Tragedy On A Quiet Road

In the days after the accident, the town seemed to move in slow motion.

People lowered their voices without realizing, lingering longer at doorways and shop counters,

as if ordinary conversation might somehow break apart what little stability remained.

The crosswalk, once an unremarkable part of the morning routine,

became the town’s quiet epicenter of grief.

Parents clutched their children’s hands a little tighter.

Drivers lifted their feet from the accelerator,

suddenly aware of every sign, every painted line on the road.

At the ice rink, her absence was a presence of its own.

Skates laced in silence, music turned down, routines run with an unfamiliar restraint.

Those who knew her spoke of early mornings and late evenings, of falls met with stubborn laughter,

of a girl who apologized when others bumped into her.

As candles burned low at the roadside, talk shifted from shock to resolve: better lighting, slower traffic,

stricter enforcement, anything that might turn mourning into a promise that no other family would receive a call like that again.