The mountain didn't scream; it only echoed.
The silence that followed the impact was heavier than the mist clinging to the pines. the world had suddenly gone static.
A silver sedan sat crumpled against the jagged granite face of the cliff, its front end folded inward like a discarded soda can. One headlight had been snuffed out entirely, leaving the other to cast a defiant, jittery beam into the dark, illuminating a swirling dance of dust and steam. The engine gave a final, metallic groan, a rhythmic tink-tink-tink of cooling steel that sounded unnervingly like a heartbeat slowing down.
The rhythmic tink-tink-tink of the cooling engine was soon drowned out by a sound far more fragile: the thin, jagged sobbing of a child.
Inside the cabin, the air was thick with the white powder of the airbags and the copper tang of reality. In the driver's seat, the father sat perfectly still, his head tilted at an impossible angle against the window, his hand still gripped around a steering wheel that no longer controlled anything. He was already gone, a silent passenger in a journey that had reached an abrupt, permanent end.
Beside him, Sarah fought the weight of the world. Every breath felt like swallowing broken glass, her lungs protesting the crush of the dashboard. Her vision was a blurred kaleidoscope of red and grey, but she could hear him.
"Mommy? Mommy, wake up."
Lloyd was small enough that the seatbelts and the sturdy frame of his booster seat had acted as a cocoon. He had crawled from the backseat, his face streaked with dust and tears, his small hands clutching at her shoulder. He wasn't looking at his father; he was focused entirely on the erratic, shallow rise of his mother's chest.
Sarah felt the cold creeping up from her fingertips. She knew the mountain was claiming her, and she had only seconds left to bridge the gap between the life they had planned and the one he would now have to face alone.
With an effort that defied the broken state of her body, she reached out. Her fingers, trembling and cold, brushed Leo's wet cheek. Her voice was barely a rasp, a ghost of a sound carried on her final exhale.
"Leo... look at me."
The boy choked back a sob, leaning into her touch.
"You... you have to go on," she whispered, her eyes finding his one last time, filled with a fierce, desperate love.
"Be brave. Promise me... you'll live happily. For all of us. Just... be happy."
Her hand lingered for a heartbeat, a soft pressure against his skin, before the strength evaporated. Her fingers slipped away, falling limply to the upholstery. The light in her eyes didn't flicker out; it simply drifted away, leaving her gaze fixed on something far beyond the wreckage.
Leo didn't understand the finality of it at first. He grabbed her hand, trying to pull it back to his face. "Mommy? I promise. Mommy, please!"