Second Chances

The day was beautiful, the air fresh from the light summer shower that we had to pass through on our ride home. Sunshine peeking from behind the clouds glinting off the chrome on my motorcycle. I loved the feeling of freedom of the bike underneath me, the wind in my hair and the sight of my husband in front of me. I couldn't help but smile as I watched him handle his bike like it was an extension of himself. The wind whipping his hair and beard around him and his beat-up vest worn with pride. I was always amazed that, no matter how sore we were from the long hours and many miles, he always looked young when he slung his leg over her. He's been riding for years, not exactly sure how many, but it's been a long time. I'm still a new rider with only three years behind these bars. Even tho I'm new to riding my own, I've been on a bike since I was 6 months old, first with my brother, then with my exes. No one made me feel as safe as Carl did. We hop on, I throw some earbuds in, play my music and fly. I never thought I would ever have this sense of freedom and control in my life. Carl asked me one day if I ever thought of riding my own? I told him that my ex said I was too stupid to ride my own. His solution? Let's go shopping. Still makes me smile thinking of the confidence that he had in me to do that. So, off we went, and I picked out my girl, Lil Bit. She's a blue and silver Suzuki Boulevard C50, she's light and rides like a dream. I love that her center of gravity is lower than the Harleys he had me try. He jokes that when he heard me say "Oh!" around the corner from where he was looking, he felt the money leave his wallet. He paid cash and insisted that it be put in my name only. It brought me to tears. Never had anyone love me like that before. He had to ride it home from Scottsbluff because I was too scared to. It was only 50 miles or so, but I had never rode my own, so I was not ready for that. I was brought out of my reverie by a car speeding up behind me. I had no idea how fast they were going, but they were going much faster than my 90mph. They came aggressively up behind me, rode my ass for a minute before whipping into the outside lane. I could hear their loud music over what I had playing in my earbuds when they passed me. My heart skipped a beat when I saw them pass Carl with mere inches between them. Then they decided to pull in front of Carl so we both had to hit our brakes. Carl to keep from hitting them and me to keep from hitting Carl. I saw him yell and flip the kids off. "Assholes!" I mumbled to myself as I felt the tension settle between my shoulders. " I really hope they aren't going the same way as us,"Leaning forward, I grabbed the handlebars a little tighter and focused on the people in front of me. As luck, or fate, would have it, they were. We all got into the outside lane to make our left exit off of the interstate. I, as usual, slow down quite a bit because, being a new rider, I don't want to over-ride my ability. Carl slows down but not nearly as much as I do. The car in front of us didn't even tap its brakes. As I am rounding the corner and coming under the highway, I hear a screech of tires and the deafening roar of a collision. As I round the final part of the curve trying to slow down even more, I see the car spinning wildly in circles headed directly for Carl. My eyes widen as the rear swings wildly and clips the front wheel of Carls' bike. My heart stops as I see him and his bike start to crumple as he is catapulted into the air. I didn't see the car spinning towards me as I continued watching my husband slowly topple end over end. From the corner of my eye I saw the car coming towards me and felt a sickening crunch as my bike started to collapse as I too got thrown away from my bike. Darkness. I woke to the sound of a revving motorcycle and screams. My body hurts all over. I lift my head, the world tilts wildly, and I turn and vomit. Taking shallow breaths, I wipe my face and try to slowly assess my damage. Hand to my head, I feel a wetness, when I bring my hand around I notice it is blood. When I inhale, it hurts, probably broken ribs. I ran my hands along my torso, pain, but no blood. Moving my legs, my left one feels as if a red-hot poker is there instead of my bone. "s**t!" I turned painfully to my side and looked around. The car is a little further back on its side in a ditch, my bike is on its side 150 yards to my left. I scan the road and see a body in the middle wearing a white shirt, not him. "CARL!!" I scream, though it comes out more like a horse croak. I swallowed and tried again, "CARL!!" louder this time as I continued to scan the roadway pulling myself with all the strength I could muster. There is a truck facing the wrong way on the off-ramp, a young woman with blood dripping down her face calls to me, "He's over here!" I pull myself up to a sitting position gasping for air as another wave of dizziness and nausea hits me. I push myself up on my one good leg and half crawl, half crab walk to the truck. Once I make it to the truck, I grasp the crumpled bumper and pull myself up. Another wave of dizziness hits me and I vomit again. My body starts to shake as I search for him. When my eyes settle on the dark mass 200 feet in front of me, my knees buckle and I scream "CARL!!!!!" The woman comes to me and grabs me "You need to sit down." "NO" I scream at her trying to push her away. "I need to go to him" I weakly push away from the truck onto her, and she gently grabs me and guides me to him. My eyes travelled over his mangled body. His right leg, that is all wrong, the left arm is facing the wrong direction. She brings me to him as close as she dares. I pushed her away and pushed myself further to get to him. All I can see is the face that I love so much thru my tears. "Carl, baby, please don't leave me." I saw a corner of his mouth twitch and his one eye that wasn't a bloody mess open and look at me. A sob escapes me and I lean my face closer to him and place a kiss on his lips. "Don't think you can get rid of me that easy." and he starts to cough. I touched his face and smiled into those beautiful green eyes, "Easy baby, I'm here now." I heard more screeching and running footsteps. In the distance, I heard sirens. I put my head on Carl's shoulder and grabbed his uninjured hand. "I love you Carl, don't you leave me!"