The New National Anthem

Stay Away From My Friends

My mother and I were speeding down the road, on our way to the gynecologists, when we hit a red light. She pulled her phone out of her pocket when a ding from it came. "Mom..." I called out to her, feeling that we were accelerating. "Mom, keep your foot on the gas." The car stopped again and she started to reply to her text message, accidentally taking her foot off the gas again. "MOM!" I screamed, feeling a jolt forward. As I looked left to scorn her, I pulled an earbud out, and saw that we now were in the very middle of the intersection, with an SUV speeding towards us. I instinctively put both of my arms around my midsection, and ducked my head to protect the child, but I knew it was a futile attempt when I felt the stabbing pain upon impact with the door. I looked into my mothers eyes and she stared back with an expression of pure regret, and then everything went black when I felt the roof of the car hit the cement.

I awoke with a pounding headache, still upside down. I heard police officers and tried calling out for my mom, but my vocal chords wouldn't work. As I lay there longer, everything came more into focus. I could hear my mother loudly arguing with the police in Spanish. I could see smoke rising and feel it in my lungs. It was dark, but I saw a crack of light, and upon reaching for it, my seatbelt tugged me back. Reaching down, I tried unlatching it with no avail. I groaned loudly, and that's when she finally stopped yelling. I heard footsteps. "Daniella? Can you hear me? Can you get out?" She pleaded. I shook my head, before realizing she couldnt see me.

"No..." I groaned again. "The seatbelt... its stuck." My throat was so dry. I needed water, or else I knew I'd pass out again. "Mom... the baby... I can't feel him." I knew I'd lost him. Or even her. I'd never know.

I was softly shaken awake, and as my eyes adjusted to the light, I saw a concerned epression on Mike's face. "Hey... are you alright?" He asked as I wiped at my cheeks, trying to erase the tear and makeup stains by cause of not removing it before bed last night. I sat up in the big bed, and motioned for him to sit once I'd collected myself. "So..."

"Ah, yeah. Sorry about that... nightmare." I mumbled, looking down.

"Are you sure? You looked more remorseful than scared." He noted, and I sighed, slumping back into the pillows. I really didn't feel like spilling my entire backstory again. It seemed he took the hint however, when he asked me if I wanted to go get lunch with everyone in a little.

I glanced at the clock. 12:48 PM. "Yeah." I yawned, stretching out my arms. "Let me get ready." I sighed, pulling the soft covers off my body, slowly getting out of bed.

"You do that, raccoon." He snickered, making his way out the door. I flipped him off, bringing him to full laughter before exiting my room.

As I opened the drawers, I sat back on my bed, staring at the clothes in front of me, but thinking back to the dream. Only, it was a memory. I sighed, absentmindedly rubbing a hand down my midsection, with a lack of a bump. Standing back up, I started to pull a pair of shorts out of the drawer when there was a knock at my door. "One second!" I called, now hurriedly changing clothes and rubbing off excess makeup. As I leaned in closely to the mirror, I called out for the person to come in, starting on my eyeliner. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tony peek his head in and smirked. I quickly went back to a blank expression and pretended I didn't see him. "Yeah?" I simply asked, moving to my other eye with the liquid pen and keeping an eye on him in my peripheral line of vision. I saw him come up towards me, and as I finished up my eye makeup, I went for some lipgloss. He stood behind me now, hands on my hips, as I coated my lips with the gloss. When I finished, I looked at the two of us in the mirror and had to stop myself from grinning like a fool. I turned towards him, and his hands went to my lower back.

"So?" He asked, and I looked up towards him with the most oblivious expression.

"Yeah?" I repeated, fighting a smirk.