"Thank you so much, Mami!" A girl exclaimed, smiling at her newly inked wrist. Her hair was dark brown from her scalp to her chin and then light brown until her chest.

A slightly older woman beamed at her teenage daughter, while keeping her eyes on the road. "I told you I was going to take you, mija." Her hair was dark brown with light brown highlights. "Did you have doubts, Nati?" She said in a slight Spanish accent.

"Well, you were so busy with work," Nati shrugged.

The mother's eyes showed hurt as her eyes went from the road to her daughter since they were at a red light. "Natalia Alessandra, you know no matter how my work schedule is, I will always make time for you. Always. You come first, not work." The light turned green.

"Yes, Mam - WATCH OUT!" Natalia screamed, shut her eyes and braced herself.

There was no time, a black van crashed into the mother's side of the car. Multiple screams could be heard from both cars as they spun into the middle of the intersection. Nearby cars braked or swerved so they wouldn't come in contact with the cars. Both cars finally stopped spinning and crashed into each other's side again.

Natalia's eyes opened when the cars stopped completely. She observed the car she was in. Both windows were completely shattered, glass over her and her mother's body. Her eyes widened as she remembered her mother. "Mami!" She grabbed her mother's hand, shaking her so she could wake. Her mother showed no response. "Mami! Please!" Her voice broke. "Don't leave me..." She whispered. Her hand shook as she brought it up to her mother's neck. Before she made contact, she shut her eyes and whispered another "please...". Natalia put her hand on her mother's neck to feel a pulse. Nothing. Natalia kept her eyes shut, shaking her head. She pressed down tighter on her mom's neck, hoping to feel a pulse. She felt nothing again. She felt her body begin to shake. "No...please God, no..." She whispered. She heard screaming from the other car and she opened her eyes. She unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned over to her mom. "I will always love you, Mami. I won't ever let you down." She left a kiss on her mother's forehead.

"Please! Someone help me!" A young girl exclaimed. She had a piece of glass embedded deep in her stomach. "Please!" She yelled again, grimacing in pain.

"...please hurry; there's another girl and she's hurt bad!" Natalia phoned the police as she reached the teenage girl's side. "Oh my God," she whispered as she saw all the blood. "I-I called the ambulances; they're on their way."

"Please, please tell them I'm sorry!" The young girl screamed. "I didn't mean to!" She sobbed.

Natalia didn't know what to do so she grabbed the young girl's hand and tried to comfort her. "Who? What's your name?"

"Lexi! My name is Lexi!" She screamed. "Tell my parents I didn't mean to! That I love them." She cried again.

Natalia began to cry again. "No, I won't," she shook her head. "You can tell them yourself. You're gonna be okay." She let go of Lexi's hand and tried to pry the door open. "Damn it," she gritted her teeth as she kept pulling.

"Oh my God, Jesus, Mariana!" Lexi screamed. "Tell Jesus and Mariana that I love them! Please!" She grabbed Natalia's face with her bloody hands.

"You're going to tell them yourself because I'm getting you out of here!" Natalia refused to let Lexi die. Lexi looked her age, she has more to live for. She finally pulled the door open, feeling a crack in her wrist as she did so. She leaned over and noticed Lexi didn't have her seatbelt on. Natalia detached Lexi's left hand off of her face and threw it on her shoulder. She placed her left hand underneath Lexi's thighs and lifted her, ignoring the pain in her wrist. She tried hard not to move Lexi so that she wouldn't move the glass in her stomach.

"Get it out!" Lexi yelled, referring to the glass in her stomach.

"No, Lexi," Natalia cried. "It'll make it worse. You could bleed to death, stop!" She grabbed Lexi's hand before Lexi could pull it out. Natalia looked around and just saw people staring in shock and horror, not doing anything to help the two bloodied teenage girls.

"Please," the light in Lexi's eyes was leaving. "Just tell them all that I love them. Jesus, Mari, my parents. Tell my parents I'm sorry and to not blame themselves..." She slowly closed her eyes.

"No, Lexi! Stop!" Natalia saw Lexi's eyes open again.

"But I'm so tired, please..." Lexi pleaded.

"No! You're gonna be okay!" Natalia saw a paramedic rushing towards her. "Over here!" She screamed. "Lexi, stay awake. Tell me about your parents, Mariana, Jesus." She wanted to keep Lexi awake. She handed her to the paramedic who just arrived. "Please...let me stay with her."

