"Just another teenager"

The way his father looked at her, made Kate wish she was the one who had been run over.

Okay so it was a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes!! She wanted to shout out loud, but she just stood there, tracing patterns on the floor with the tip of her sandal and biting away her nails.

Kate, "just another estranged teenager" of sixteen, had run over a little boy of hardly five with her car. It was "just another road accident". She had been distracted. Well, quite a lot distracted.

My boyfriend cheated on me. So he finds that s*** better than me. My mom's divorcing dad. My grades are suffering. I'm growing fatter and I can't find a new part-time job. I hate my life.

Justified, wasn't she? So what if she had been "drinking-in-despair-driving-in-inebriation"? She was just a victim of circumstances. She didn't see the poor boy rushing forward for his ball. She DID step on the brakes, just a split second too late. And now he was dying.

"He's my only son," murmured the father, breaking the horrendous silence.

She looked up and her carefully highlighted locks fell back from her face. "Pardon?"

He glared at Kate. "He's fuckin my only son, miss! And you fuckin ran him o'er with a fuckin Chevy chick-trap! An he dies, I won't fuckin let you sleep for the rest of yer life, miss!" He had huge biceps and huger tattoos, but his once-friendly face was distorted in agony. His wife, a small blonde little creature rushed over to him to console him, all the while staring at Kate with despisement in her eyes. "You'll regret it, miss, if anything happens to him," she whispered in a sing-a-song voice.

Kate looked at her feet, her new Jimmy Choos.

Look! I'm sorry ok??? I'm fucking sorry! I know I shoulda paid attention! My boyfriend dumped me man!! My life is just a huge huge mess! I'm sorry. I really am! Just let me go!

But she kept silent, feeling so guilty that she could melt in shame.

Was Kate justified because she was "just another teenager" with her set of problems? Was she right in placing her excuse, genuine it may be?

As she saw a big, fat tear roll down the man's eyes, she realised she wasn't. She may be "just another teenager" but she wasn't justified.