Before You Know It

Chapter 7

The next morning I woke up to the sunlight shining through my window hitting my face. I was laying on my stomach trying to hide my face from the brightness. Going to put my hand under the pillow I hit something. I raised my head and noticed a little body to my left. Two little bodies actually. There was a red and the other one brown.

I slowly rolled out of bed and went into the bathroom across the hall. Closing the door and turning the light on, I had to cover my eyes while they adjusted to the light. As I ran some water over my face I looked up into the mirror. My hair was poofy and curly from sleeping with it down. And my eyes were still a bit of red from just waking up. *Oh god no. Gotta fix this.* I quickly hopped into the shower and showered as quietly as I could.

Once I was out of the shower I brushed my hair and cleaned myself up a bit more while throwing on the clothes that I wore to bed back on. I open the bathroom door and peak into my room where the boys are still sleeping. At that, I walk into the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee.

I'm sitting at the dinner table drinking my coffee as I scanned over a story online. When I happened to look up, Daniel came trotting into the kitchen still a little groggy. I quickly glanced at him, *Man. He's got some serious case of bedhead.*

When he caught me looking at his hair he sloppily tried to brush it down with his hands. He then sat in the chair in front of me and laid his head down on the table.

"You want some cereal for breakfast?" I asked.

"Yes please." He said muffled with his head still in his arms on the table.

I get up and open the cabinet and grab a random box of cereal. The second I begin pouring the cereal into the bowl, Jace comes walking down the hallway still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. I grab a second bowl off of the shelf and pour some cereal in it as well. I pour the milk in and grab kid sized spoons for them then I walk over to the table. I set the bowls in front of them and they slowly begin to eat. As they eat I go and change out of the shorts and huge t-shirt that read *The dead will rise* with a zombie rising from the ground that I wore to bed.

Walking out of the room feeling a bit more clean from changing into leggings and a sweatshirt, I see the boys sitting at the table. Jace had finished the cereal and began drinking the milk, whereas Daniel was very slowly raising the spoon to his mouth.

I sat down at the kitchen table and just looked at them, "Hey boys, do you want to go somewhere today? Such as a park?"

They quickly get cleaned up and out of their pajamas. I grab the keys and unlock the truck from inside. When the boys are all set and dressed we walk out onto the front porch together.

Shutting the door behind them, I turn and look at them, "Do you guys have everything you need before I lock the door?"

They quickly check to see if they had their sunglasses and whatever else they were bringing.

Jace looks up at me and says, "All good."

"Ok then." And at that I pulled out the key to the front door and turn it to the right, locking the front door.

The three of us walk down the driveway and Jace hops up into the passenger seat while Daniel is stuck on the little bench in the back.

Driving down the back roads to get to the park we are blaring the radio and having wind rushing through our hair from the down windows. Jace and Daniel were singing loudly as I was laughing at them. The song was a happy upbeat song that always played on the radio.

*I want, I want, I want whatever she's got.*

I look in my rear view mirror and Daniel was pretending to play the drums. At the same time Jace was playing air guitar.

We were driving down a backroad that cuts the drive time by 5 minutes. The drive there normally takes about 20-ish minutes. Driving the backroads around our small town is very dangerous. They have sharp turns and houses lining the road.

A few minutes pass and we are about half way there when Jace reaches over and turns the radio up louder. We are all laughing and singing along. Daniel is acting as if he knows the words as Jace is yelling them. We were about to go around a sharp turn when I look at Daniel in the back. At this turn you can't see the person coming the other way. But when I turned I didn't know what was coming at me on the other side. The second I could see I tried to slam on my brakes. I flung my arm out in front of Jace and attempted to keep control of the truck.

The dump truck that was coming from the other side was speeding and swerving all over the road. I tried to stop my truck and pull it the farthest away from the on coming truck. But I wasn't able to fast enough. The dump truck had swerved into me the second my truck was next to it.

It caused my truck to be pushed off of the truck and before I knew it we ran straight into a tree. The air bags activated and I was quickly knocked out with my arm still in front of Jace.

I turned my head to the left... then to the right. I tried to open my eyes but I was instantly blinded by a white light. *Where-what happened?* I laid there for a second and then it all came rushing back to me. *Jace! Daniel! I have to get to them... please tell me they're fine.*

I attempted to push myself up and I could feel cushion under my elbows. Also, there was something holding my down by my chest. My eyes finally adjusted and I was next to an ambulance. I turned my head to the left and could see my truck rammed into a tree. The hood was all bend and the driver's seat door was all smashed in and laying on the ground. There was no sight of the boys.

The ambulance siren was going off and the lights were extremely bright. I tried to look around more but couldn't see much. *I have to get up.* I look down at what I'm strapped to, a gurney. I undo the buckles and swing my legs off to the side. A sharp pain went up the side of my left leg when I touched the ground. But from this angle I can see so much more. The dump truck that hit me was farther down the road with its hood all smashed in. There were people who lived down the road rushing over. And in the distance you could hear a fire truck and police car.

I stepped down and began walking. A paramedic that I had seen around town before came running up to me, attempting to get me back on the gurney.

"Ma'am, you must go back." He stopped and tried to push me a bit back toward the gurney and ambulance. "Your leg is badly injured."

I ignored him and pushed past to find the boys. There was a giant group of people and a few more paramedics around one area. To them and I could see two bodies on two separate gurneys.

The paramedics began pushing the gurneys towards the ambulance and I could see Jace and Daniel laying on them. Jace had a busted up face and his arm looked injured badly. But Daniel, so tiny and fragile, looked a lot worse. His face and arms were all banged up. His shirt was covered in blood. The paramedics were passing me and I ran the best I could with my injured leg to the boys.

"Ma'am you need to back up." One paramedic yelled at me.

"Get off! These are my nephews!" They attempted to pull me back but I smack at them. "Get back! Get back! Get back!"

I ran and looked at the boys. I grabbed a hold of each one of their hands. Tears were streaming down my face like crazy. Daniel looked at me a bit when I grabbed his hand.

"Aunt Anne..." he said in a hoarse voice.

"I'm here. I'm here Danny." I said and gripped his hand tighter.

I was standing next to Daniel and then next thing I knew, my vision began to blur and I was laying on the warm concrete and a paramedic had turned around and was rushing towards me. The last thing I saw before I completely blacked out was the paramedics dragging Jace and Daniel into the back of the ambulance and them shutting the door with a hard and loud slam.