“Abby!?” I shout through a cloud of smoke. I wave my arm to clear the air as it fills the car. “Abby!?” I can barely breathe as the wind has been knocked out of me. My chest hurts like there is a ton of bricks on it and I reach next to me for her, but I don’t feel her. Looking outside as the smoke clears a bit, I see someone’s feet walking towards us. I realize then that we’re upside down, “Abbbbyyyy!?” I scream, scared when she doesn’t respond and I can’t feel her.

My eyes are heavy. I need to find her. “Are you okay?” a man asks, kneeling next to my shattered window. I reach for him and look into his wise eyes. “It’s okay, son, I called 911.”

“My girlfriend.” I’m breathless, everything inside of me hurts. “She’s pregnant.”

He stands up, and I reach for him screaming at the top of my lungs. Then I press the release button on the seatbelt. My body falls hard to the ceiling and I smash my head. Grabbing the back of it as pain spreads through my skull, he comes back to me and says, “Is she wearing a pink dress?”

“Yes!”

“My wife is with her.” I start to crawl from the car and he stops me. “Just stay still, son.”

I push him away and get out on my hands and knees between the barrier and my car. My eyes are heavy, but I have to get to Abby. I have to.

Searching the scene as I stand, I am wobbly and my vision is blurry. The man helps me keep my balance and I ask him, “Where is she?” He points to Abby’s bloody and lifeless body lying on the pavement of the highway.

Bile rises to the back of my throat.

Fuck!

I run the best that I can, fearing for what I might find and fall next to her. Looking down at her, there is so much blood everywhere I cannot tell where it’s coming from. I panic, tears stream down my face and I’m afraid to touch her. “Baby,” I whisper and put my face close to hers. “You’re going to be okay, you hear me?” I’m so fucking scared that I’m going to lose her.

In the distance, there is an explosion and I look to see a car in flames. It’s wrapped around a light pole and I hope it’s Darrell ‘cause that motherfucker did this to her.

Sirens are in the distance and I run my hands over her hair. “Abby, can you hear me?” I ask her, sobbing so hard. My hand trembles and I can barely breathe. There is no response from her and I’m scared to touch her, so I lie next to her on the pavement, with one hand on her hair and the other I gently place on her stomach. I’ve never prayed before, but right now, that is exactly what I am going to do.

I’m not even sure if God is real or not, or if he can answer prayers, but seeing Abby like this, I need a miracle.

“Sir! You need to back away from the patient.” A female says and then I am dragged from Abby as she is surrounded by EMTs.

“She’s pregnant,” I tell them.

“How long?” one of them asks me.

“Sixteen weeks.”

They work feverishly on her using chest compressions and then installing tubes and hoses. All the scary shit from the movies is my reality and I stand terrified. Then in the blink of an eye, she’s gone and they are carrying her away to a helicopter. The blades twist slowly and I know that it’s not good. “Where are you taking her?” I shout following them, but a police officer stops me. “Is she going to be okay?” I plead with one of them to answer me.

“Let them do their job, son.”

“Would everyone stop calling me ‘son’!” I shout, freaking out that she is being taken away from me like this and flown to God only knows where.

“Calm down, I’ll drive you to the hospital,” the officer says and I ask him, “Is she going to be okay?” He doesn’t answer me as my eyes are still on Abby while they load her up. She looks like she is asleep and I place my hand over my mouth, praying that’s the case. But when I pull it away and look down, it’s covered in blood…her blood.

Oh fuck! I start to shake, and then throw up, gagging, staring at the redness. “Do you need an EMT, sir?” the officer asks me.

“No, I need to be with Abby.”

“What’s your name, son?”

“Latch.”

“Last name?” My eyes are on the chopper as it takes off and flies out of sight. My insides bleed in pain and I fall to my knees, feeling like part of me has died.

“Teracino.”

“Were you with Abby tonight?”

“Yes, we were driving home and got run off the road.”

“What’s Abby’s last name?” he asks me.

“McEllrath, can we please get going to the hospital?”

“Sure, can you just tell me what happened first?”

“I did – we were run off the road.” He’s persistent and I reenact all of the details for the officer, doing my best to stay calm and in control, like I have trained myself to do time and time again. I tell him everything, except for the fact that I know Darrell caused the accident. ‘Cause if I did that it’ll just complicate things and take even longer for me to see Abby. He leaves me sitting on the side of the road and my mind keeps going back to her pink dress, completely blood-stained, and it breaks my fucking heart. Looking down at my hand, I try and wipe the blood on my shorts. She’s going to be okay, I repeat to myself as I clean it off, fighting back the tears, knowing that I need to stay strong for her and the baby.

“Latch?” The officer comes back over to me. “This is Officer Banks, he’ll take you to the hospital. I’m sorry for keeping you. Thank you for your time tonight.”

I nod and follow the officer to his car, and as we walk, I notice that the flames have settled on the car that was previously engulfed. “Was that the driver who hit us?” I ask the officer who opens the door for me.

“Yeah, the guy was burnt to a crisp.”

I look into Darrell’s car where the charred remains of his body still sit behind the wheel and it sickens me that I couldn’t protect her against him. “Do you know where they took her?”

“Uhh, New York Methodist,” he says.

I look out the window as the road flies by us and feel anxious, needing to get to Abby. I know Maris is close to the hospital and she could update me more quickly, so I text her, Abby and I were in a car accident. I’m fine, but she was airlifted to New York Methodist. Can you please check on her? You’ll get there before me.

I’m on my way! You sure you’re okay?

Yeah.

Then the officer responds to a call over the radio talking in code, but I’m in a daze, wishing that he would just drive faster. My thoughts keep fucking with me as her screams replay in my mind and then the image of her lying there…and the blood…so much blood.

The officer pulls off the highway at the wrong exit and I ask him, “Where are you going?”

“My sergeant wants me to bring you in for questioning.”

“What? Why?” I ask, aggravated as shit that they are doing this right now.

“Not sure, just following orders, sir.”

I slam my hands on the grate that separates us and shout, “That’s fucking bullshit!”