I Could Never Have Imagined...

I could never have imagined that I would be driving in a car with the son of the man I loved. That I would be dating a man with a child. Children were a deal breaker for me but then love does things to your mind, to your resolve.

"My father loves you, you know," Cameron says. Cameron is the thirteen year old son of my current boyfriend, Alex. We are driving home from a movie. It was good bonding time for Cameron and me. At Cameron's words, I grip the steering wheel as my heart does a little flip. I focus on the road in front of me.

"He loved Amber, too," I say. Amber was Alex's ex-girlfriend of 5 years.

"True."

"Your father loves easily."

"Is that so bad?"

I shrug. "I guess not, if you look at it in a certain light." It is what makes Alex such a natural romantic - I think.

"Love is good," Cameron says.

"It is. You're lucky to have a Dad who adores you."

"I know. Though he can get a little crazy sometimes. All nervous and sensitive over nothing, you know?"

"Well, you know those actor types," I joke. Alex is an actor.

Cameron laughs. We often joke about his Dad's profession.

"Or should I say those Dad types," I added.

Cameron chuckles and I smile. Suddenly the image of my father - tall, brown-skinned in his long, black wool coat appears before me. Sadness pools in my chest. Suddenly I am seeing my mother with her long, straight hair with the golden brown highlights standing next to him. They are dressed in their Sunday finest. Tears threaten to spill from my eyes. Funny, how clearly I remember them, fifteen years after they died.

They had loved me just as much as Cameron's dad loved him - with that fierce, fierce love. And I loved them back just as fiercely. I was their only child.


Suddenly, I realize in the moment that I love Alex just that strongly and that I am truly beginning to love Cameron in that way, too. I haven't felt a love like that for anyone since my parents. I smile at my Mom's gentle face as she smiles back at me. I could hear a voice.

"Kayla! Kayla!" It is Cameron.

"Kayla, watch out! That guy's driving right towards us!"

The vision of my parents clears and I see a white Ferrari speeding towards us in our lane. He is going the wrong way.

What? I turn the steering wheel, causing the car to swerve to the right, off the road and onto hard dirt. The car jumps a little, then hits something hard. I feel a vibration through the steering wheel and the car begins to flip over. I think of Alex.

Then the whole world shifted.

This is in response to a writing prompt at Red Writing Hood : to write a piece using no more than 600 words, beginning with the words, "I could never have imagined" and end it with the words "Then the whole world shifted."

Constructive criticism welcomed.