Page 6 of Before Their After

I met Evander’s deep green eyes dilated fear. He clutched onto the back of my mom’s chair. His raven colored hair wasclumped with blood on the sides. No signs of pain registered in the ghostly gaze staring back at me.

“Get him out, Alexi, please!”

Her cries centered me, forcing me to focus on the imminent danger of the situation.

Releasing my hold on the inside of the Fiesta, I reached into the Suburban slowly, careful not to redistribute too much of my weight.

“Evander,” I said, doing my best to keep the fear from my voice. “Grab onto my hand. Keep your movements slow, down the center of the aisle from the back then stop. When I give you the go, make yourself loose, I’ll pull you out. Got it?”

He nodded, jaw clenched, his olive skin a muted green. At sixteen, he was almost my height. This was going to be tricky since getting all the way in the back of that thing was an uncomfortable task for us under normal circumstances. Evander kept his eyes on me, following my instructions down to the detail, hitting the ground with a grunt.

Our father came to, the sound of Evander gasping for air forced him to confront the here and now. He glanced out the window, not liking his odds if this thing went over. Scrambling for the exit, the movements shook both cars.

“Chill the fuck out or you’ll going to kill us all,” I raised my voice over the chaos unfolding around me.

Evander clawed the ground behind me in utter despair. None of my words registered. The only thing consuming his thoughts was the danger that lurked on the other side of the car.

I scanned the scene, trying to come up with a way to get them both out before our time and luck ran out. Securing my feet in the Fiesta, I shifted my weight back, yelling for Evander to snap out of it and provide support from behind.

Releasing my grip again, I reached back into the car. “Mom. Same as Evander. Move slowly and lock your hand in mine.”I met my father’s panic stricken stare, doing my best to calm the man who never let me show a single emotion in my life.Now look at him, pathetic.“When I say go, Evander is going to support my weight, I’ll pull mom out, in that same motion, you grab onto my other hand.”

I knew the plan sucked. I’m not even sure I expected it to work, but it was all I had. One look around and I could see that not only was no help on the way, there wasn’t a single soul outside of my family in sight. So I rolled with what I had.

“Get me out of here, youworthless boy,” my father snarled, as if he were in the position to make demands.

Yes, sir.

My mom’s forest green eyes shimmered with tears, her small, clammy palm clasping within mine. “I got you, sweetie. I’m ready.”

“Evander, let’s go,” I said, putting all my trust in him.

The car wobbled, fear coursing through my father’s veins. He pounced, latching on to my mom’s curly brown hair and taking hold of my free hand. She screeched, the sensation taking her by surprise. Her hand left mine.

I lunged forward to hell with him. He fell back onto the window as I let go of his hold, trying to secure my connection back into my mom’s. Our fingers brushed against each other, but it was too late.

The only thing keeping me from falling with them was Evander’s hold of my shirt. Gravity failed me as I flailed backward, landing atop Evander, a whoosh of air leaving his lungs.

Time is not linear.

The future and the past blurred. Time slowed. I didn’t even hear the splash as the SUV sent my parents tumbling to imminent death.

The man who caused so much death had been scared of dying. How poetic. I hope he burned in hell for an eternity.

I rolled myself off Evander, laying on my back and staring up at the darkening sky. He wheezed, breaths sounding painful as they escaped his lips. I placed my hand on his chest, pressing around to make sure nothing was broken. Too much energy. It would take too much energy to push myself up.

The buzzing had stopped.How odd. Calling for help hadn’t even occurred to me now. What help was I calling for?

There was no one left to save.

“No signal,” Evander huffed, shoving his phone into my face.

I grabbed onto it, doing a double take, not recalling him getting up. His back was rigid as he stared at the side of the bridge, the Ford Fiesta the only vehicle remaining.

“You need help?” I asked, taking note of his hand resting on his rib cage.

“Been through worse.”

In a swift movement, I pressed to my feet, offering him a hand. He took it though his stubborn nature kept his eyes from leaving the last place we’d seen our parents alive.

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