Surrender

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO:

Darkness surrounds me and all I hear is screaming. Long, rough screams getting louder and louder, making the pounding in my head intensify. I try to cover my ears but I can't move my arms, they're pinned under something, so are my legs. I start to panic, and will my eyes to open, my head feeling like it's about to split open as the screaming fills my ears. What is happening? Why can't I move? Why can't I see anything? Why is this happ- my eyes fly open and all at once feeling returns to my body, pain shooting through every inch of me. Thick drops of rain fall onto my face and into my eyes, I blink rapidly as the scene around me comes into focus and a series of noises explode from all directions. Someone is still screaming from somewhere, and men's voices float through the rain, saying sentences I don't understand, talking too fast for me to comprehend. I hear a car running and something being ripped that sounds a little like Velcro being adjusted and readjusted. There's a man above me, his mouth is moving, his eyebrows furrowed, worry in his brown eyes. I focus on his mouth, concentrating on the words he's saying.

"Rae? Rae can you hear me? Rae?" I can feel his hands on my waist, fiddling with something, it must be the Velcro, the reason I can't move. I turn my head to the side and see bright red lights, blurred slightly because of the rain. An ambulance? There are people crowded around something on the ground, and again I hear the screaming. My eyes scan the rest of the scene but I can't find the source of the screaming. I turn back the man and swallow hard.

"Who..." My throat is thick and I can taste blood, bitter and salty on my tongue. I swallow again, "Who is screaming?" The man's eyes focus on my face and he smiles.

"She's responsive!" he shouts to someone in the distance. I wince at the volume of his voice. I felt hung-over, but I knew it was worse than that. He continues, "Rae, my name is James, do you know where you are?" I feel his warm fingers at my wrist. "Seattle, Washington." I say slowly, trying not to scream at the pain in my temples. He smiles again and nods, "Good. Can you tell me what happened?" I blinked up at him, unsure if I could answer that question. I asked him a question first, it was his turn to answer mine. "Rae?" he said again, putting something on my forehead. "I was..." my voice trails off as I try to remember how I got here.

I was driving home and then...and then...suddenly everything comes back to me, flashing in my memory like a light flickering on and off rapidly. I was driving, and it was raining. I was so tired and I closed my eyes for 2 seconds. Was it 2 seconds? I couldn't remember now, but I do remember seeing a figure, a person, and then I hit them. I hit them, a person. Where were they? Did they die? I could feel my chest rising and falling faster and faster as the reality of what I did started to suffocate me. I start to shake my head, trying to move my arms and legs, but they're pinned down. "I hit someone." I say loudly, "I hit someone!" I screamed, thrashing under the Velcro straps. The man's strong hands hold me down by the shoulders as he yells for someone to come and help him. I turn my head back to the crowd of people, watching as they lift something from the ground. Then I realize, it's not something, it's someone.

From this angle the body looks like a broken puzzle, the flesh torn and bloody. I watch with wide eyes until it disappears from view and scan the crowd again. Where was the screaming coming from? And then I see them, dressed in their pajamas, drenched from head to toe, my mom and my brother. My mom is crying, her delicate face twisted and distorted. She was the one screaming, I could hear her clearly now. She was calling my name, crying and shaking her head back forth. I look away and twist under the Velcro straps, gasping at a sudden, stabbing pain erupting from my waist down, but I have to see more. My gaze falls on someone kneeling on the ground, next to the spot where they just lifted the body from. It's a boy. He looks like he's in his early twenties. His hands are resting limply on his thighs, his palms facing the black sky. He's drenched, the rain plastering his shaggy hair to his face. His shirt is covered in blood, the rain making it run smoothly down his arms, dripping off of his fingertips. He doesn't blink, his eyes focused on the empty spot on the ground. His face his ashen and hollow. I stare at him, wanting him to look up at me, to see me, but I don't know why. I twist a little more and feel another pair of hands push me back down. I face the man again, angry at him for making me stay here.