And in the middle of the night, shit happened.
I woke up, startled by the sound of tires screeching and being tossed off the bed. The bus was whirling around and we all felt a collision, and then, the Earth stood still.
I couldn't see, and my head hurt. Real bad. I touched the top, there was blood seeping out.
I looked around frantically searching for Eddie.
"Eddie!" I screeched.
"Violet!" I heard his low, thick voice scream back.
"Where the fuck are you?!" I cried.
My vision blurred worse, and out of nowhere I feel an arm yank mine. It was Eddie.
I searched for his lips and kissed him.
"Where are the others?" I asked.
"I don't know," Eddie said desperately.
"Mike! Stone! Jeff! Dave! Donny! Jordan! Heath!" We screamed.
"Violet!" A voice yelled back, "help me!" It was Mike. We searched for him and he was under a bunk which pinned him to the floor.
Eddie and I pulled and pulled in an effort to grab him out from under the bunk.
We finally managed to release him and he embraced us.
"Stone's under it, too," he said urgently. It took the three of us to lift up the entire bunk where a crippled Stone lie there. He saw us and we lifted him up.
"Where the fuck is Jeff?!" Stone panicked.
We searched around frantically for him. We found him slumped against the bathroom door, his head bleeding. I checked his pulse and he was alive. I almost cried in relief.
Stone and Mike picked him up and headed out the door to safety.
Eddie and I remained searching for Dave, Donny and Jordan. We found them all, still breathing, passed out on the ground and carried them out.
Once we left the bus, everyone was lied down, in shock.
"Wait, Eddie, where's Rusty?" I said. We were on the side of the road, near a huge forest. We looked around and found Rusty,
Dead.
I started to cry, and Eddie held me. He whispered, "it's okay, baby," over and over in my ears, giving me kisses on my head and cheeks.
We called the police and ambulance who arrived very quickly. They carried each of us off in stretchers. I gave Eddie a kiss before we were separated.
I felt my head pound, my vision blurry. My brain twitched and I began to hallucinate. The ambulance people were trying to talk to me but I couldn't.
We were taken to the hospital at 4:12 am.
I don't remember much of what happened. I remember being in a hospital bed, again, but this time Eddie wasn't by my side.
"Hi, Amanda. Everything is okay. Don't worry, you're friends are okay. You were diagnosed with a severe concussion, which is healing. You sprained your wrist, which is taken care of." A doctor told me. He had glasses, grey hair, and a kind face. I felt safe.
"Where's Eddie?" I asked, worried.
"Mr. Vedder had a concussion, too, but a mild one. He is will be released today. You and Mr. Ament will both have to stay one more night. Your other friends are being released today."
"Our shows," I said sadly. I wanted to cry. I hated canceling shows.
"You'll be back on the road in a couple days. You only have to cancel two shows."
"No, no, I can't-"
"Shhhh," he said, calming me down.
"I want to see Eddie," I demanded.
"Eddie is still recovering. He'll be released later. Don't worry."
"No, goddamnit, I want to see the love of my life," I said.
"Miss, you will, I promise. Please calm down."
And so I did.
"How many months have you been together?"
"I think two,"
"Well. I have some news for you."
I felt nervous. Really nervous.
"Yeah, okay, which is?" I asked impatiently.
"You're pregnant."