He nodded.

"Tell me about them, Lexi." Natalia said again.

"My parents..." She said weakly. "They're amazing. I take them for granted," she winced as they placed her on the gurney. "My mom is so small. She's shorter than me, but not by much," she laughed before grimacing in pain.

Natalia climbed in the back of the ambulance with Lexi, seeing a man place her mom on a gurney with a black bag before zipping it up. Natalia let a tear fall before turning her attention back to Lexi.

Stef Foster and her partner Mike Foster were sitting in their patrol car, eating their lunch as they heard their police scanner go off. "Car crash reported. Two cars. Three females. One deceased, two en route to the hospital. Report to hospital for an eyewitness statement from one of the girls who were there." A garbled voice said over the scanner.

"10-4." Mike despatched back to headquarters.

Stef started the car, turning on the sirens and sped to the hospital.

"Um, yeah. That's her," Natalia cleared her throat. "That's my mother," she averted her eyes.

The medical examiner placed the white sheet back over Natalia's mother's emotionless, lifeless face. "I'm so sorry that you had to be the one to identify her. We couldn't find anyone else of relation to your mother over the age of 18..." The dark skinned, dark brown haired woman said.

"It's fine," Natalia's voice cracked. "Are we done here?"

"Yes, come with me and we'll go to the police for your statement." The medical examiner placed a hand on Natalia's back and escorted her back to the emergency room's lobby where two police officers were waiting for her. A man and a woman.

The man spoke first. "I'm officer Mike Foster and this is my partner, officer Stef Foster," he gestured to the blonde haired woman beside him. "Can you tell me how this happened?"

"Um, Mami and I were driving back from the tattoo shop because she had promised me I could get one once she had time off of work. I was thanking her for it, kind of shocked it actually happened because she was so busy with work and she, um, said that I came first, not her work. We were at a red light when she said that and then it turned green. I was saying something when the other car crashed into us. I shut my eyes and felt us spinning and spinning. I kept hearing the metal crash together and all of our screams...my mother's, Lexi's and mine," Natalia's eyes brimmed with tears. "Once I felt us come to a stop, I remembered my mom and I shook her hand, trying to get her to open her eyes...but she wouldn't..."

Natalia whispered. She felt a warm hand grab her own. She looked up to see officer Stef who smiled sadly at her, squeezing her hand. "I put my hand on her neck to feel for a pulse but I felt nothing. I tried to feel for it again but...I knew she was gone. I kissed her forehead and said 'I love you' to her. I realized there was someone else in the other car and I left my mom to go to Lexi. I called the cops before walking over to Lexi. I saw the glass in her stomach and freaked. She kept yelling at me, telling to tell her parents that she's sorry and that she loves them. She wanted me to tell some people named Jesus and Mariana that she loved them too."

Natalia felt Stef's hand squeeze tighter but continued her story. "I was prying the door open and I kept telling her that I wouldn't have to, that she could tell them herself. I broke my wrist pulling the door open," Natalia rubbed her baby blue plaster cast that was over her left wrist. "I took her out of the car because I heard the ambulances and I just wanted her to be okay. She tried to pull the glass out of her stomach but I grabbed her hands before she could. I knew that it could make her wound worse if she did.

She started closing her eyes, telling me to tell her parents to not blame her. I told her to stay awake and I knew I had to talk to her so she could stay awake. So I asked her to describe her parents to me. I told her to describe Jesus and Mariana the whole ride here. Then they took her away...and that's it." Natalia's tears were falling freely now, silently sobbing. "Is she okay? Please tell me Lexi's okay!" She looked between Stef and Mike.

"Sweetie...um, Lexi..." Stef let a tear fall.

"No!" Natalia shook her head. "She tried so hard! I promised her she would be able to tell all those things to her parents and to Jesus and Mariana herself! No. She can't!" Natalia let her face fall into her hands.

Stef grabbed the young sobbing girl into her arms and cried with her. "It's okay, love...it's okay," she shook them gently from side to side.

"No, it's not! I promised her!" Natalia kept sobbing, her pain for her mother and Lexi finally coming out.

"Where's my Lexi?!" A woman's Spanish accent broke the silence. "Stef, what's going on?"