"Once The First Frost Falls"

1
The sun hung low on the autumn horizon as they stood on Sara’s gravel driveway. Her arms hung over his shoulders as his were slung low at her waist. Sara looked down, boring her green eyes into Charlie’s chest. 1

“Don’t look so nervous honey, tomorrow will be the beginning of the rest of our lives” he said in his southern drawl, trying to remove the grim overtone of her facial features. 2

“It’s not that Charlie, I just keep gettin’ the feelin’ that somethin’s gonna happen; somethin’ that’ll tear us apart forever,” her voice was a restricted whisper. 3

Cupping her chin in his hands Charlie lifted Sara’s face so that his honey brown eyes met her green ones; “Nothin’ can do that; by tomorrow evenin’ you’ll be my wife an’ we’ll always be together.”4

Charlie held Sara close; taking comfort in each other’s warm embrace, fighting the chill of impending winter penetrating fall, they stood silently. With such reassurance, Sara kissed Charlie sweetly and bade him sweet goodbyes. The final rays of the sun were left barely kissing the black velvet night as his black pickup truck drove from sight.5


2
Charlie sat in the driver’s seat as he was heading down route 43 on his way home. He was taking care to keep his speed in check since slick leaves, wet pavement and twisty route 43 were a bad combination. He was thinking of Sara with a smile playing at the corners of his lips when a deer with three large spots on its face ran into the road. “Charlie!” Sara screamed but her voice was far away. 6

Charlie let out an unshaped sound of surprise. He jerked the steering wheel to the left and back to the right, each jerk releasing a screech from the tires, to avoid the forest alongside the road. In a frenzied blur the truck began to roll one side over the next; Charlie was thrown from his seat into the night. When the truck stopped rolling and a misty fog hung over the tragic scene, Sara located Charlie. 7

Charlie lay sprawled out on the side of the road closest to the side of the mountain. He was motionless all except for an airy whisper that escaped his lips. “I love you Sara… We’ll be together… again… once the first… frost… falls.” Blood stained his sandy blond hair and trickled down his temples. His jaw hung slack and his eyes stared blankly into the night as their light faded. 8


3
Sara shot up in a cold sweat. Her face and hair was wringing wet, as were her sheets. Her nerves made her body tremble with fear; she reached out to her cell phone to call Charlie but remembered he turned his phone off at night. “It was just a, a dream. It was just a dream” she said to console her fears as she sat hugging her knees to her chest on her bed. An hour later she took her weary body and showered as coffee brewed in the kitchen. Sara filled her mug with coffee, letting her fingers be warmed by the mug, and sat at the table. The clock on her microwave said 6:30am, it was the morning of her wedding day and she decided to begin preparing herself.9

4
Sara shooed off her bridesmaids and mother so she could admire her appearance in peace. The simple white dress with a lace overlay clung to her body in just the right places. She had yet to put on the veil; holding it in her hands she turned over the tiara that attached to the veil. She began to think of being Mrs. Charlie Evan Angstrom and letting the thought fill her body with warm delight. Her peace was interrupted by a knock at the door.10

“Come in, it’s open” 11

“Sara?” Her mother said pausing, something in her voice didn’t sound right.12

“What is it Mom?”13

“There’s a problem… It’s Charlie.”14

“Is he going to be late?” She asked, her legs began to tremble in fear of something worse.15

Two police men stepped through the doorway with grim expressions on their faces.16

“No… no” Sara said in terror looking from her mother to the policemen, jerking her head back and forth in disbelief.17

“Ms. Livingston, there’s been an accident. Charlie won’t be making it…” 18

The rest of the policeman’s words were drown out. Sara’s world began to spin quickly; she had to hold onto a chair for support. 19

The policemen began to describe a crash scene they had come upon on a call they had received that morning. It was Charlie’s truck, he had crashed and been killed when thrown from the truck. Sara’s stomach felt upset, she ran to the bathroom and threw up. She sat in there on the ceramic tile floor crying into the folds of her wedding gown.20

5
The days were solemn, cold, unforgiving and meaningless to Sara.
Without Charlie her life was over, he was her life. Sara helped arrange the funeral with Charlie’s mother that week. At the funeral she sobbed, her tears flooded her face and left damp puddles at the top of her black dress. At home that night she lay on her bed refusing to get up for any stimulus. Sara refused any activity or company people offered; she became like a hermit cooped up inside her house.21

6
September turned to October; Sara watched the world move on through her window and yet she was stuck, frozen in time with a broken heart. A chill hung over her house; the walls were cold and everything lackluster, there was no warmth, no love, and no life. 22

The sun peaked up over the mountains and kissed the earth with sunlight. Sara lay in bed just watching quietly. Everything the sun’s rays touched seemed to sparkle, reflecting more sun into the environment. The grass looked like perfect ice sculptures frozen in place as did the leaves, the trees and everything natural to the world outside. Sara closed her eyes with a yawn that appeased her whole body.23

“After the first frost falls”24

“Huh?” Sara gasped. She was sure she had heard it. “Charlie?” she called out into the house sitting up quickly. The house remained as still and quiet as it ever was.25

“I could have sworn…” Sara spoke to herself until she began to think about the end of her dream that was truly a nightmare. 26

“We’ll be together again once the first frost falls” She repeated into the silent home. Her heart fluttered and excitement filled her until reality and logic flooded her mind to depress her mood once more.27

“That’s impossible… you’re gone Charlie.” She said as a tear slid down her cheek.28


7
At six thirty that evening the telephone rang breaking the stillness. Sara apathetically leaned over the bed to the nightstand and picked up the receiver, “hello?”29

“Get out of bed… Sara I’m telling you this for your own good sweetie. You need to get out of the house. You haven’t left since that day.”30

It was her mother. 31

“Mom, I”32

“Don’t you ‘Mom, I’ me. Get up, get dressed and get out. If you’re not gone by the time I get over there I’m dragging you out of that house myself. Sweetheart you need to find some kind of peace about this and move on. Charlie would have wanted it this way” she closed the conversation and waited for a response.33

No response came but a whimpered, “Okay.”34

Sara hung up the phone with her mother without saying goodbye. She had to get peace and she had heard there was one way to get her peace, visit the place it happened. Sara got dressed, grabbed her keys and headed out the door and down route 43.35

8
Fifteen minutes off Main Street Sara slowed her dodge to a stop on the side of route 43. She stared at the scene where her other half was stolen from her. Her heart ached as though it was being surrounded by an inferno of longing, pain and loneliness. 36

“Five minutes… that’s all I can stay” she told herself authoritatively; she knew if she did not she would waste away her life here at the death scene.37

Without bothering to kill the engine or shut the door Sara got out and walked around the scene. All it was was an unscarred road. There were no tire marks, no broken fragments of the car; no visible evidence that this small stretch of route 43 had claimed Charlie’s life. As Sara surveyed the scene, searching for solace, she heard the roar of a pickup truck engine. She thought nothing of it even though she was in the middle of the street, ‘they’ll go around’ she thought to herself. She did not panic until she turned around to see a deer with the same three large spots on its face crossing the road in front of a black pickup truck. Sara caught a glimpse of the driver’s face before the truck came rolling side over side right at her. It was Charlie.38

9. End
The road was quiet, there were no tire marks, no broken fragments of car just a loan car sitting alongside the road with its drivers door open and the engine still running. Missing person posters went up all around town; Sara never returned… until the first frost fell of the following year.39