It was midnight and Richard Fleming sat in his dark living room . He hadn ' t moved for over an hour . The accident earlier that evening kept playing over and over in his mind . The light turned red , but he was in a hurry and accelerated . An orange blur came from his right , and in a split second there was a violent jolt , then the bicyclist rolled across his hood and fell out of sight on the pavement . Horns blared angrily and he panicked , stepping on the gas and screeching away from the chaos into the darkness , shaken and keeping an eye on his rearview mirror until he got home . Why did you run , you idiot ? He ' d never committed a crime before this and punished himself by imagining years in jail , his career gone , his family gone , his future gone . Why not just go to the police right now ? He could afford a lawyer . Then someone rapped on the front door and his world suddenly crumbled away beneath him . They know . There was nothing he could do but answer it . Running only made matters worse . His body trembling , he got up , went to the door and opened it . A police officer stood under the porch light .
" Mr . Fleming ?" asked the officer . He let out a defeated sigh . " Yes . Let me —" " I am terribly sorry , but I ' m afraid I have some bad news . Your son was struck by a hit and run driver this evening . He died on impact . I ' m very sorry for your loss ."
Written By Anna Stowers
Hit and Run
It was midnight and Richard Fleming sat in his dark living room . He hadn ' t moved for over an hour . The accident earlier that evening kept playing over and over in his mind . The light turned red , but he was in a hurry and accelerated . An orange blur came from his right , and in a split second there was a violent jolt , then the bicyclist rolled across his hood and fell out of sight on the pavement . Horns blared angrily and he panicked , stepping on the gas and screeching away from the chaos into the darkness , shaken and keeping an eye on his rearview mirror until he got home . Why did you run , you idiot ? He ' d never committed a crime before this and punished himself by imagining years in jail , his career gone , his family gone , his future gone . Why not just go to the police right now ? He could afford a lawyer . Then someone rapped on the front door and his world suddenly crumbled away beneath him . They know . There was nothing he could do but answer it . Running only made matters worse . His body trembling , he got up , went to the door and opened it . A police officer stood under the porch light .
" Mr . Fleming ?" asked the officer . He let out a defeated sigh . " Yes . Let me —" " I am terribly sorry , but I ' m afraid I have some bad news . Your son was struck by a hit and run driver this evening . He died on impact . I ' m very sorry for your loss ."