May I: Crash Pt II

Feeling a cold chill move through her entire body, she watched in horror at the car engulfed in flames and then exploded. All she could think about was how she had left him there, trapped in his seat.

Instinctively, she kept her body over the little girl’s in protection, as a part of Cal’s car flew up in the air, landing on the hood of the car. She could feel the little girl shaking, grasping to her teddy bear and blanket.

The car looked almost unsteady, like the darkened sky that loomed over them. It was clear that they couldn’t stay in the car for very much longer—even though it was the safest place to be during a thunder and lightning storm—it was looking better and better to be in the open, than being a possible target to explosion.

“You see that tree over there?” Gillian pointed across the road, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. Elena nodded, looking at her mother. She started to whimper, before turning to bury her head into Gillian’s shoulder. She didn’t even bother finishing that sentence, instead carrying her out the door as Cal’s car exploded and threw them to the ground.

Mentally, Gillian cursed the fact that she had just landed on the arm that she had hurt earlier in the week, but brushed it off to check Elena—who now had some extra scrapes on the side of her face and on her legs. And by the time they were underneath the safety of the trees, both were literally shaking.

She wrapped Elena up with the blanket; a roll of thunder boomed in the sky, making the little girl shake further. A flash of lightning made her bump against Gillian, who had turned and emptied the contents of her stomach.

Sirens were heard as they raced through the streets of Washington D.C. Smoke was billowing into the sky, as if signaling of destruction and death. There was still no sign of Cal, despite the second explosion. Leaning against the tree was uncomfortable as it felt to lean against; the many branches and leaves protected them from the now pouring rain.

Her shoulder was radiating pain, and she closed her eyes to hide the pain and tears that she was feeling. The adrenaline that had been fueling her when they had crashed was still there, but had been replaced by a deep sadness. Was he alive? Somehow she couldn’t keep her eyes open to find out.

The sound of sirens, from both police cars and ambulances rang in her ears. Elena was shaking her shoulder now. “Gillian? You can’t leave me too! Please, don’t leave me.”    

A pause, then a short gasp followed. “Who are you?”

“Cal.” It physically hurt for him to kneel, but he did it anyway. He ran his fingers through Gillian’s hair. “I told you I would make it out.” Her eyes slowly fluttered open, as she finally gasped for a breath.  

“Gillian! I thought you left me.” Elena hugged her so tightly, the blanket slipped off her shoulders.

He let a hum, despite the red and blue lights that were bouncing off the slick street. “Looks like I’m not your only admirer.” He teased, as she wrapped her arm around the girl.

“I thought you were dead.”

“You can’t get rid of me that easily. You should know that by now.” She gave a slight, pained smile.

“Gillian?” Elena scrunched her nose up, before frowning. “Can I call my daddy to come get me?” Just then a fire truck parked close to them, and then an ambulance. Four firefighters got out, and began setting up to drench the flames. Another two EMTS ran over to where they were sitting.

Elena was holding even tighter now, and Cal finally had to sit down, because he was hurting.

“We’ll call when we get to the hospital—let him know that you’re safe.” Nodding, Elena buried her head into her shirt. Gillian and Cal told their story to the police officer with the scruffy beard, as they were all being checked over. Elena hadn’t let go the entire time, which made it kind of difficult to do anything, but it was easy to see why she was so scared.

They were finally wheeled up into the ambulance, almost close to leaving all the destruction behind. Cal had refused to be placed on a stretcher, despite the confirmation that he had probably broken some ribs, among other things.

Elena would only go if she was with Gillian and was now sitting on Cal’s lap. And Cal was of course, never leaving Gillian again, if he could help it. However, they were separated to different rooms to be examined.

By the time  the nurses had informed her that Elena’s dad had arrived and was staying with her, she also found out that Cal had a hard time breathing and was now taken up to surgery for some internal injuries sustained in the crash.

She made sure that Emily and Zoë were called for him, as it wasn’t clear when he would wake up to make that call himself; then busied herself with finding about Sophie, who was so far stable from the medications she had been given.

Because of her previous injury earlier during the week, the on-call doctor hadn’t allowed Gillian to go see her, and wanted her to rest. Despite having some forming bruises, scrapes and a lack of a concussion, the doctor still wanted to keep her overnight for observation: just in case something developed during the night that hadn’t been caught yet.  

Gillian settled in, feeling like it was going to be a long night. Cal was hurt and she felt responsible that they had crashed. She also felt quite torn that she couldn’t be there with him. She hoped that Emily and Zoe were with him by now, and could only picture them sitting there in the waiting room.

A knock on the door, brought her out of her thoughts. She thought it was another nurse coming to check up on her again, so she gave a half-hearted, “Come in”. At the sight of the teenager, Gillian sat up against the pillow. “Emily.”

“They said Dad was going to be in surgery for about another hour.” Emily was dressed in a red shirt, jeans and gold flats as she pointed towards the door. “I told mom that I was going to get something from the cafeteria, and found out where you were.”

“I’m glad you did. Come, sit.” Gillian offered, as Emily sat down in the nearest seat next to the bed

“They said dad had some internal injuries—”                                                                                             

Gillian confirmed her response with a nod. “The driver ran a red light as we were going through the intersection. She had her five year old daughter in the back seat.”  

“The police officer told us that she was okay, but her mom died at the scene?” Another nod and it triggered an image of Elena’s mother: lifeless, bloodied, and instantly killed upon impact.

“I probably have as many answers as you do about the crash, but it all went by so quickly. After it happened, your father and I realized that the car was on its side. We were stuck in our seats, so I grabbed a piece of glass and cut myself out. Your dad asked me to hand him a piece of glass before breaking out the back window.”

A cold shiver went through Gillian’s body. For a few minutes at least, she had thought he was dead. She just hoped that Emily wasn’t seeing the terror in her eyes right now.

“You left him?”

“I didn’t want to leave him, but he insisted that I go and that he would get out… and when I got to the other car, Elena’s mom was already dead.”

“That’s…horrible. I can’t imagine if—“Pausing, Emily met her eyes and understood that she felt the same way, and that it had almost happened. “You love him, don’t you?”

“It’s—”

“It complicated, because you and my dad work together—I know.”

“It’s not just that. We both love each other, and I’m sure that we always will. But if something were to happen in our relationship . . . it wouldn’t just ruin our friendship, but also make it impossible to work together.”

“I guess I’ve never thought of it that way. Dad always seems a little bit happier when he’s around you. I’m just glad that both of you are okay.”   

Gillian grasped her shoulder in appreciation. “You should get back. I’m sure your mom is probably wondering where you are.”

Emily shrugged. “Or she’s on the phone with a potential client. I don’t think she’ll know that I’m missing for a half an hour. And if she does, I’ll tell her that I sat down to eat at the cafeteria.”  Sharing a smile, Gillian wished she could freeze this moment before the world around her got serious again.