27
T H E W R E C K
Like the hands on a clock,
We chased each other,
Until our minutes and our seconds collided.
I SAW THE LIGHTS BEFORE I realized what had happened.
Charlie had told me through the game they were taking Exit 407. Once I told Mr. Hale, he knew exactly where they were headed—to Matt’s rental home in Gatlinburg.
Mr. Hale tried to get me to wait for the sheriff, but I didn’t know how long it would take for one to show up. I hadn’t been about to wait while Andy and Charlie were out there somewhere, scared, so he told me to keep my eyes peeled for a black sedan.
I slowed to a stop as I tried to see through the windshield wipers. It looked like a semi had flipped, blocking the entire stretch of highway. I looked to my phone, waiting for anything from Charlie. It had been a solid thirty minutes since he last messaged me about the exit they would be taking, but there was nothing.
Placing my truck in park, I set my phone down and got out. It didn’t look like we’d be going anywhere any time soon. Panic flooded my chest. I had to find a way around so I could get to Andy.
Multiple firetrucks and ambulances surrounded the scene, the red lights amplified by the rain. I hopped on the hood of my truck so I could see better and squinted, instantly soaked through. There was a pile of cars involved in the wreck. A blue minivan. A white car.
A black—
I took off running. “Andy,” I shouted as I passed car after car stopped in traffic.
I couldn’t think about anything but getting to her and Charlie. If it was them, I had to know.
“Andy,” I shouted again as I came upon the scene. I nearly vomited at the destruction, lungs working overtime as I dragged in every breath. The sedan was wedged on its side between the flipped semi and the minivan. Glass littered the roads like a mirage of diamonds meant to lure pedestrians in and slice them up. A handful of firemen were on top of the sedan with the Jaws of Life, trying to cut into the passenger side of the car.
I jogged ahead, only to be halted by someone pushing against my chest. “Whoa, there.”
It was an officer.
I pointed to the sedan. “That’s my girlfriend and her son,” I pleaded, praying he’d let me see as my heart tried to catapult from my chest.
The officer looked over his shoulder, rain drops trickling from the rim of his hat. The firemen were peeling back the metal to the car, some shouting instructions out to others.
The officer turned back to me. “I’m sorry, but you can’t go over there. The best thing you can do is go to your car and wait.”
I shoved the officer. “I’m not going to fucking wait! Would you?”
Anger played over his reserved features. “Now, son, I’ll let that slide because I know your emotions are running high. That might not even be her. Did you stop to think about that?”
I looked over his shoulder, unable to breathe as the firemen carefully pulled Charlie’s unmoving body from back.
I went mad.
“Charlie,” I shouted as I shouldered past the officer and bolted for him. “Charlie, I’m here! Just like I said I’d be. I’m here.”
I managed to get through the occupied officers and slowed to a stop just as they put Charlie’s body on a stretcher. It was hard to look at him. His face was barely recognizable. His eyes were purple and swollen shut. His lip bloodied and bruised. Skin covered in cuts.
Breathing was no longer effortless.
“Is he alive?” I asked the man who was strapping the neck brace on him as the darkened sky hung over us. Fear crowded my throat. Burned behind my eyes.
“Yes, but we have to get him out of here,” the man assured me. “There’s no telling what internal damage he’s suffered.”
I leaned closer to Charlie as they finished strapping him in. “Charlie, I’m here, buddy. I’m not going anywhere. Neither are you, okay?”
“Is this your son?” a female officer asked.
I turned. “He’s my girlfriend’s son. The man driving the sedan had kidnapped them. She has a restraining order against him. I was on my way to try to help.”
The lady turned and said something to another officer, who nodded his head.
I didn’t care what they said. It took all my might to keep my feet planted as the firemen worked on getting Andy out. I felt the world slipping between my fingers as I watched them carry Charlie toward an ambulance.
“Where are they taking him?” I asked the female officer, panic setting in.
“Just to the ambulance. They’re trying to get a helicopter. With the weather, though, we’re not sure it will be able to land.”
One of the firemen shouted from the top of the sedan, ordering people to have the stretcher ready. Time slowed to a stop as they pulled her limp body from the wreck. She looked worse than Charlie.
“Andy,” I breathed out.
Blood slid from her mouth, dribbling down her chin. They were trying to stabilize her neck as best they could, but ended up needing the stretcher brought to them. Once they had her on the ground, I rushed over, kneeling beside her.
“Andy,” I cried, running my thumb over her cheek. I looked up. “Is she breathing?”
“Barely,” a man said as he fastened a neck brace on her while another administered a breathing bag. “We need to get them both out of here. Now.”
“What about the other one?” someone asked.
I assumed they meant Matt.
“It isn’t lookin’ good.”
They hauled Andy up, and then carried her off toward the ambulance. My heart shattered against my chest in painful shards. Everything seemed to slow around me as awareness breathed against the edges of my mind. It felt like the pointed tip of a pen, etching the stark vividness of this moment, blink by blink. Sound by sound.
I followed, unsure about what else to do. Feeling helpless and lost. Someone’s hand latched on my shoulder just before I could step inside the ambulance.
“You can’t, sir. Unless you’re next of kin, I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to go back to your vehicle.” It was the female officer. She looked regretful about having to stop me. “But I can get you out of this traffic and you can follow them, if you’d like.”
“Please.”
It was all I could manage.