Christina flinched as she looked up into the angled rear view mirror. In the cracked reflection was a very beautiful woman with salt and pepper hair relaxing in the backseat of the station wagon as if nothing was happening. She sat with her legs crossed, holding a lit cigarette between two fingers and wearing a dated white pant suit that shimmered in the truck's luminous headlights.

"Who...what...?"

"It's okay, sweetie. Everyone has the same reaction," the woman said as she leaned forward, exhaling a lungful of smoke. "I'm here to help you cross over."

Christina waved at the smoky air, disturbing several more fragments of glass floating around her. She coughed. "What is happening to me, ma'am? Am I dead?"

"No, not yet, honey. You still have a few seconds."

"Not yet? Seconds? Who are you? How is this possible?" Christina asked, reaching up with her left hand to feel the eighteen wheeler's hot grill. Two of the chrome slats were broken and protruding into the station wagon's window right by her head.

"I have many names, but you may call me Mariya." The older woman took one more drag from her cigarette and then thumped it through the broken front windshield.

Christina watched the smoky object fly into the dark street.

"Please don't say anything about how smoking is bad for me, alright?" Mariya said with a smile curling around the edges of her lips. "I hear it all the time and it gets as droll as this job."

"Honestly, I have more pressing issues on my mind," Christina said, sweeping a hand around at the frozen swirling chaos surrounding her and Mariya.

The older woman leaned forward and placed her arms on the back of Christina's bench seat. She propped her head on her right hand and smiled lightly at Christina. "Okay, I know you are confused, my dear. Let me see if can clear all of this up so we might get on with business. I have a tsunami on the other side of the world to contend with next and that gives me little time to dilly dally around here." Mariya glanced down at a glowing watch strapped around her left wrist. "Tick tock."

"I can't leave. My son needs me," Christina said with tears in her eyes.

Mariya removed her head from her hand and reached over to wipe a tear from Christina's cheek. "And that is one of your choices, sweetie."