Into Darkness

"You got your money and the keys right?"

"Yes, honey," Jason responded by rote.

"And your card is in the wallet right?"

"It's there."

"Oh, and can you fill up my water bottle? It's on the kitchen table."

"I've got it right here." Jason stood in the doorway idly tossing the water bottle from one hand to the other as he waited. There were times that he got annoyed by his wife's routine. He had heard it hundreds, no thousands of times in their ten years of marriage, and it had been years since he had forgotten her water bottle or brought his wallet without the card in it. Still, she always reminded him as she ran through the house. Run to the bathroom, brush her teeth, back into the bedroom to comb her hair, stop suddenly halfway through to run into the living room, forget what she was doing and go back to the bedroom to finish with her hair, and on and on. All the while, Jason stood at the door, ready to go, keys and water bottle in hand.

Jason chuckled as his wife dashed into the bathroom once again for who knew what reason. Mina caught his eyes part way through and stopped. "Is something funny?"

"Nope, nothing at all. I was just thinking about how much I love you."

Mina stuck her tongue out and rushed into the bathroom without another word, but Jason saw her tiny smile as she turned the corner. He may be annoyed sometimes, but this certainly wasn't one of those times. Besides, today was a special day. He was off work, and Mina had only had two classes today, and their daughter Yoona was spending the day with her grandparents who lived just upstairs.

"I'm almost ready," Mina called from the bathroom, sounding not in the least bit close to being ready.

"Take your time," Jason responded, unperturbed. "We've got all night."

Only five minutes later they were outside, getting into their old car. "When are you going to let me buy you a new car? I swear, we're going to come out one day and it's not even going to start."

"Oh, it isn't that bad," Jason responded with a wink. "It just means she has more personality."

Mina sighed in exasperation, but immediately climbed up on the seat to lay her head on his shoulder. Fifteen years since he had first met her, and still his heart fluttered when she did that. He reached up to caress her cheek, but she swatted his hand away well before it could reach and sat herself back down. "No touching the face," she said, emphasizing each word.

"Oh, right, I completely forgot," he lied with a smile.

"I'm sure you did," Mina replied, somehow managing to look both on guard and open at the same time.

The restaurant wasn't far from their house, but there was significantly more traffic than normal, being a Friday night. Finally, Jason pulled into the small lot behind the restaurant and was relieved to see that there was still a spot left. Nearly a decade in Korea and he still wasn't completely comfortable with how narrow the roads and parking lots were. He carefully maneuvered his way back, and watched over his shoulder as he backed in. That was one thing that he would like from a new car. It must be so much easier to park with one of those fancy rear cameras.

Jason squeezed out the door, wary of the far more impressive looking car parked next to him. He may not care much about what happened to his car, but he knew that few others thought that way.

"Can you get out?" he called over to Mina.

"It's a bit tight, but I got it," she responded, voice strained as she forced herself through the narrow space between the vehicles. Javen waited for her, and she grabbed his hand as soon as she got to him. "You always make my side tighter," she complained, grasping his arm to her as they began walking into the restaurant.

"I don't do it on purpose," Jason responded, before retorting, "then again, you are smaller than me so it makes sense doesn't it?" He got nothing but an exaggerated eye roll from Mina.

The restaurant was called The Nesting Place, and it wasn't a particularly fancy restaurant. Jason insisted that expensive food didn't taste that much better and it always came in smaller servings. Mina didn't completely agree, but also had never thought it worth arguing over. The Nesting Place was filled with couples and families all out enjoying their evening together. Sizzling from the kitchen mingled with the clattering of plates and the chatter of people eating and laughing together.

Jason let Mina pick the food like always. He wasn't nearly as picky as she was, and she knew what he liked anyway. He knew better than to interrupt her while she ate, but he found himself far more interested in watching her than eating himself. The food tasted fine, but next to her, it really wasn't anything worth mentioning.

After the meal, they stayed a little longer, munching on what little was leftover and talking. Troublesome students that weren't studying as hard as they needed to. Jason's boss who had recommended his own nephew for promotion rather than Jason who had far more experience. Life had it's problems, but they also talked about their little Yoona. She was nearly a year old now, and Jason could hardly believe it. Neither of them had intended to have kids when they married, but somehow life had happened, and they'd found themselves with an adorable baby girl. They often talked about how stressful and difficult it was living and working and raising Yoona all at the same time, but at the end of the day, Jason loved his life, and knew his wife felt the same.

When Jason finally stood, he found it hard to straighten up completely. "I think I might have eaten a little too much," he said, scooping his phone and wallet off of the table.

"You're going to have to start hitting the gym before you start looking any more like your father," Mina said with a laugh.

"He isn't even here to defend himself," Jason said laughing as well. "I think you'd better go pay the bill to make it up to him."

"Are you sure it isn't just too much exertion?" Mina taunted, turning and dashing off to the counter before Jason could respond. Life really wasn't all that bad.

"What do you say we stop and get some dessert before we head back?" Mina asked as they walked down the stairs towards the parking lot.

Jason didn't think there was much chance of him fitting anything else into his stomach, but he knew that wasn't the answer she was looking for. "I thought you'd never ask," he said, smiling at his wife.

It was nearly October, but the weather had still been quite warm lately, so Jason was surprised when a gust of cold wind caught them as they walked down the sidewalk to a dessert cafe a few blocks down. Without a sweater, Mina shivered before pulling herself up against Jason. Jason wrapped his arm around her and happened to look up seeing a crow perched up on top of one of the streetlights. He felt like he'd been seeing the birds more often of late, and this one seemed far bigger than usual. He considered pointing it out to Mina, but she was clutching tightly to his arm as they walked, head against his shoulder. It made walking uncomfortable, but it made life better.

A scream ahead of him was the first sign that something was wrong. He jerked to attention, surprising Mina as he looked ahead of them just in time to see the truck barreling straight for them. It had already hurdled into oncoming traffic forcing a car to swerve out of the way and into the side of another vehicle. That left the truck with a clear path. It knocked over a street sign and Jason reached over to grab Mina and pull her to safety, but there wasn't time. Jason turned to his wife, and time seemed to slow.

He watched her eyes widen in terror as he reached over and grabbed her. She touched his arm, and their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before Jason scooped her up with all the strength he could manage and tossed her to the side. He watched her short black hair go undone as she hurdled through the air, an expression of fear and betrayal etched into her eyes. Those eyes seemed to scream, "Don't you dare die without me!" Jason would have given her anything, done anything for her. Anything except for that. He watched as Mina hit the ground and rolled to her feet trying desperately to get back to him, but it was no use. She was too far away. Away from the danger, and away from him.