Impulse (NaNoWriMo)

~18~

"Oh my God! Flynn we have to help them!" I yelled. I didn't know what had caused the crash, there wasn't another car involved, but as I looked on the road behind us I saw that we were the only other people for miles.

"Faith, I'm going too fast to stop," Flynn apologized. We sped past the car and I couldn't describe the feeling of terror that ran threw me as I saw the driver and the passenger of the car hunched over in their seats.

"Flynn! Turn around! We need to help them!" I yelled. My hands bunched up in his shirt and I tried to grab his arms to turn us back, but it was no use.

"Faith! I can't-"

"My sister, Flynn! My sister!" I screamed at him, "I can't...I can't..." I cried out. I can't leave them. I can't not try and help them. The panic was building up in me like a wave on its way to shore. I could feel my throat closing up and my eyes were going wild and crazy. I couldn't focus on anything as I tried to turn around to see the car.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, Faith. Hold on tight," Flynn warned me, so I did.

I held onto him tighter than I did that first day when I was scared for my life. We turned so fast I thought my knee was going to graze the ground from how far the motorcycle was tilted to the side, but it didn't and in no time we were speeding back towards the crash.

I jumped off before we had come to a complete stop and tried to gain control of my breathing as I rushed over to the car. The passenger had managed to get their door open, but they hadn't been able to get out of the car. I got closer and saw it was a little kid and a grandma.

The grandma was slumped towards the driver's side window and I couldn't see her face. Her hands were still gripped around the steering wheel and I noticed the older car didn't have airbags. My lips and hands were shaking as I kneeled down beside the young boy.

"Hey buddy, can you hear me? I'm here to help you," I promised. His eyes fluttered open and his little hand raised up towards me.

"Help," his lips mouthed and I felt my heart break at his lost and confused face.

I looked him over and saw that he had been wearing a seatbelt and he wasn't bleeding anywhere. I unbuckled the seat belt and scooped my arms under his knees and back. When I lifted his right knee he yelped in pain and started crying. So did I.

The little boy clutched into my shirt and hair and the temporary pain from the pull of his little fingers jolted me back into action. I moved my hand further up his thigh so I wouldn't touch his knee and I picked him up. I was careful to avoid hitting his head on the door frame as I carried him several feet away from the car.

"Hey, I just called 911. They said they would be here in twenty minutes," Flynn informed me somberly.

"Good. But we need to get the grandma out of the car," I told him. I could feel the tears falling down my face, but somehow my voice was strong. I was scared and hurting, but I knew that I couldn't leave her in there, at least not without knowing someone was coming to help her.

"Faith we aren't supposed to move them. We aren't certified to help them," he cautioned me. His hand caught my arm, but I shook him off.

"I can't leave her in there! She's trapped! Either help me help her, or comfort this boy!" I yelled out in frustration.

"I'll go help her, you stay here with the boy," Flynn suggested. He pushed me to the ground against my will and sat me down next to the boy. "It's not pretty. She's beat up pretty bad, Faith," Flynn whispered in my ear.

He must have gone to her side of the car while I was helping the boy. Was he protecting me from it? From the terror of seeing the grandma in pain? Was she alive? Was she dead? Could he help her?

"Go," I begged. I pushed him away moments after he pressed his lips to my cheek. His hands let go of me and I watched through the haze as he snuck around to the other side of the car that I couldn't see.

"Hey buddy. My name is Faith, what is your name?" I asked the boy who I had instinctively wrapped my arms around.

He had brown hair and freckles on his cheeks like me. His eyes were blue and wide open full of shock and pain. He was most likely trying to comprehend all of this, but he had nothing to compare this event to.

"It's Bo," the little boy told me. His right hand was clutching onto me while his left was clutching his knee.

"Does your knee hurt? Can you straighten it?" I asked him. I lifted his left hand up and watched as struggled to straighten his leg.

"No," he uttered.

"That's okay. There's help on the way," I promised. I had no idea how I was keeping it together. All I could think about what what my sister had. Lizze was there with her, and the drunk driver, but they had both been involved in the accident as well.

Who held her hand? Who told her it was going to be alright? Who called for help? Who saved her?

Oh right, nobody, because if she had been saved she and I would be lounging by the pool or huddled together in front of a computer picking out dorm decorations. I wouldn't be sitting on the side of a highway in Montana holding a boy who almost just died.

"Is...is that man...he-helping my gran-grandma?" Bo asked me. His little eyelashes were wet from his tears and he was looking up at me like his life depended on me. Maybe it had.

"Yes. He's going to save her, I promise. I always keep my promises," I explained to Bo and he smiled up at me just enough to show I had given him some hope.

I wasn't about to break that promise. Even if I had to make some deal with the devil to save his grandmother's life, I was willing to do it. I couldn't let her die. Not today.

I talked to Bo and learned he was on his way to a forest hike. His grandma was taking him because she wanted to show him the best places to see the bears. It was a slow process getting information out of him because every time I would ask a question he would think about it and then chose his words carefully. I wasn't sure if it was because he was traumatized or if that was just how he thought.

It felt like an hour later when sirens echoed through the mountains and an ambulance and two police cars drove up to the scene. The commotion and bright lights blinded me. Bo was taken from my arms and put on a stretcher. The medics gave him some oxygen and then left him and hurried over to the grandma.

Flynn sat beside me and wrapped me in his arms. He had taken his shirt off and it was nowhere to be seen. There was traces of blood on his hands and seeing that set me over the edge.

Why did this have to happen to good people? Why did that little boy have to experience that crash? Would the grandma survive? I sure hope she did because if not I don't know if I could handle knowing I was right here when she died.

"You did the right thing Faith. You helped them. You kept them alive. You saved them" Flynn comforted me. I was bawling and I couldn't see anything past the water that flooded my eyes.

"She's...the grandma...she's alive?" I half begged, half pleaded.

"Yeah. She's holding on," Flynn said and I don't think I have ever heard better news in my life.

"Thank you," I choked out past my tears.

"No, Faith, thank you. You made me turn around. I was going to keep going, I was going to leave-" Flynn cut himself off and I felt him clap a hand over his mouth, "I'm so sorry. You probably think I'm a heartless bastard," Flynn laughed through the emotion.

"No! You were just scared," I explained. I looked up and saw the unshed tears waiting to fall in his eyes, "We all get scared Flynn."

Flynn nodded his head in agreement, although I don't think he believed my words wholeheartedly. We decided we would call it a night even though it was only around one.