Dream A Little Dream of Me

Golden Hour

It's not like how it is in the movies.

My head swirls with red steam; my bracketed teeth clamp down onto my tongue until I taste blood. It trickles down my temple and drip-drops onto my left arm. I cannot distinguish whose blood is whose.

It's true when they say when you're about to die you see your life flashing before your eyes. But it hurts, so I must be alive. She went limp on impact, her body ricocheting like a stray bullet. My ears ring and echo the loudest sound I've ever heard in my entire 21 years, and my body begins to sting. The worst possible scenarios fill my head, and I throw up out the broken driver seat window and onto the black pavement as her hair tries to tickle my face.

The horn to my Ford expels its screams, and glass from every window is strewn in every direction. I scream so loud I don't know if the blood is coming from my tongue or from my throat. Suddenly all the issues I was facing 1 minute ago don't matter.

My mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water, but nothing is released from it. I try to lift my right arm, the arm closest to her, but I cannot. Sharp pain shoots from my elbow up into my neck, like a long wire piercing my muscles. I try my best to get her attention but nothing but a small squeak exits my lips. My internal and physical selves are trapped, and it feels like hours of agonizing mental and physical pain until I finally hear the sirens indicating rescue. I try again to reach out to her dangling arm but I'm still unable.

Tears escape my eyes and sprint across my nose and fall off of my left cheek, mingling with my blood. Her blood drips on me vertically as the locked seatbelt holds her small body into place. Both of our airbags are deployed, and I realize my nose may be broken from the force of impact. I try to peer under her face, but she has too much hair. It's strewn everywhere and it's sticking to the blood on her face. I scream until my head feels light and white spots fill my vision.

The firefighters are saying something to me now, but it's too quiet; I can't hear. I keep blinking at her, and it feels like everything I ever dreamt of has been knocked out of my hands. I hear loud suction-like noises that sound like exorcisms in my ears, and I can no longer hear the firefighters and police offers talking. They're attempting to suck up the broken glass. As they do so, I begin to notice just how much glass has lodged into our bodies. Medium and small pieces are lodged into my arms, moreso on my right than my left. Lauren's arms are wrecked, and I become terrified to see what the damage is on her face.

Moments later my vision becomes blurry and my jaw feels stuck. I try to speak to the people around me, Help her, help her, and I want to stand upright and I want to shake her awake and I want to tell her I love her and I'm sorry for fighting I'm sorry I love you I'm sorry!

Then it goes dark.