Page 2 of One Shot

“Once around the block. Don’t tell mom or you’ll walk to school every day for the rest of your life,” Nick said.

My cheeks hurt from smiling so wide. I can’t believe he was going to let me drive his precious car he worked so hard on. I wasn’t even fifteen yet, but Mom was away at a conference.

Best big brother ever.

The movie of the memory starts to get fuzzy as if someone smudged the camera lens. The edges of my vision begin to fade. Nick’s smiling face as I drive his car down our street is overtaken by small spots. The world seems to be covered in blurry film. Then, everything goes black.

Suddenly, I am an astral projection immersed in a new memory watching the conversation play over and over in my head.

I’m in the passenger seat of Nick’s truck. He’s fuming with anger even after winning his first game as captain. It’s my fault. My heart feels like it is beating in my stomach but is begging to come up my throat.

“How could this happen?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have told you. Just forget about it!”

“Like hell I’ll forget about it. Of course you should tell me. You should tell the damn police Lauren. You should press charges!”

“I’m sorry, Nick. I’m ruining your big night and your big win. I’m sorry.”

“Stop apologizing, Laur. You didn’t do anything. I’m glad you told me. You should have told me a long time ago that this was happening.”

The sleeve of my sweatshirt is damp from wiping away my tears. My heart is pounding so loudly I am certain Nick can hear it. I close my eyes, swallowing back my raw emotion but the lump in my throat refuses to budge. My mind starts to shut down, wanting to escape the emotional trauma, while my body gives in to crying so hard that my body convulses and it’s difficult to breathe. I start coughing, choking on my tears.

Nick takes off his seat belt to pull me in and comfort me. His breath is sharp, quick and intense. His body shakes with rage as he pulls me in. I can feel his heart thumping in his chest. I hear him start to takeslow breaths, willing himself to calm down, but it doesn’t seem to be working. This is my fault. Nick feels this way because of me.

“I’m going to kill him, Laur.”

“Nick, put on your seat belt. Jesus. NICK!”

“Laur. Lauren, look at me. I swear to God and any other higher being in existence, he is going to be—”

“NICK! THAT SEMI IS GOING TO—”

A loud booming sound interrupts me. Then everything goes black again.

I hear commotion. The pain is unbearable. I can’t move any part of my body. I remember being in Nick’s truck, after his first game as captain. They won. They beat—no—they slaughtered the Eagles. My head is throbbing. It’s not black anymore, but my whole world is extremely blurry, as if I am looking through an unfocused camera lens. I can barely make out anything.

Where am I?

I blink, and the world starts to come slowly into focus. I see Nick’s F-150 on its side, just feet in front of me. The windshield of Nick’s most prized possession is in millions of pieces. I look down and see shards of the glass poking out from my arms.Is there glass in my legs?!I’m unsure, but I realize I can’t feel my legs. Nausea takes over.

A loud ear-piercing ring fills the air—the kind in movies where the damsel in distress is about to black out. I try to turn my head, but it won’t move. I try to focus on moving just my eyes and look to the right. I can make out more glass and pieces of rust colored metal from Nick’s car. Wincing in pain, I force my head to turn to the left.

If I could make a sound, my scream would shatter the glass fragments scattered along the highway into pieces so small you wouldn’t be able to see them. Goose bumps flood my skin, as I turn ice cold. I couldn’t feel my legs before, but now my entire body—my entire being—is numb as shock starts to take over.

A few feet away, I see a figure on the ground with limbs jutting out at odd angles that look inhuman. That can’t possibly be a person, canit? I take in the light brown shaggy hair of a boy. Wait. Itisa person. My eyes almost bulge out of my head as they take in the black wyvern tattoo on the figure’s arm. It’s Nick. My brother is sprawled across the pavement. He’s stiller than I have ever seen him in my life.

I feel the damsel in distress blackout coming fast.

I hear a faint voice. “Don’t move. She’s alive! Get the medics over here!”

I try to fight the drowsiness that has taken over, but it’s quickly pulling me in.

“Nick . . . Nick, my brother.” I try to squeak out the words as I am lifted onto a stretcher.

“He’s gone,” someone eerily whispers. The voice sounds familiar, like what I remember my Dad’s voice sounding like.

Everything finally goes completely black as I slip into unconsciousness.

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