The Girl in Cleats

⚽️Chapter 24⚽️

~Asher POV~
"Spaghetti is my favorite." Chase says, rubbing his belly and licking his lips. I laugh at him and scoop some of the sloppy noodles and sauce into my plate. Spaghetti used to be my favorite food of all time. Not just any spaghetti, though. My mom's spaghetti and meatballs. I feel my eyes tear up but I blink a few times to conceal them. I never had any siblings but I always wanted one. My mom and dad would tease me, saying I was enough and they couldn't handle another kid.

I think back to the day of the accident, who knew what would happen? I was only 13.

[Flashback]

"Honey! Come on, let's go!" My mom yells to me from the kitchen.

"I'm coming!" I yell back. My parents are taking me to Cedar Point for the first time. I used to have a friend that I was really close with. But, I moved away and haven't seen her since.

I run out of my room and into the car, strapping my seatbelt on in an instant. "I'm ready!" I shout excitedly.

My parents laugh at my enthusiasm and start the car. "Alright, kiddo. Here we go!" My dad says with a glint in his eye.

Further down the road, my mom takes out a book and starts reading. My dad starts playing some of his old music so I plug my headphones in. Music fills me and before I know it, I'm sound asleep.

After what seems like minutes, I wake up. We're still in the car, but everything looks so glazed over and I can't see anything. Suddenly my eyes focus and I see my dad fall forward in his seat and pass out. My mom screams and tries to grab the steering wheel, but it's too late, there's a giant rock in front of us. Everything seems to be in slow motion as my mom tries to steer us away from the rock. My mom looks back at me before we crash, and she gives me a lingering look before we crash.

I hear a loud ringing, but I can't clarify where it's coming from. I look at my mom, her body twisted in weird directions. I unbuckle my seat belt and scream at her, trying to make her wake up. Her eyes flutter open and barely whispers, "I love you, Asher. We both do." She looks over at my dad, who has blood seeping through his thick blond hair. Tears stream down my cheeks as I hold my mother close, I sob into her hair. After a few moments I hear police sirens and there's about fifteen cops, firefighters, and an ambulance. One of the firefighters pull me out and I scream, trying to get back to my mom. I suddenly pass out from exhaustion into the arms of a police man. The last thing I see is my mother's lifeless body being yanked out of our grey minivan.
_____________________
"Asher? Earth to Asher." Jordan is snapping his fingers in front of my face with a worried expression. I shake my head and find out that my cheeks are wet from tears.

"Hey, dude are you alright?" Jordan asks me.

"I need to go back to the room." I say, setting my plate down. As I leave the room, I catch Scarlett's eye and see that the rough expression she had before has softened. She looks at me with pity- something Kiera and I promised to never do.
___________________