The Street Fighter (#Wattys2014)

Prolog.

We were coming back from grandma's funeral, the evening sky crisp and clear. Apparently, not the most appropriate weather to have for a funeral. Because every time I've heard of one it’s always dark, gloomy and rainy, but not today. They say it's because people are sad to see that person go, but my grandma had no one. Everyone else besides my parents had already passed, so she had no one else to be sad for her.

Don't get me wrong, my parents didn't hate her. But they hardly knew her either, she was never around for my dad. We went out of respect for her, they even dragged me-their ten year old kid-along since they couldn't find a last minute babysitter. Though I never knew my grandma I didn't complain about going, my mom says it’s rude and disrespectful to complain at funerals.

 

"Are we there yet?" I asked my mother for the tenth time.

"No, Garret, we still have thirty minutes," my mom sighed.

"Garret, we will tell you when we get home. Try taking a nap," my father suggested.

"But that's boring,” I complained.

I sighed as I leant back in my seat, looking out the car window and counting the trees that went by. I found myself starting to get tired.

 

“John, watch out!" my mom suddenly screamed. My eyes shot open and I saw a big semi-truck heading into our lane. My heart felt like it stopped at seeing the oncoming headlights of the big truck, and my breath was stuck in my throat. There was nowhere for my dad to go, we were trapped. 

 

The truck driver jerked the wheel back but the truck started tipping over and everything seemed to slow down. My mom reached over and grabbed my dad’s hand then looked back at me, a knowing fear in her eyes as she mouthed to me 'I Love You' with the loud screeching of dad slamming on his brakes in the background. I didn't have time to react because the next thing I knew the big truck slammed into the front of the car.

The front of the car got crushed and glass shattered, spraying all the way back to me. I could feel the glass cutting into my skin, though I hardly had time to even noticed it because the next thing I knew, my head slammed against the window and I black out.

I woke up to the sound of sirens and felt disoriented, my head was pounding and everything ached. I looked around and noticed I was hanging upside down still strapped into my seat belt. My heart rate picked up as I remembered what happened, my breathing came out faster and my eyes wide and frantic. I quickly looked over to my mom and saw her hanging upside down as well, a big gash on her head and blood dripping from it.

I hurried and tried to undo my seat belt, but it was no use, it was stuck.

 

"Mom?'' I called out, but she didn't answer. "Mommy?" I asked louder, this time my throat starting to knot up and feel dry. "Mom!" I cried out to her, willing her to wake up, but she didn't even flinch. "Dad!" I tried calling to him. I couldn't see him because his seat was in my way, but I could tell he wasn't moving either. "Dad!" I cried, tears dripping off my face. "Mommy! Dad!" I screamed again, my sobs racking my body as I hung there upside-down.I was thrashing in my seatbelt when I heard the sirens stop and several foot steps running our way.

 

"There's a kid in here!" I heard a guy yell.

"Well get him out of there, it's about to blow!" I heard another scream. A set a footsteps ran up to the car, I heard a loud snap and then a scratching and breaking sound.

"Come on, kid." I saw a fireman crawling through the now open door. "We gotta get you out." He used this device and cut my seatbelt off of me, catching me in the process.

"Help my mommy! She won't wake up!" I cried as the man grabbed me into his arms. "Mommy!"

"I'll do what I can kid,” the man said as he stood up and started jogging away from the car.

"Mommy! No, mommy! Dad!" I cried too tired to thrash around and try to get out of the man's arms, but he just held tighter to keep me from falling out of his grip.

"Jim, take the kid, I'll try to see if i can get the parent's out.” the man that was holding me said while giving me over to another person. "I'll be right back!"

"It's too dangerous!"

 

And just as he said that the car burst into flames, shooting everyone near it away from the car and crashing to the ground. Voices were shouting and screaming. I barely even recognized my own voice for a second as I screamed for my parents knowing that I won't ever see them again. I brought my hands up to cover my face and felt something warm that wasn't tears. I pulled my hand away from my face confused and saw blood. I turned to look at the firefighter who was carrying me to the ambulance and he hurried up once he saw my head.

But I didn't make it to the ambulance before I had passed out.