A little boy beamed as he talked to his mother. They playfully teased each other about school and the upcoming assembly. He had won an award for being student of the month and she was going to get a bumper sticker for his accomplishments. Not wanting to have a bumper sticker on the car out of a tendency to be shy, the boy complained she was being too ‘motherly.’ He told his mother to call back in a moment; he was running late to his father’s conference and would be able to talk in the car.

His father’s iWatch displayed 5:40 p.m.

“Being late to this conference is incredibly unprofessional. It will seal my position as an Assistant Manager. I could have been so much more in life,” he thought. He beat himself up over not being as successful as he always dreamed of becoming. Violence ran deep in his family. When he was a child, he was hit by his father and promised never to be like him. As he aged though, that fear turned into hate and it turned him into another manifestation of his father. He felt that he needed to become successful to separate himself from the person he hated. Yet, following in footsteps he promised he would never fill, the man now belittled his own son and threatened him with violence.

The boy, frightened of his father’s violent hand, left his phone on the bed as he ran out of the house. His untied shoe tripped him and he fell onto the wooden floor. As he got up, he was met with a fist to the cheek. His mother’s call was missed.

His father’s iPhone displayed 5:43 p.m.

“What happened to me? I wanted to be a partner. Now look at me, I rush to a position I am well overqualified to be working. If I just didn’t have this boy to weigh me down, I could finally become something,” he thought. The man’s phone vibrated in his pocket. “I don’t have time for her nagging. I never have time for that.” He sent her to his generic voicemail; there was no purpose in leaving his voice. The new Lexus he bought smelled of leather and Armor All. “Don’t sit on my Ipad,” he yelled at his son with poison in his voice. His son cried silently as he heard his father say under his breath, “selfish child.”

His father’s iPad displayed 5:50 p.m.

Thoughts rushed through the boy’s head, “I will never be like my father,” he promised as they pulled out of the driveway. Both father and son became lost in thought, disconnected by chronic fear and neglect. As the father approached the right turn that took him onto the main boulevard, headlights from an oncoming car began to bounce off of the dashboard. It was coming at a speed far beyond the limit and threated them with a collision of massive magnitude. The boy’s father sped up and took a quick right turn to avoid getting hit from the driver’s side but lost control of the car. It drifted too far to the left and an oncoming car from the opposite direction screeched to avoid the Lexus. Unfortunately, a crash had already been set in motion.

Time seemed to stop as they both saw their end in the headlights of the advancing car. It blinded them and for a moment the man felt peace, resigned to his fate. There was no self-reflection, no epiphanies. He didn’t realize he had helped raise a child or was a father to a gentle son. He didn’t realize that he was married to a compassionate woman or that she was the closest and most loyal friend he would ever have. He didn’t realize he had broken the promise made years before and became that which he had hated. Life returned and the oncoming vehicle swerved just in time to nearly avoid them. The man was given a second chance.

The digital clock on the father’s dashboard read 5:59 p.m.

The car that sped up to initially avoid them tried to catch the yellow light but instead of stopping, accelerated to outrun it. The light turned red as he touched the threshold of the crosswalk. Unable to stop, the car hit the driver’s side of the Lexus. The new life that was promised to the man in that moment was broken. The Lexus was destroyed and tiny remains of an iWatch, though unnoticed, was sprinkled amongst the debris. Their lives ended violently and were concluded with broken promises.

There could have been time for a new life if only a promise was kept.