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Short Story: Heartbreaking Father And Son Sacrifice

Published:

CDLLife reader Midnight Runner sent in this gut-wrenching piece of short fiction about a man’s encounter with a new truck driver who sacrificed everything to save the lives of others — and how he then met that driver’s grieving father in a diner hours later.

“I’ve been running for over a month without going home for a rest break. I was tired, trying to get over the flu, and to top it all off it was pouring buckets. I was coming into a small town was thinking “Man, I just want to crawl into that bed and just sleep for the rest of my life.

I was following another truck driver. A few more miles up the road, there was a car coming in the opposite direction, but it looked to be in our lane. The driver in front of me cut his wheel and went over the side of the embankment and I slid to the side of the road. The car was flipped just in front of me.

I jumped out and ran over to check on the car passengers. They had a few cuts, but nothing serious so I ran over to where the truck went over and made my way down to the driver.

He wasn’t so lucky.

He was hurt bad and dying. I called 911 and told the operator what happened. She said help was on the way and to remain on the line.

I sat there watching this young man dying and there wasn’t a thing I could do to stop it. He told me it was his first run alone and that his dad was a few miles ahead in another truck. I told him to just hang on, and that help was coming, but by the time they got there, it was too late.

I gave my story to the rescue crews and Highway Patrol and was on my way.

I had had enough for the night so I stopped at a little diner just up the road. I went in, sat down, and tried to hold myself together. I noticed an older gentlemen sitting alone talking on the phone. He looked pretty shaken up and was crying. I walked over and asked if he was ok. He just shook his head and told me his son was just killed in a accident.

I knew right away who he was. I sat down and told him his son was a true hero and saved the lives of some young kids by cutting his wheel instead of running them over. As he looked up at me he saw I was tearing up. I told him I sat with his son the whole time till the end. We sat there and talked most of the night.

It’s something I will never forget.. many of us have stories just like this one.

STAY SAFE DRIVERS AND GOD BLESS.”

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