LOUIS
I'm not panicking, I'm not panicking, I'm not panicking. But Jack is panicking. He's panicking so bad. And I need to remain calm so he remains calm, but I'm not sure how I'm supposed to go about that.
"Jack," I say, breathing hard as I ignore my throbbing head. "Jack, you need to stay calm. You can't... you can't move until someone comes. You can't... you have to stop panicking."
"I'm not panicking," he tries, eyes wet as I reach across to bring his hand into mine. "I'm not... I'm too young."
I squeeze his hand. "You're okay. We're okay."
"I can't... it hurts."
"I think that's a good sign," I say, wincing as blood drips over my eyebrow. "Jack, keep your eyes open."
He opens them again. And then I can hear sirens. And someone comes and breaks a window so he can crawl into the backseat to check on us.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Jack keeps closing his eyes."
Our rescuer puts a c-collar around our necks to keep us steady, curls dropping into his eyes as he mentions his name is Harry, that he's a paramedic who promises to save us, though I'm not sure he's allowed to make such promises.
"Can you tell me your name?"
"Louis."
"Can you tell me what happened, Louis?"
"I'm not sure," I say, becoming increasingly more tired. "We were just... we were on our way to see Jack's parents. And... someone... someone crashed into us. I think that's what happened. Is that what happened? Are they okay? Are they gonna make it? Are we gonna make it?"
"Easy," Harry says, voice gentle and soothing. "Focus on staying conscious. Can you wiggle everything you could preciously wiggle?"
"Yeah."
"Is anything hurting."
I wince. "Only my knee. And my head. Is Jack okay?"
"We're working on it," he says, putting an oxygen mask over Jack's nose and mouth. "There's not much we can say until you're out. The driver's seat is our only way in, so we're bringing Jack out first."
"Yes," I say. "Yes... that's good."
Harry keeps speaking, presumably attempting to keep us conscious, but my world becomes blurry as his voice grows distant and hard to reach—my head is pounding as my eyes slip shut.
Jack is panicking next to me when I'm shaken back to consciousness, tears escaping as he pulls away his oxygen mask—I'm wearing one as well now—so he can spill out words in a panic.
"I have a sister," he says. "I have parents and nieces and coworkers and friends. Louis only has me, so save me instead! Get me out, get me out, get me out!"
I tear up as I release his hand, closing my eyes as Harry helps steady Jack once they're ready to move him onto a spinal board so they can bring him out. Harry puts a hand on my cheek, telling me to open my eyes over and over again until I have enough strength to comply—he's in Jack's seat now.
"I'm so tired," I say, meeting his green eyes. "I just wanna sleep."
"No," he says, swiping his thumb over my eyelid to remove the dripping blood. "I need you to stay with me, Louis. I need you to keep your eyes open."
"He doesn't care."
"People say things they don't mean when they panic."
"He's right," I say. "I have no one. I have no one, so why does it matter?"
