"Stop stop stop stop STOP!" cried out a voice frantically. The car swerved off the road, slamming into a large oak tree. Everything went quiet, a blanket of silence decending over the area as the partiers sat in their carseats, utterly quite, humbled by the sudden accident. "Tony, what just happened," came a young lady's choked voice. A watery pair of green eyes set in a porcelain face turned to focus on the young man next to her.

"I don't know, Claire," replied the young man. He pushed his dark curls from his pale face and strained to look at the girl next to him without turning his head...and froze. "Claire, you're bleeding..." He whispered. Understatement of the year, there was a large branch protruding from Claire's stomach.

"So are you, Tony," replied Claire with a smile. Second understatement of the year, a large branch had pinned Tony's throat to the headrest. He grinned amiable and reached over to wipe a splash of blood from Claire's face.

"Hey, Claire," he whispered quietly. "We're gonna die, huh?" Tears streamed down porcelain cheeks. "Uh huh," replied the girl, her voice choked with fear and sadness.

"Hey, Claire," Tony continued. "Ya know I love ya, right? And that I never meant for this to happen, right?" Claire nodded, her long, golden-red hair rippling across her forehead as a watery smile spread across her face. "Ya know, I probably could have prevented this." Tony swallowed hard. "If I hadn't been drinking, this would never have happened, huh?"

"I don't know, Tony," replied Claire. "But I knew you were too drunk to drive, but I let you anyway. I should have stopped this from happening..."

"...Claire..." Tony began to gasp for air. "Ya know...I think the branch missed... all my major parts..." He paused to hack up a glob of blood. "Except, ya know, for my throat. Least it missed my jugular, huh? Otherwise I wouldn't be sharing this time with you, huh, Claire?" A series of hacking coughs racked the 17 year old boys body and he gagged. "I'm just wondering how I'm still alive when I have a branch through my throat." He tried to laugh, but the branch prevented his muscles from flexing.

"Oh, Tony," whispered Claire. "Always the classclown, even in your deathbed...or carseat, which ever you prefer," whispered Claire. "Hey, Tony," she added. "I don't think either of us could have stopped this, hun. I think it was inevitable. What do you think?" There was no reply from the seat next to her. "Tony, I said what do ya think?" Still no reply. The red-head looked over at Tony and saw he had closed his eyes and that the bleeding had stopped and so had his breath. Tears welled up in her soft, green eyes as the girl reached over and pulled the branch from his throat. "Hey, Tony, I know ya can still here me, hun." She placed a hand on his rapidly cooling cheek and pulled the boy closer. "And since ya can still here me, love," She pressed her lips against his cheek and whispered, "I love you, too, Tony. I love you so damn much..." Claire's breathing slowed and she joined Tony in a better place.

This is a fictional story based off real life events I know many of you can name and I cried as I wrote this. People, I can not stress this enough. Please, do not drink and drive! There are too many dead because they could not seem to heed this warning.

Read and Review, please. Or at least let me know that I got the message across.