I saw her standing there, on the side of the road,
very young and VERY pregnant. I had to offer her a ride.
But I knew the moment she got in, that I’d made a grave mistake…

“Hi, where ya going? Do you need a ride?” I asked.

“Oh, yes, thank you. I really didn’t know how much farther I’d be able to go in this condition.”

“How far along are you?” I asked, as she got in the car.

“I could go anytime,” came her answer.
Needless to say, that was not the answer I was hoping for.
She looked very young, and I couldn’t understand what she would be doing
out in the woods alone, and especially with her being pregnant. I wanted to know
more about her.

“I’m Tina, what’s your name?”

“I’m Katie.”

“It’s so nice to meet you Katie. What in the world are you doing out here
alone?”

She sniffed, and said, “Well, my boyfriend and I had an argument and he put
me out of the car. I just want to get back home to my parents. My father is going to be so mad, when he finds out that Brian left me on the side of the road.
See my parents don’t like Brian. Because they feel that at
17 years old, I’m still just a child. I’m not though. I’m going to be a mother.
My parents are wonderful, and I love them dearly. They’re the best parents in the world. I just
wish they’d see that I’m not a child anymore.”

I smiled and thought to myself, my dear you are BUT a child.

“How long have you and Brian been together?”

”Since I was 15,” she said smiling. “I really love him. We’re going to be married one day.”

“That’s wonderful dear. What do your parents think about that?”

“Well, they’re not real happy about it, but we are going to have a baby, we should be married.”

“Yes, I suppose that is true,” I said looking over at her very young and sad face.

“Pull over here, that’s my house.”

I pulled over, and walked her to the door. I rang the door bell, and a man answered the door.
I told him, as his wife came up, “I’ve brought Katie home. Seems she’s had a disagreement with Brian.”

Her parents looked at me so strangely. Then they said, “Are you some kind of a sick person? Why would
you come here and say that?”

I looked behind me and Katie wasn’t there.
”She was just here.”

Her mother looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “Katie was hit by a car last year, after Brian put her out on the side of the road. She has been in a coma ever since. Her baby died, and Brian hasn’t been heard from since that night.”

“But she was there, in my car. She told me how much she loved both of you, how you were going to be so mad that Brian put her out. I don’t understand.”

The next thing I knew I was sitting here, in this very quiet room, and they won’t let me out. They tell me that I was hallucinating, and that I didn’t see Katie. But I did, she was there in the car….

I knew I’d made a grave mistake as soon as she got in. 

© March, 2005 Janice Jarnagin