His Name Was Jaccob

• Carolyn Williams, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2009

“My name?” I asked with uncertainty in my voice. The man nodded lightly in reply. “Rose McConnell.” I was not afraid to tell him my name. He was here to help me, though I doubt anyone could.

“Rose, I am going to ask you a question,” his voice was deep and smooth as he spoke. I faintly nodded in response to his question. “Firstly, are you committing self harm?”

I bent my head so that my wrists were in view. One wrist bandaged up in faded white cloth and the other covered with scars that haunted me. With both wrists telling another story I muttered, “No.” He again lightly nodded. “I didn’t do this to myself,” I added. “It was from the car accident.”

His eyes watched me and looked as though they had seen many stories. All though they might have been a vibrant blue at one point, now all they were was a faded grey. Closing my file, he said, “Tell me your story.”

I took a deep breath, “It was my eighteenth birthday. Jacob, my boyfriend, he took me out to dinner at Southbank.” I didn’t know how to describe Jacob to him. Jacob was the best boyfriend any girl could have. A funny, loyal, kind hearted guy who loved me for the crazy girl I was. He was proud to be my boyfriend. “I have known Jacob since I was nine years old,” I mention. “We were really... intimate.” The man’s face lit up as if he knew what it was like to be madly in love. “Even though it was my eighteenth I didn’t see the need to get wasted. It was not big deal for us. After dinner we decided to get a movie then head back to his place.”

My throat became tight and my breath became shallow.

“Breath Rose,” he urged as he must have seen the tension rise in my body.

I felt my head spin and my nose sting as I used all my might to fight back oncoming tears. “That’s when it happened…I saw a light, an unbelievably bright light coming towards us like…like a train!” My heart throbbed and my fingers shook widely. “I screamed! But it was too late. We were hit…Then there was the feeling. A feeling I never want to feel again. I felt my body being thrown through glass, shattering on the road where I lay there if wondering I was going to make it. I felt my blood rush out of my body, drowning the space around me.”

“Go on.” His eyes full of sincerity.

“I knew I was on my back,” I whispered, “because I could see stars.”

I remember the sensation of the cold night air tickling my face and the rough road angrily scraping my back. My arms were lying almost gracefully next to my beating head with my legs thrown aside. My eyes felt heavy begging me to close them from the flashing lights.

Snapping out of my reminiscence I stuttered, “Sorry.” I began my deep breathing. “I heard voices, like a crowd of people whispering. Then all I could think about was Jacob. I didn’t know if he survived the accident.” I dreaded the next part of my story. “Once I was carried into the ambulance and had finished my beg for Jacob I fell into a hole of nothingness.”

“I woke up in the hospital twenty four hours later with my parents looking down at me. When I got my strength back I asked about Jacob.” My voice croaked. This time I lost the war to my emotion’s tears. “Mum told me what happened. She said that it wasn’t a train that hit us, but a damn car. A car with a drunk driver. She told me that, that person in a room a few doors down killed the guy I loved. That idiot killed my Jacob! The idiot’s a murderer!”

Quieting down I apologised.

“Never apologise Rose, that’s why I am here.”

I nodded softly knowing that my time with him was up. I thanked him for his time as I rolled my chair out of his office.