Reckless Loss of Innocence

The girls were young, beautiful and in high school. The three of them were on their way to a football game unaware of the tragedy that was waiting for them. With a childlike innocence they had said goodbye to their families and headed down that winding road toward the game; little did they know they were not alone on the road.

The girl in the backseat leaned forward talking to her sister and her friend. They were happy and worry free just doing what teenagers do. The oldest of them was only seventeen the other two were fifteen years old. The headlights came out of nowhere. No matter how hard she tried she could not get away from those lights.

The tracks were all over the road where the young driver attempted to get out of the way of the headlights. There was another set of tracks following them as if tracing them; the second set of tracks was almost on top of the first. It was like the other driver followed the headlights, almost targeting the small car with his truck.

Police and paramedics rushed to the scene of the crash. The two vehicles were so tangled together only their size made it possible to tell them apart. The driver that had hit them went to the hospital and so did one of the girls. They were hit head on and one of them had not been wearing a seat belt. The girl driving the car had a broken pelvis and broken arm. She was alive. The passengers in her car were not so lucky. Both died at the scene of the accident.

The driver that hit them while he was taken to the hospital as well had far less severe injuries to speak of. He was young too; he was also drunk with no business on the road at all. One young girl went to the hospital crying not from the pain of her injuries but from the knowledge that her little sister and friend were both gone. The girl in the back had no seat belt on as she was leaning forward, she and the other passenger did not make it out of the crash.

The funeral was held at the rather large local church. There were hundreds of people there since not only family and friends turned out to say good bye but the entire high school did as well. The church was filled with tears as everyone finally allowed it to sink in that these two that were once so full of life would no longer attend parties, dances or anything else because of someone else's mistake.

The news reports came for months; they were enough to make anyone cry, even those that only knew of the girls from them. Both driver's had been fairly young and the only two that survived. The District Attorney was slower than the family would have liked to bring charges and there was talk of charging the girl he hit. It was reported that she herself had been under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident. Nothing ever came of the last one but the thought was enough to make anyone angry.

The girl that survived had a broken pelvis, leg, arm and heart. She could not help but blame herself for the longest time. The families are healing a little day by day but it is still hard to let their other children out of their sight for fear it may happen again.

Now how will these three families get their lives back together? Do they have a clue as to how to hang on? How long and far reaching are these affects going to be? The families while continuing to mourn the losses of these two girls put on brave faces and go out into the world each day hoping no one else has to feel what they still feel.