FELICIA HEILGENDORFF

He had seen everything happen as though in slow motion. The car zooming by beneath his window, illuminated by headlights and streetlights. The traffic lights switching from green to red and back to green again. Over and over again. He stood staring, stuck in his mind, seeing the cars but not really seeing them. He was alone all over again. She had left him, like they always did. Dreams don’t come true, he realised, or perhaps they do, but they don’t last very long in that case.

The lights switched back to red again. As though time had stopped, the cars stood still, frozen to the spot. Tires screeched when the lights were only just orange and the traffic continued. Life never stops, he thought. There’s no stop button. Even the traffic lights don’t stay red for long.

Just then it happened. The lorry speeding past pulled to the other lane. It swayed. For ages, he thought, watching intensely what would happen. Then it tipped. Slowly, dropping to the side with a slam. He could see the oil shining up to his window, which the cars behind slithered through to slam into the huge mess of what had once been the lorry.

Nothing ever goes to plan, he thought sadly, but life always continues.

© 2016

Sunday Photo Fiction, April 17th 2016