Shadowed Light

Rebirth

Clara opened her eyes and instantly knew she was in a car. Most importantly, she was in the place she last remembered before dying.
Emily was tapping away at her iPod furiously. Clara's parents sounded like they were arguing. Clara couldn't move. When her fingers flexed, she never told them to. When she breathed, she never intended to. She was trapped in her past self, looking through blue eyes that no longer belonged to her.
Clara wanted to panic, wanted to scream from frustration and fear at not only seeing herself die, but her entire family. The parents who raised her, the sister who she protected. Images swarmed in her mind. Of her mother reading her stories before bed, of her father picking her up from school, of how scared Emily had looked when being taken to the hospital after falling out of a tree. Clara had been there, holding her younger sisters hand through the fear. She herself had never been so scared before.
All those emotions, those feelings, swarmed to the surface in one great bond crushing wave.
Clara inwardly gasped, inwardly clutched her heart as she cried. However on the outside, her past self gazed out of the window and watched the world fly by, completely oblivious as to what was about to happen.
But Clara knew. Clara knew exactly what was about to happen. She wanted her past self to turn to the front, to her parents, to warn them. But her last body would not obey, therefore she was stuck staring out of the window, silently screaming.
Suddenly, a car came out of no where on the side of the road. Clara felt her past eyes widen for a split second before her side of the car was hit.
Clara was jolted to the side and cracked her head against the front of the car. The car spun uncontrollably and Clara inwardly screamed.
She had never imagined anything as worse as seeing yourself die. Clara felt none of it of course, or at least didn't remember, but her past self did.
The car finally came to a stop, but past Clara's eyes were already closed.
Clara could imagine it though. Imagine the smashed glass and the blood. Blood...so much blood-
It was eerily silent. Blood rushed in Clara's ears and chills ran over her own arms. So this was how she died.

"Her bodies heating up!" Ralph yelled frantically. "What do we do?"
Toby, who had been seated beside Clara's cot, jumped to his feet and placed both his hands on her damp forehead.
Ralph was right, she was burning up. Toby had been seated beside Clara's bed for what felt like forever. Wishing she would just open her beautiful eyes and look at him. Look at him. He'd never wanted something so bad in his two lives, if you could even call this living. He knew with all his heart that when he woke up in that white room all those years ago, it was not his rebirth. His rebirth was when Clara woke up and he began to feel again.
"Stay with us, Clara." He begged, stroking her forehead gently. "Stay with me."
When there was no reply, Toby quickly picked her up bridal style. Her flushed face rested on his shoulder as he tucked his arms under her legs and ran her to the female dorm bathrooms. Without thinking twice, he dropped her legs gently so they were in the bath, then lowered himself down so they were both laid in it. He placed a hard kiss on her head and turned the tap on full.
Freezing cold water fell onto them from the shower head over them. Toby hugged Clara's body closer as the water poured down on them, soaking through both their clothes.
"Please work." He whispered into her hair. "Please, please work."
Toby hugged her so tightly he was afraid she might shatter into a million pieces.
He'd shatter right along with her.