Cell Phone Angel

He’d only met her one year before, but it was as if he’d known her forever. She was his angel, his sparkling diamond – his heart, his best friend. He’d never known love until he’d met her, never felt quite this special before. She knew how to make him laugh when his heart was aching. Her smile was a mirror of the radiant joy found in her heart. She was an echo of the cries of his soul.

Lost in his thoughts, he never noticed the lone tawny creature standing alone on the side of the road, preparing to make the leap across the white and yellow lines. In a flash, his life spun out of control as he impulsively swerved to miss the bounding deer.

Before he could move, his car seemed to buck like a mustang as it flipped on its side, and slid across the asphat sparks flying like deadly fireworks. His seventeen years flashed past his closed eyes. The steel guardrail was there to receive him as shattered glass fell on him like dark hail through the shattered windshield as he felt the nightmare come to a shuddering halt. Finally.

Moments seemed to stretch on like hours as the agonizing fires descended on his legs and chest, held fast under the crushed roof of his once-prized transport. His silver Volvo was flattened, with him still trapped helplessly inside with no chance of escape.  He could feel that there was no way to escape his deadly prison. He knew that this pain would soon be over and he would close his eyes forever.

His mind flew toward the smile, the hair, the laugh. His heart twisted at the thought of leaving her. He knew her heart would break. He could hear her sobs, picture her tears. As he slowly turned his head, gasping at the new waves of fiery pain that threatened to steal away his consciousness, his eyes glimpsed a shimmering object –his cell phone.

What miracle had kept his cell phone undamaged and within his damaged arm’s reach? He stretched out, ignoring the knives within his side, sighing with relief as his fingers closed around the object more precious to him than a single diamond at that moment to his pain-filled eyes.

His mind worked quickly within that moment of decision. To whom would this last phone call be directed? His parents knew he loved them – he had told them many times. 911 would do no good – he knew that not even they could save him now. His mind once again floated to his girl as he realized that he had not once told her that he loved her. He had shown it many ways, but his lips had never expressed the words which had always been treasured within his mind and soul.

Without a moment of remaining hesitation, his bloody fingers dialed the number that was more familiar to him than his own. The ring was hollow in his ears, sharp to his aching head as he fought to keep his consciousness for these few precious remaining moments. He had to stay away - he had to hear her voice! Finally, after his hope had almost been washed away, he heard the strains of music that he knew as her voice speaking his name.

Slowly, he answered her. Her name was sweeter on his tongue than a drink of the coolest, purest water. He could hear her sobs begin as he told her that he was simply calling to say good-bye. She begged him to hold on – that she would call for help. He told her to wait – that there was something desperately important that he had to tell her. Taking a final deep breath, he whispered with all of his strength, "I love you, angel." His voice broke. He waited. "I love you, too, baby." The words were captured within a throaty sob. The phone was suddenly so heavy within his hand. He fought to keep his eyes from closing, but it was in vain. With a final sigh, the world went white.

Ten minutes later, the ambulance screamed its way toward the scene. A girl had called, hardly able to speak through the sobs that seemed to tear her body apart. As the paramedics surrounded the limp and bloody form that the Jaws of Life had gently pulled from the battered and crushed car, they found him with a faint smile on his lips, and a silver cell phone close to his heart.