I wish the hope of seeing you again die in me forever

Farhad could barely see beyond the car’s headlights. The rain hit the glass hard, making everything outside blurry. The tension between them was becoming intense, just like the storm outside.

He held the steering wheel tightly, his fingers turning pale as he struggled to keep the car steady on the slippery road. The narrow mountain road felt even more dangerous in the rain. Each turn made him worry the car might slide off the edge.

“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t okay?” Farhad shouted, frustration in his voice. “I’m not a stranger, Leila! You always do this, holding everything inside until it’s too late!”

As his voice got louder, the car seemed to get smaller with every word. Farhad kept looking at her, hoping she would talk.

Leila remained silent. Farhad was sweating, despite the cold weather outside. He swallowed his anger and said, "Just... say something. Anything."

They had been arguing for nearly a year, about everything, but mostly about the miscarriage. It wasn’t just the loss of the baby; it was the devastating news that they couldn’t have children anymore. Ever since then, Leila had sunk deeper into herself.

He couldn’t let it go either. The idea that he’d never hold his child was always with him. And the more he thought about it, the more he felt the distance growing between them. He couldn’t give her what she needed, what they both needed.

But tonight... it felt different. There was something more than silence between them. It was as if she wasn’t even there.

Suddenly, the tires slipped on the wet road. Farhad’s heart raced as he hit the brakes, but the car slid out of control. One of the tires tore. The sound of tearing metal echoed through the car as the smell of burning rubber filled the air. For a second, Farhad felt weightless as the car hit the guardrail and flipped.

Everything went dark.

Farhad woke up upside down with a bitter, metallic taste of blood in his mouth. The world around him was a blur of rain, fire, and smoke. The seatbelt suspended his body, and blood rushing to his head, he could feel the veins in his forehead pulsing. Rain dripped through the broken window. The pain was sharp, running through every part of his body as he tried to move.

“Leila?” he whispered, his voice weak and barely louder than the storm outside. He twisted his body to see her, but the seatbelt held him down. Panic took over as he wiped the blood and rain from his eyes.

He couldn’t see her. The car roof had collapsed around him, pressing him into his seat. The world outside was silent, except for the steady sound of the storm.“Leila!” he called again, louder this time, but the storm drowned his voice.

Farhad pressed his teeth together, his body hurting as he tried to get free from the seatbelt. He tried to open the seatbelt, but it was stuck, and with every moment, the rush of blood to his head became worse. His hand searched blindly for something sharp. His fingers touched a piece of glass from the broken window. He grabbed it, cutting his hand, but he didn’t care. He used it to cut through the seatbelt with all his strength. Every second felt like an hour until he finally cut through the seatbelt.

He dropped onto the roof of the car with a loud bump. He shouted in pain, desperately moaning, and stayed there for a minute, doing nothing. A strong, burning sensation ripped through his muscles, but he forced himself to crawl out and, exhausted, fell onto the cold, wet ground outside, his body too weak to hold himself up any longer. The rain soaked through his clothes as he leaned against the rocks, shaking from the shock. Blood dripped from his hands, mixing with the rainwater.

“Leila…” His voice was barely a whisper now, the strength gone from his body. He turned his head, desperate to see her, but all he saw was darkness. “Leila!” he screamed again, but there was no answer, only the storm.

He lay there until the rain stopped and the fog rolled in. Memories flashed through his mind, their wedding day when he pulled the veil from her face and saw Leila’s smile. He remembered the way her eyes sparkled, the laughter they shared. Had she smiled at their wedding, or was that just his imagination? He remembered her eyes sparkling, but was that before or after the fights began? Darker moments came back, but even those felt unclear and fuzzy. Had he made it up that she had left him for two months? He tried to hold onto the details, but they slipped away, like sand through fingers.

Guilt hit him every time he thought about their arguments. Had he missed the signs of how broken she was? He couldn’t stop feeling like he could have done something.

When bright lights cut through the mist as the sound of sirens got closer, he started crying desperately. Rescue teams appeared, their boots making crunching sounds on the wet ground.

They found him weak and tired, lying against the rocks, soaked in rain and blood. They lifted him onto a stretcher. His hand grabbed one paramedic’s arm, his voice shaking. “Find Leila, my wife,” he begged. “She was with me…”

The paramedic’s eyes widened as he called to his team, “His wife was in the car! Search the area!”

Farhad was taken to the hospital, the bed shaking as its wheels moved on the floor. His eyes blurred under the bright lights, making him feel dizzy. The strong smell of medicine filled the air, cold and sharp, making him want to throw up. He tried to sit up and call for Leila, but his voice wouldn’t come out. Everything seemed far away, blurred by the pain and the busy nurses and doctors around him.

They called his brother; it took him 20 minutes to remember his brother's number. He wanted to call her sister, but couldn’t remember her number. When his brother arrived, Farhad noticed the worry in his eyes, and then he saw him start to cry.

He grabbed his brother’s arm. "Tell them to find Leila," he begged. His brother froze briefly, his face went white, and he quickly tried to act calm. He patted Farhad’s shoulder.

“I’ll handle it,” his brother said softly before walking over to the officer. Farhad watched as his brother explained something to the officer. The officer's face changed, and he quietly took out his radio.

On the other side, the rescue team searched the area, their flashlights barely cutting through the thick fog. The valley below seemed to swallow the light. "Is anyone out there? Leila??" one of them called out, but only his voice echoed back. The supervisor narrowed his eyes, his heart racing as he looked over the cliff, but the fog was too thick. "The fog’s too heavy. We can’t continue like this. We’ll have to wait," he said to his teammate. Just as he was about to call it off, his radio crackled...

"Can you hear me?" the voice on the other end asked.

"Yes, what's going on?"

“Come back,” the officer’s voice cut through the static. “There’s no woman. His wife... she killed herself two months ago.”