Shattered Dreams (Dream #1)

Chapter Two

Autumn

I hear the sounds of crunching metal as I try to pry open my eyes. “How the fuck did this end up upside down?”

someone asks once the crunching metal stops, and then I hear a buzzing sound coming from my ears. My left side feels like it is being crushed as I try to take a deep breath, but the pain rips through me. I groan softly, trying to push away the pain, and open my eyes, though they feel like they are sealed shut. I lick my lips, but my mouth is dry, and I notice the metallic taste right away as I fight to open my eyes.

“We got this door open!”

someone shouts. I’m not sure if it’s right beside me or far away.

“Fuck,”

another voice yells, “let’s get him out!”

The pain in my side is making it so hard to breathe that everything comes out in what feels like pants. I try to remember where the fuck I am.

Waylon’s voice cuts into my thoughts. “You shut the fuck up and don’t say a fucking word,”

he hissed at me, “you’re a waste of my time.”

I flinched at the words, but I’m not sure why since he always goes down this road when he’s had too much to drink.

I knew I should have said something to someone, but I also knew he would kill me if I did. I was so dumb. “Jennifer!”

Charlie calls her name. “Jennifer.”

The last time I saw her, she was beside me as we swerved in the road. Waylon was looking back at me instead of looking forward. The bright lights of the car filled the cab, and I think I screamed, or maybe someone else screamed, but we were jerked from one side to the other. I think he hit the car, or the car hit us, but all of a sudden, we were going through the air. My eyes closed, and the darkness took me, and now I am fighting against it to open them back up.

“Everleigh?”

Brock mumbles from beside me, or at least I think it’s beside me. “Everleigh, are you okay?”

“Hmm,”

someone mumbles, “my head.”

I feel movement and try with all of my strength to push myself away from the seat that I’m against. “It hurts.”

“Guys, how is Jennifer?”

Charlie asks from the front seat.

“I think she’s on top of me,”

I can barely get out. “I can’t move.”

I lick my lips again.

“Brock, are you okay?”

Charlie asks.

“Foot is stuck. Feels like something is in my leg.”

His voice is pained.

“Help!”

Charlie screams from the front seat as we hear sirens and then people rushing all around the truck.

“Do we know how many people are inside?”

The question is asked, and I want to answer it, but I’m so tired. I just want to close my eyes, if only for a minute.

It sounds like a saw is working near us and then the sounds of crunching metal. “We got a door off!”

someone shouts. “Fuck, I think he’s DOA.”

What the hell does that mean? DOA? My mind spins as to what they are saying. “We need more hands.”

“We got the second door opened!”

another man shouts. “We’re going to get you out.”

“Everleigh,”

Brock says to the man.

“We have to get you out first and then get her,”

the man states, and then I hear the sound of roaring in pain from Brock, and I flinch at the sound of it. I want to move my hand, but I can’t move it. Everything feels like it’s a thousand pounds. “Fuck,”

someone else says, “we need a paramedic here.”

“His foot is jammed,”

someone announces, “if we pull him out, it’ll rip through his whole thigh.”

“We need to get the driver out.”

I hear more footsteps from the other side of the car.

“What a fucking mess,”

another voice adds, “three-car accident. One man struck on the side of the road.”

“How many are in this car?”

a woman asks as I hear shouting from far away, and then more sirens fill the night. Red lights flash into the truck's darkness for a couple of seconds, but I don’t have time to look around before it’s dark again.

“We have three in the back and two in the front.”

I want to tell him we have four in the back, but my mouth is dry, and I suddenly taste metal.

The sound of metal clunking fills right outside my door, and I wince as my head throbs. “We got you,”

someone says right after the clunking sound stops. “We got him out.”

“Jennifer,”

Charlie says. “My girlfriend,”

he says frantically, “she’s in the back.”

“We’re trying to get them out,”

the man assures him, and I finally am able to open my eyes and look around. We are upside down, my head tilted to the side. My hair is in front of my face as I try to lift my hand to push it away, but it’s being crushed by a body.

“Jennifer,”

I call her name since she was the one sitting next to me. “Jennifer is here,”

I try to say, “she’s here.”

“We’re coming to get you out.”

The voice sounds like it’s right next to me. “We’ll get you out.”

