The Girl With the Dandelion Ring

Chapter 5: Lost Love

Chapter 5: Lost Love

My eyes, wide with fear, are locked on the drunk driver. The car speeds towards Ben and I, showing no signs of stopping. My screams pierce my ears; screams I'm not aware of making. Ben jerks the wheel away, but he is too late. The only thing that could prevent our collision is the wish I made. I hold out hope, in the milliseconds that pass between my wish slipping off of my tongue and the cars crunching together, that the car will miss us. Hope that we will make it out alright. Hope that we won't end up dead. As the final word is said I feel Ben's hand grab mine. He squeezes my hand tightly, letting me know how truly scared he is.

Then the white light engulfs us.

It springs forth from our clasped hands, filling the car then leaping towards the drunk's. The car slows, by fractions of seconds, enough to where mere millimeters are between our cars when we pass each other. My breath comes out in a rush of relief only to be squashed as all of the cars surrounding us suddenly stop working. It's only for maybe a second. But a second is all the time it takes to change a life. Or end many.

Ben's car swerves, hitting the car in front of us. My body is caught roughly against my seat belt, my breath catching in my lungs. The windshield shatters and I feel a piercing pain in my stomach. My arms swing about wildly as my teeth puncture my tongue. My mouth fills with my blood's metallic taste. I hear crunching metal from behind us and risk a glance in the rear-view mirror. The drunk driver crashed straight into a minivan, the front of both cars are crumbled together. One other car is caught behind us, flames roaring from it, but the rest seem to have avoided the worst of it.

My hand feels a crushing weight as the slow trickle of white light fades from the ring. I look into the glass orb and see one of the seeds essentially die. It slowly loses its white color, fading and being suffocated in darkness. The black works itself slowly from the tips of the seed to the very base of it until the seed is purely black. Then a dark pulse is sent through my body. I'm not sure how to describe it, it feels like an insect crawling over and through every part of my body. Shivers rock me back and forth, images whirl through my mind.

Flames lick up my legs as my screams consume me. I know these flames aren't real, but I can't seem to escape. My flesh peels from my skin and I smell my own charred flesh. I fall forward and for the second that my head is uncovered from the heat I see Ben. His tormented face is turned my way, his hands reach out, yearning for mine. I scream his name as my eyes slip closed.

I feel strong, cool hands on my shoulders, gripping me tightly as I continue to shake. I try and focus on the hands. The calloused fingers upon the exposed skin near my tank top. The hands feel strong, but still so gentle. It's almost as if the hands are afraid of me breaking, but still they try to tether me to them. A small tear falls down my face as I open my eyes to see Ben staring at me, his face now twisted in fear. He whispers my name and slips hands, that were on my shoulders, around my back. His head rests on my neck, his arms wrapped around me as he continues to whisper my name. I let my lips linger on his hair, his presence easing the vision. The fires are slowly banished, replaced with honking horns and approaching sirens.

Ben slowly pulls away from me, his hair cast his face in a mask of dark shadows. My wish had caused all of this. Since the drunk had not hit us, it had hit the other person. We had swerved into another car. Instead of just Ben, the drunk, and I getting caught in an accident, it was all of these people. Ben whispers my name once again. His bloody hands run through his hair, brushing it back from his face. He slowly unbuckles me from my seat. His lips form words but I can't hear what he is saying. My head is so lightheaded. Why does my stomach hurt? I think.

Ben gets out of the bug, waving down someone. I'm left alone with my thoughts. Why was Ben in my vision? I've never seen him there before. Could he have... no he couldn't have been there. Wait, when did that happen? There's so much I don't know about this ring. I need to find out why I am having these visions and why Ben was there.