car? Who told her that?
Aris walks to the edge of the bridge and looks below to see the waves gently lapping the water and reflecting on the stars above. Oh yeah, there is one more unanswered question that Aris has never asked but desperately wants the answer to:
Did that married cop couple have kids?