Human Error

Gemma slid her body from the counter. Her feet touched the tiled floored, and she realized the muscles in her legs had turned rubbery, making her cling to the wall for support and stand awkwardly.

Facing the mirror, Gemma traced her flushed face anxiously with the tips of her fingers.

The flesh around her mouth and some parts of her neck remained rosy, although several minutes had passed since the man left.

'That man. Who was he? How did he know my name?' Gemma questioned as she subconsciously ran a finger across her swollen bottom lip.

She didn't have any courses with him or at least none that she could remember. He definitely was the type to stick out in a crowd of people, so why couldn't she place him?

For a split second, Gemma questioned if the kiss really even happened, but when she looked into the mirror again, her doubts flew out the window. There was no possible way her mind could have made up an earth-shattering kiss like that. Not to mention she was pretty sure the discoloration just below her ear was the start of a hickey.

A HICKEY?!

Shit, how was she supposed to explain that to Kimie?!

Because she was running two hours behind, Gemma didn't get a chance to stop by her dorm to curl her hair or even put on a bit of mascara. So using the 'I burnt myself with the curler' excuse wasn't going to be an option.

"Why?" Gemma groaned, holding her face in her hands.

Although it was a simple question, it was a very open-ended one due to the incidents that had taken place in such a short amount of time.

After a couple failed attempts to cover the mark with her hair. Gemma steeled herself and left the bathroom, going downstairs and towards the front door.

Making her way through the crowd, Gemma caught some overly nosey people giving her a sideways glance at how she was holding onto her neck when she passed by them.

Being a somewhat shy girl already and trying to avoid her best friend. This unwanted attention was fastly propelling her nerves into a frenzy.

Unfortunately for Gemma, the number of stares she was receiving only grew when she tried to pull on her jacket. Clumsily switching hands to keep anyone from seeing the ever-darkening love bite covered, her face turned an unnatural shade of red.

Thankfully a commotion from somewhere towards the back of the house pulled everyone's attention from her awkward behavior, and she was able to escape through the front door quickly.

Stepping out into the bitter night, she pulled the door to close it when she heard a guy shout.

"Happy Birthday Kimie!"

Followed by the roar from the party-goers as they cheered, singing 'Happy Birthday to You.'

A regretful smile made up Gemma's lips at the sound. Pulling the door shut, she whispered, "Happy Birthday, babe. I love you!"

Gemma climbed into her car, pulling her phone from her jacket pocket. Sending a quick text to Kimie, she apologized for leaving the party without saying anything and promised to explain everything over coffee tomorrow.

Gemma knew the party wasn't ending anytime soon with how many people were crammed into Kimie's house. So mentioning she'd bring over coffee for the hangover, Kimie was sure to have, would help to ease some of the irritation her friend was going to hold towards her.

After starting her car, she leaned her head against the seat, closed her eyes, and prayed a good night's sleep along with some medicine would help kick her oncoming cold.

A tiny part of her also hoped it would help kick the memories from the bathroom.

Gemma sat up, throwing her hand on the shift. She was about to put it in reverse when she looked into the rearview mirror and saw massive snowflakes falling on her windshield behind it.

She leaned forward to look up at the dark sky and groaned. These had to be the most oversized snowflakes Gemma had ever seen in her life, and that was shocking because she grew up in the mountains where snow constantly fell most months.

Thankfully, upon her dad's request, her car had four-wheel drive. Knowing the roads surrounding Kimie's home, along with the way the snow started sticking to the ground, she kicked it in before heading for her dorm.

As Gemma made her way down the mountain, she periodically eased off the break so she wouldn't slide. Her dad had taught her how to drive on the snow-covered mountain roads before she was even old enough to obtain a permit. With this rogue snowfall, she was using all the knowledge he had given her.

About halfway down the mountain, the snow began to fall faster. Making it nearly impossible for Gemma to see the road in front of her and wonder how bad it must be back at Kimies.

There was no way the party-goers would be leaving Kimie's house tonight unless they were insane and had a death wish.

Gemma's mind was telling her to turn back. Still, her knowledge of the snow-covered mountain roads was telling her that would be impossible, and the only way to go now was down before she got stuck.

When her back tire slid, her heart picked up, and her knuckles turned white around the steering wheel. Even with all the knowledge on how to drive in these conditions, she still had not mastered her nerves when something unexpected, like this, happened.

'Ease off the break and steer into the slide baby girl, you got this.' She heard her dad saying in the back of her mind and did exactly as he instructed.

Just when Gemma gained control over the car's direction, and she was feeling triumphant, a large pine fell from the rock wall above her, landing in front of her car. She slammed the break to the floor, causing her to lose control of the vehicle as it spun out, nearly missing the tree as it rolled over and off the side of the mountain.

It was fundamental human error, and as her car slammed into the trees, images of her entire life flashed in her eyes.

Her first steps.

The family that had taken her in as their own.

All the unbelievable moments she had with Kimie.

And the man.

Gemma's upper body thrashed around the interior of the car as blood rolled down her nose from her forehead. She looked out the cracked windshield to see the bottom of the ravine fast approaching.

She was going to die, and she knew it.

A tear rolled down her cheek, and Gemma squeezed her eyes closed.

Faces she had never seen before played in her mind. Mixing in with the familiar ones of her family and friends when the car smashed into the rocks below, and everything went black.

***********************

Blue and red lights mixed with the falling snow as men shouted over the sirens filling the silent night air.

A man watched from a cliff edge as steamrolled from the car at the bottom of the deep ravine.

The man dressed in all black stared at the scene below as police officers and rescue crews climbed their way down the steep mountainside in an attempt to save the driver of the vehicle. Unaware, the girl inside had been long gone for hours now.

Her soul had moved on, and now all that remained was the shell of a life cut short.

The man gritted his teeth in silent rage at the all too familiar scene laid out in front of him. His hands dripped with blood from clenching them into a fist too tight, and when they finally pulled Gemma's lifeless body from the wreckage, he turned.

He didn't need to see what her body looked like this time.

The girl was dead, and that was all that mattered.

The man stepped deeper into the trees without looking back before vanishing into the darkness like a ghost.