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he cried the tears now willing themselves to fall. And the horrific senses of the accident came flooding back. Cindy's father walked over to him.

"Son," he said as he laid his hand on Don's back, "What's done is done. Don't try changing something that already happened."

"But if I could only change it!"

"You can't, so it's just best to forget about it."

"But if we had only left sooner or taken a different road."

"You are blaming yourself son. It's no one's fault. It was just an accident."

"How can you say that when your daughter is lying dead on that bed? Or do you not care because you have other children? Cindy is all I have in the world. And now she is dead. Did you hear me? Dead!"

At this outburst, Cindy's mother began crying uncontrollably; wailing as she was just realizing that her daughter was brain dead. "You need to calm yourself down, son," father said as he gathered his wife into his arms. He left trying to sooth his wife's hysterical cries.

Don slumped back into his chair and looked at his wife's face. There were no scratches or visible signs of damage. She only looked as if she were slumbering peacefully. However, the pressure and the internal bleeding from the car wreck reduced the brain wave activity to where her doctor's declared her brain dead.

"Oh, Cindy," Don whispered as her leaned towards her and took her hand. "If I could only do something. If I could only fix this and make you better." He stroked her hand and played with her wedding ring. Looking at her face again Don pleaded, "Tell me this is just a bad dream." And he lifted the small hand to his lips and kissed it, closing his eyes.

"Oh come on sleepyhead. Wake up." A voice called to Don. He opened his eyes and looked around him. He was in his own bed in his own bedroom. Shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, Don sat up and looked towards the voice.

"Finally," the voice said as it threw some clothes at him. "Hurry up and dress or we'll be late for dinner." Looking closer, Don was stunned to see his wife sitting at her vanity finishing her makeup. For a moment he was shocked, then he stood up and walked over to her. Kissing her on the head, Don was glad to think it had all been just a terrible dream.

Laughingly Cindy patted him on the cheek, "Your awful sweet tonight. Now go ahead and get dressed." Don stared to obey as she continued talking. "It's either because you had to work today on our anniversary or became you had to work today on our first anniversary."

Don halted in the middle

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