The Fast Lane

Chapter 26

I began to bang on the back of Joel’s seat. “JOEL YOU PULL THIS CAR OVER RIGHT THIS SECOND.”

"Im sorry Tristan. I’m so sorry but I can’t." We were almost out of the neighborhood.

"JOEL, if you-"

A massive force rammed into us from the right. Joel’s silver car flipped through the air. In the moment that we were spinning through the air, I felt like my life was moving in slow motion. My hair flew slowly around my face. All of the blood in my body slithered up to my face and my head, and the pressure almost felt good before it became too much. The triangular shards of glass from the window beside me cut through the air all around my head and some of the jagged pieces even sliced into my cheeks and lips, but I didn’t feel it. I was surprised not to feel anything when the car finally stopped spinning and landed upside-down beside the road we were just on. My vision was completely blurred from landing on my head. My ears rang as I crawled over broken glass and out of the smashed-in door. I shifted around to reach through Joel’s broken window and I tugged on his shirt, trying to get his heavy body out of the car. He tried to help me a little, but the airbag as well as his tangled seatbelt kept him from doing much.

Suddenly I felt two large hands grab my shirt and hoist me up into some large arms. A third hand slapped over my mouth and my nose and before I could scream, everything went black.

……………………………………………………………………………………….

I think one of the worst feelings when you wake up is the feeling of pain. If I ever felt some kind of pain in my life - a growing pain, stomach virus, a headache… anything - I would go to sleep. Sleep seemed to be a natural remedy for any illness or pain I ever experienced. Being in pain and then being forced to sleep, however, is a totally different story.

When I started to wake up from my unconscious state, I was not only in pain but also freezing cold. My legs and arms were stiff and I quickly realized that I couldn’t move them because they were both tied to the chair that I was sitting in. Even my large boot was tied down. When I opened my eyes, I saw nothing. I blinked a few times, thinking that maybe my head was still fuzzy from getting banged up in the car, but after a minute or two I still couldn’t see anything. My head was throbbing and I could feel my hair stuck to my face on one side from what I guessed was dried blood.

I grunted as I tried to move my hands.

"Tris…" Someone breathed close to me. I jumped and gasped, and my chair screeched as it slid across the floor.

"Who is that?" I croaked looking in the direction of the voice.

"Joel… It’s just Joel…" He was breathing heavily and his voice was hoarse.

"Are you okay? Where are we?"

"I don’t know… I tried to fight a little when they had you but someone…"

I waited for a moment. “Joel?”

He coughed weakly. “Someone stabbed me and then knocked me out too…”

Before I could ask him more questions, I was blinded by sudden light that flooded the room. I heard a door open and close but my eyes wouldn’t adjust fast enough for me to see who had entered into wherever Joel and I were.

"Good, you’ve finally woken up."

I squeezed my eyes shut and forced all of the muscles in my forehead together as I tried to relieve myself of the dull pain I felt in my head and now my eyes.

"I hope my boys didn’t do too much damage to you."

I opened my eyes slightly, still trying to force them to adjust a little more quickly. “Well I don’t know what you consider “too much” but we almost died in a car wreck and now my friend here is dying because they stabbed him.” I was finally beginning to be able to see a few things, like the outline of a man standing about ten feet in front of us and Joel slumped over in the chair next to me. Joel whimpered when I mentioned him dying. “Will you please untie my hands and feet? I have a broken ankle and my friend here is hurt pretty badly so I can assure you that the chances of me running away are slim to none.”