I was driving when my best friend took off his seat belt

Dear Delyara, My best friend died in a crash while I was driving. A drunk driver crossed into our lane. The investigation said there was nothing I could have done to prevent the collision. What the report barely mentions is that my friend had removed his seat belt minutes earlier because he dropped his phone and wanted to reach under the seat. I noticed. I told him to put it back on. He said, “In a second.” I let it go. I was the driver. I could have stopped the car. I could have refused to move until he buckled up. The other driver caused the crash. Everyone repeats that. My friend’s parents even tell me they do not blame me. They visit me every Christmas. Their kindness is unbearable. When I close my eyes, I hear the seat-belt warning chime. It sounded several times before the collision. I turned the radio louder because the noise was annoying. There are moments when guilt is not about causing what happened. It is about remembering the tiny place where you had one chance to make the story slightly harder to kill.