Crash

It was after 10 o'clock in the night. I was listening to a podcast on my phone. While my mother was watching her entertainment videos on YouTube. Suddenly my mother tapped on my shoulder. I turned around to see that my mother look bit worried and was looking at the phone. She said, "I just watched a news on a YouTube channel. There has been a road accident near where we used to stay. One person died and many have been injured. The name of accused has been given and it is someone we know".

After hearing that I had a lump in my throat. I read the name and definitely he was someone we knew. In fact he had been a family friend. He was a very skilled driver and used to travel a lot. He was not negligent as well. But he was old and had many health issues. My mind was trying to conclude that it could have been because of his underlying diseases that he must have lost the control of his vehicle which crashed into a mob. Yet I knew it was a crime. Despite of everything he is still was the criminal.

I quickly opened the news app because I do not trust the news that are shown on YouTube. I typed the keywords to find if it was true. A news article opened. I went through it to see what has actually happened. Towards the end I saw the name again. The name, age, description, and profession everything matched. It was him. Now there was no doubt. My hands had gone cold and the started shaking. For a moment I felt light headed. For 5 seconds I was only able to see darkness in front of my eyes. I was reading the news of an accident which is caused by someone I knew; someone I used to call uncle.

Chills ran down my spine. I was a breathing heavily but I felt like I was not getting enough oxygen in my lungs. I was scared. I was angry for everything that has happened. I felt sad for the lives that were lost. I felt the agonising pain thinking about the victims of this car crash. The face of this person flashed before my eyes. I knew he was now called as a criminal but he was someone I had known from my childhood.

I gathered my thoughts and composed myself. I went to the other room to talk to my dad. The accused was my dad's friend. I went to the other room and read out the news to my dad. I saw horror in my dad's eyes after hearing the news. I thought to myself if it was appropriate to read out such a shocking news to my elderly dad. It was necessary. Dad was shocked and he called his other friend to confirm what we were hearing was true. However the other friend did not pick up the call.

We had all the evidences right in front of us. All the news articles were suggesting the same thing. Yet I was not able to believe what was written. We read the news of accidents and car crash almost everyday. But I never thought that one such a news would remotly connect to me because the accused would be someone I used to call uncle. Life is stranger than fiction.