It sounds like a hundred people are working around me. “Jennifer,”

Charlie screams, “she was in the back!”

“How many people were in the back?”

a man calmly asks him.

“We were six people,”

Charlie snaps. “Four in the back.”

“There are only three people in the back.”

I hear the words, but nothing makes sense.

“There are four people in the back,”

Charlie tells him, frustration in his voice. “Three girls and one guy.”

“Okay,”

the man again says calmly. “We’ll go check again.”

“She’s in there,”

Charlie declares, and then I hear him roar out in pain.

“Sir, you need to sit down and let us work on your leg,”

a woman urges. “Your leg is broken; you won’t be able to stand.”

“I need to go to her!”

Charlie screams. “Why aren’t you guys trying to get her out?”

I blink as a white light fills the back seat, so I close my eyes. “There are only three people back here,”

a man says softly, “unless she’s under…”

“Fucking front of the cab is on the floor; we can’t even see.”

I try to make sense of the bits and pieces of the conversation going on around us. I want to keep my eyes open, but they are so heavy. I just need to close them for a minute, I think to myself, and then I feel like I’m being moved.

“Had to pry her out,”

someone relays, and I try to open my eyes but not before I hear Charlie's shrieking.

The agony in his voice runs through my bones. “Where is she?”

he yells. “I’m not leaving without her.”

I feel like I’m floating. “Her arm seems to be broken, I think. Her blood pressure is high.”

“She has to be fucking here somewhere!”

Charlie screams. “Get me a phone. Someone, please, I need a phone!”

I open my eyes and turn my head for a minute, seeing Charlie sitting beside the upside-down truck. The front of the pickup looks like it’s been crushed. A tree branch lies on top of the bottom of the truck. The four doors are pried open, and one of the tires is not too far from the wreckage. I turn my head to the other side, noticing two other vehicles. A pickup looks like it’s been crashed into on the side, and the other car is missing the front tire and smashed up on one side.

I try to lift my arm, but it feels like it’s stuck to the gurney. My body bumps up and down, and I groan, but it’s swallowed by the sound of two doors being slammed shut, then the banging on the back, and I feel like I’m moving.

My eyes open, and I look around to see I’m in an ambulance, or at least I think I’m in the ambulance. “Hurts.”

That’s the only thing that comes out.

“I bet it does,”

the woman tells me. “We’re on the way to the hospital.”

“Is everyone okay?”

I ask, blinking open my eyes and focusing on the top of the ambulance.

“Um,”

the girl says, avoiding my eyes, “I’m not too sure.”

“Waylon,”

I say his name, “the driver. Is he on his way to the ambulance?”

“I’m not sure,”

she repeats. “All I know is I have you, and we are going to get you to the hospital.”

“It hurts,”

I whisper.

“I bet it does,”

she comforts. “You probably have a couple of broken ribs.”

That’s the last thing I hear before I shut my eyes and take a little nap.

I wake only when my eyelid is lifted, and light is flashed into my eyeball, going from one to the other. I groan and want to push the hand away from my face, but I literally can’t lift my hand. “Stop.”

That’s the only thing I say. “My friends?”

I ask, looking at them and then wincing at the pain in my side.

“We need to get an MRI and an X-ray,”

the doctor orders as he presses my side, and I have no choice but to cry out in pain. “We’ll get you all better,”

he assures me, turning and rushing out of the room.

“Where is she?”

Brock shouts from somewhere. “Where the fuck is Everleigh?”

I’m about to ask something when my head falls forward, the sounds of rushing all around me. “We have a code…”

That is the last thing I hear before I feel like I’m sinking into the blackness.

I feel someone touch my hand as my eyes try to open, but they can’t. The sound of beeping fills the room. “She has five broken ribs. One of them punctured her lung, so we had to go in and stop the bleeding.”

I hear hissing. “She has a severe concussion, a broken leg, and her shoulder was dislocated.”

That doesn’t sound good. It’s the only thing I can think of as I try to open my eyes. I take a deep inhale, which makes me moan.

“It’s okay, princess,”

my dad says as my hand is squeezed. “Rest. You’ll be okay.”

I feel his lips on my forehead.

I want to tell him I don’t want to rest. I want to tell him that I’m up, and I’m fine. I want to ask him where I am. I just want to open my eyes, but I’m pulled back into the darkness instead.