Bitter Treats (BxB Romance, In Progress)

22: Bitter Tears

He was stuck. Tyler didn't know where he was or what was happening but he knew he couldn't break free. Metal trapped him from all sides, digging into flesh and bones. Heavy raindrops pelted the shell around him, echoing in his ears.

He was stuck. He was cold. He was in pain.

Stuck. Stuck. Stuck.

Cold. Cold. Cold.

Pain. Pain. Pain.

Despite not knowing where he was, what had happened, or if he was even alive or dead, Tyler was acutely aware of these three things. Their intense presence prevented him from thinking clearly to figure out his situation.

Everything was black. As a light flickered by far away, Tyler realized that his eyes were actually open. It just didn't matter because there was nothing but darkness to see.

Another light flickered, lighting up the smashed dashboard in front of him. Slowly, reality started to dawn on him. He was in his car. Although the vehicle was warped in a way that made it seem unfamiliar. Every angle was off and every surface shattered. It appeared crumpled like a stomped-on soda can.

Yet another light from above strobed over the hood of the car, or what was left of it at least. The beam, originating from bright headlights, clued Tyler in on his location. He'd been on the bridge across the river, but now, he was underneath it. The embankment that kept the waterway from flooding had stopped the vehicle's trajectory after it flew off the road above, crushing the front of the car. The wheels had sunk into the soft river bed, which was left behind when the river dried up in winter.

Considering the persistent heavy rainfall, it may soon be flooded again.

Realizing his precarious position, Tyler reached for the door handle. His shoulder hurt from the movement--as it had been forced against the seatbelt--but still cooperated somewhat.

The handle broke off in his hand.

He leaned his elbow against the door instead, pushing with all his might to get it opened.

The door fell off the hinges, letting cold night air and pelting rain in.

Preparing to escape, Tyler tried to move his legs. He couldn't. All that happened was a rush of pain, so intense that he almost passed out. Bile rose in his throat as he gritted his teeth, trying to remain conscious.

Another flashing light allowed him a glimpse of the dire leg situation. When the hood caved in, his legs had been caught in the crossfire. Metal has wrapped around them, like sinister constricting vines that allowed no escape. He would maybe have been able to extract the right leg from the grip since he could lightly wiggle it from side to side, if it wasn't for the intense pain in the ankle. Even though he couldn't see it, Tyler was quite sure it was broken in such a way that he wouldn't be able to walk away on it even if he could free himself.

The left leg was in an even worse state. From the knee down it seemed impossible even to distinguish flesh and bone from metal anymore, as the harsh vines not only wrapped around but also through it. Any small movement caused convulsions of pain through his entire body, as the bone itself appeared to grind against metal. It was stuck in a vice made of jagged metal.

Tyler's head spun from fear and pain but he still tried to collect his thoughts enough to find a way out of the situation. Meanwhile, he attempted to not move at all, since every slight shiver seemed to make the metal barbs dig closer into his flesh.

His phone was no longer in his pocket. It must have fallen out as he plummeted toward the river. So calling for help was out of the question.

Another light illuminated the fractured vehicle, revealing a frightening amount of blood on his jeans. Where exactly it came from was unclear, as Tyler felt like he had cuts and bruises everywhere.

The light gave him some hope. If cars were passing above, surely someone would see the hole in the railing? They would call 911, alerting police, firemen, and an ambulance. Tyler definitely needed all those things right now.

He needed help.

The reason for his rushed escape felt so silly now. What had he been so scared of? Being outed as gay couldn't be worse than this, stuck in a crumpled metal can. In fact, being out and proud seemed so much brighter than his previous existence, where he'd been trapped in a cage of fear. A cage seemed to now have caved in on him.

Liquid ran down Tyler's cheeks. He wasn't sure if it was raindrops, blood, or tears. Maybe it was all of those things.

If he got out of this, he wouldn't be scared anymore. He wouldn't be scared of freedom. He wouldn't be scared of love. He wouldn't be scared of himself.

Wanting to embrace those things, Tyler made one more try. With all his gathered strength, he leaned toward the open door, trying to scoot off the seat and leverage the fall to free his legs. If he could only get out of the car, he should be able to crawl to freedom. He should be able to live.

But as he moved, shifting his body weight toward his legs, something snapped in his left leg. A bone, muscle, or tendon burst into an explosion of pain, shaking every nerve of his body. It was too much for his systems to handle. Everything went black. Tyler passed out.

When he came to again, slivers of light had started to chase away the night.

But morning didn't just bring light, it also brought the river. The whirling of the water was in Tyler's ears before he even properly came to, creating uneasy dreams of dark whirlpools and drowning waves.

The water raged against the carcass of the car, licking his bloody jeans. Tyler's shivering body was submerged to the waistline, making him trapped not just by metal but also by the elements.

There was no way out of this. There was only pulsing pain and rising water.

Tyler didn't cry. His body was out of tears and out of power. All that was left to do was to give into the pain again, letting the bone-deep stabs take him away before the water did.

That's when he heard a voice.

"He's here!" someone called through the whirling water masses.

At first, Tyler wasn't sure if the voice was real or not. Maybe it was just his mind making up wishful fantasies.

Then, he heard it again. "Hurry!" the voice called. "We don't have much time!"

A man dressed in a fireman uniform appeared on the shoreline, wading through the waters and moving floating debris to get to Tyler.

Letting a sliver of hope back in, Tyler called out, "Help! I'm stuck!" with the last of his remaining powers. He had nothing more to give and everything went black once again.

A pinprick in his neck made him come back to the light. But everything was dizzy and confusing. A man clad in a dark uniform with yellow stripes was by his side, leaning down beside him. Around the car, several other shapes that resembled people could be hinted at. "I just gave you a sedative," the man explained, putting his hand on Tyler's shoulder. "We're going to have to cut you out." He pointed toward Tyler's left leg and said something that Tyler didn't quite comprehend. Not that it mattered, since he at this point approved of whatever was needed to get him unstuck.

"You'll get me out?" Tyler asked in a weak voice that he barely recognized as his own.

"We'll get you out, son," the man replied, taking Tyler's hand in his to seal the promise.

With that promise given, Tyler let the foggy waves of medically induced unconsciousness take him away. He wasn't hurting or freezing anymore. He wasn't stuck.

Author's Note: I had dreaded writing this scene :( . It hurt as much to write as it probably did to read.

The good thing about using the narrative technique of alternating timelines though is that the next chapter is Tyler's and Robin's first date (and if you remember how that went from SLB, you may realize why I had to arrange these chapters right after one another). So we go from the darkest time to the brightest.