Down Bad (Buck x Eddie)

Chapter Twelve: My Tears Ricochet

PSA: I've renamed all the chapters to be Taylor Swift songs because I'm a simp for her music and I feel like it fits the vibe of this really well. I also plan on writing this book to be about thirty chapters so we are nearing the halfway point now!

This one's gonna be a heavy chapter, so stick with me :)

My Tears Ricochet by Taylor Swift
-
Maddie Buckley
-

It all happened so fast. One minute I'm in standstill Los Angeles traffic and the next? My car is flipped over the side of the guardrail, and I'm pinned in my seat, stabbing pain radiating through my body.

Sirens in the distance tells me that 9-1-1 has already ben called, so with my free, shaking hand, I grab my shattered phone and dial Buck's number.

It goes right to voicemail, doesn't even ring. Fuck.

I try again.

Then a third time.

Each and every time, it goes right to voicemail without even ringing. So I dial Howie's number. It actually rings, once, then twice, and then he picks up.

"Maddie? I'm at work, is everything okay?"

"No, Howie. Please, I've been in an accident and help is already on the way, but I can't reach Buck and I'm scared. It hurts. It all hurts." I cry into the phone with all of the breath within my body. I begin to see spots as everything begins to go limp.

"Maddie? Maddie!"

Howie's voice is the last thing I hear before everything goes dark.

-

Evan "Buck" Buckley
-

I hold Maddie's hand as the machine quietly beeps with her heart rate. She's alive, but in bad condition. Bruises and cuts cover her face and arms and she sleeps quietly as her body attempts to heal itself. I can't believe it. I can't believe that everything is happening so quickly and unexpectedly.

It's like my accident happened and since then, my life has been flipped upside down. Eddie appeared in my life, seemingly out of nowhere, and now this?

It's like I can't catch a fucking break.

Chimney enters the room, quiet, "How are you holding up?"

I shrug, not taking my eyes off of Maddie, "My sister's been in a medically induced coma for eight hours, Chim. Her heart stopped for three minutes and seventeen seconds."

He pulls up a chair and sits at my side, "Maddie tried to call you after the accident, before she blacked out."

"What?"

"She tried calling you. We recovered her phone and it says three calls were placed to you, all under five seconds." He tells me and hands me her shattered phone.

"God," I mutter as I turn it over in my hand, the cracked case reveals a folded polaroid photo. I take it out.

It's a picture of Maddie and I when we were kids. We're in the Sandbox that used to be in the backyard of our childhood home. I had to be four or five, Maddie eight or nine. We're both smiling bit at the camera,

I remember it. I remember that moment like it was yesterday. I don't realize it until Chimney hands me a tissue, but I'm crying.

I'm full on crying in front of Chimney, a coworker, who until now, had never saw me actually cry.

"How about we go down to the cafeteria and get something to eat, take a break?" He proposes and I nod, slowly standing and following him out of her hospital room.