Crash

The blaring of the alarm clock brought him to the brink of consciousness.  Slapping at the noise he managed to cause silence again.  He began to drift back to sleep when the feeling of a cold nose against his cheek brought him awake again.

‘Time to get up baby.’  The sound of her voice caused him to smile.  ‘I saw that!  If you can grin then you’re awake enough to sit up and turn off that infernal alarm.’

He stretched his arms, clicking the alarm clock from snooze to off as his left arm came back towards his body.

‘Great, but that does us no good unless you actually get out of bed.’  He chucked a pillow in her general direction.  He heard her scamper away.  ‘Ha!  You missed!  Now get up!’

He groaned as he sat up.  ‘Sometimes I swear you’re worse than the actual alarm clock.’

She laughed.  ‘I do what I have to.  If you’re not mobile before I go to work then I can’t be sure that you’d make it to the office at all.’

Stretching as he stood, he watched her as she zipped up her skirt and then turned to contemplate shoes.  While he slipped on socks and an undershirt, she buttoned up her suit jacket.  He slipped into a pair of pants while she put on earrings and a necklace.  Her voice tsked him as he reached for a shirt.  ‘How many times do we have to go through this?  The blue doesn’t go with those pants.  Almost any of the other ones will though.  Wear the green one.’

He smiled as he slipped on the green shirt.  ‘You just prefer the way I look in green.’

She laughed and smiled at him.  ‘You do look charming in green, but that doesn’t change the fact that blue and those pants are a no go.’  She slipped into a pair of heels and grabbed her purse.  ‘Which tie are you going to wear?’  She nodded her approval as he held one up.  ‘Good choice.  Now don’t forget that you’re supposed to get an oil change today.  I thought that since it’s right by the library, you could return my books while that gets finished.  Have a good day at work; I’ll see you for dinner.’  She kissed him on the cheek.  ‘I love you.  Oh, and don’t forget your cell phone!’  Her words stayed with him as she bustled out of the bedroom and out of the apartment.  He was adjusting his tie when suddenly he alarm blared out.

He jumps up, afraid he fell asleep again somehow after she left.  He looks around, bleary eyed, as he turns off the alarm.  The clock says the correct time for the first alarm.  The room is disheveled, clothing and objects everywhere.  Drawers are open, as well as the closet door.  He turns back towards the bed, to question her and make sure everything is okay.

The empty other side of the bed reminds him that nothing is okay.  He never got that oil change.  Instead he left work that day almost as soon as he arrived to rush to the hospital.  Her car was hit head on when someone ran a stop sign while reaching for their spilling coffee.  He had remembered his cell, but he had forgotten to turn it on.  The hospital couldn’t reach him until he got to work.  She was gone before he reached the hospital.

Their last conversation echoed in his dreams ever since.  Now it didn’t matter which pants he wore; he only ever wore green shirts.