Miracle- Noah Sebastian (SEQUEL TO THE GREY)

fifteen

*Noah's POV*

A few weeks had passed and we were all packed up and ready to go to Big Bear for the weekend. We settled on the weekend before Christmas, but the premise was to generally celebrate Christmas, hang out, and shoot a few videos apparently. 

It was 6 am and we all decided to head out early to have more time to enjoy it and to try and beat morning traffic. Apparently quite a few people have gone back to working in person, but people are also beginning to travel home for the holidays. The way that the car situation landed, Sutton and I are luckily just in my car with no one else. None of us are chatty this morning, just all almost wordlessly loading up the cars and drinking coffee. Matt and Davis were meeting us there, so it's just the usual group at the house and Danielle that we're packing up for.

We get all our bags and stuff settled in my backseat and I'm about to buckle in. "Are you sure you got everything?" I asked Sutton.

She flipped through the mental checklist in her head. "Oh, I left my phone charger by your bed, I'll go get it."

"No, it's okay, I'll go grab it," I offered, mostly to make sure the house is locked up behind me. The other cars very confidently began their drives, causing us to lag behind for just a minute. I ran up to my room and grabbed her charger, not letting myself look around one more time, and ran downstairs and double checked that all of the doors were locked before locking the front door behind me. I hopped in the driver's seat, noticing that she put on Paramore's Riot album, probably in attempt to wake us up. I shot her a quick smile before starting to drive. 

To be completely honest, while the drive to Big Bear is pretty, it's also taxing because it's got a lot of wind-y roads. I want so badly to cave and join in on Sutton's little karaoke party that she's having to Riot, but I'm an overly cautious driver and have to focus. She's more awake now by the time that crushcrushcrush comes on and is having a full-on concert in the passenger seat. Since the road straightened out, I join her, jamming out to it animatedly.

I look over at her to just experience her joy when a coyote comes barreling out of the tree line, running straight into her side. The last thing I saw was her smile before we're sent spinning in circles, eventually flipping a few times. I had my cruise on 75 since the speed limit was 70, so it was definitely happening too quickly. We stopped in a ditch upside down across the highway, and the last thing I saw before I passed out was her dangling from her seat also unconscious, the seatbelt barely sustaining her body.

***

I woke up to the smell of... sterile. The kind of sterile that burns your nose that is only affiliated with a hospital. My head hurts like hell and the thought of opening my eyes hurts worse. "Noah?" I heard someone familiar ask. I guess my face gave it away that I woke up. "Are you awake?" I think it's Nic speaking. 

I went to speak, but my voice was absolutely only a fraction of what it normally is, probably from dehydration. "Yeah," was all I could croak out and I winced at how much gravel was in my voice.

"Can you open your eyes?" Nic coached me, squeezing my hands.

"Probably, but my head hurts too bad," I said honestly. I felt him get up and turn off a light switch and come back to me.

"Try now, there's very little light on," he advised. I cautiously opened my eyes, noting that the headache felt like someone split my brain in half with a machete. "How are you feeling?" 

"Terrible," I responded honestly. I attempted to stretch my limbs, noting that my left arm was in a cast and just my left ankle was wrapped up. 

"You were asleep for 2 days..." he admitted. Everything started to come back to me and my breath hitched in my throat at the memory of Sutton's dangling body.