Race Against Time

Nothing You Can Do

Humming. That's all I could hear. It sounded like a woman. Then there was a laugh; a high pitch laugh that held no worries, no doubts. A child's laugh.

White light slowly swallowed the darkness of my sleep until it was so bright it nearly hurt. Then it was gone. In it's place, a woman and her daughter in a car.

The little girl was laughing at something out the window that I couldn't see. The woman was still humming, every once in a while stealing glances at the girl in the rear view mirror.

The sudden ring of a phone startled the woman and she jumped before pulling it out to answer.

"Hello?" She asked, looking side to side as she turned.

She carried on a quick conversation with the person on the other side. She smiled at something the person on the other line said. She only took her eyes off the road for a single moment as she went to put her phone in her pocket.

I wanted to scream at her to look up, I wanted to do anything that might catch her attention, but there was nothing I could do. I was nothing more than a ghost.

The woman looked up just in time for a look of fear and confusion to cross her features. There was a mixture of guilt and horror on her face as well. Then it happened. The inevitable. The crash that would end both of their lives.

The horrible metal against metal clash was deafening. The sound made me want to crawl into a hole and cover my ears. But the worst part was the little girl's cry of pain and fear. Echo's of the child's scream bounced about my mind as I started twirling into dark oblivion.

I gasped, lurching up in my seat. I looked around for a moment as I tried to get my bearings. No, no, no. This wasn't happening. Not again.

A couple of my classmates sent me curious looks, but I ignored them. A feeling of dread unfurled in my chest. I had to get out of there. I had to help the people in my dream. I would have only minutes until what happened in the dream would occur in reality.

Without saying a word, I sprinted out of the classroom. After a moment of stunned confusion the teacher called after me, but I didn't have time to come up with a believable excuse. I could only hope I wasn't too late.

This had only happened one other time. I wasn't fast enough to save the small boy from walking into traffic. I know this sounds crazy, but the dreams I kept having, they come true. And I wish to any God there is that it wouldn't happen because the dreams were never good.

Several students maneuvered out of my way and leaned into the lockers as I sprinted past them and out the glass double doors of my highschool.

I frantically scanned the road, trying to find the car with a little girl in the backseat and a woman on the phone.

I gasped in horror when I finally saw her. The little girl. She was looking out the window, laughing at a dog on the sidewalk. The bow in her hair rustled as she turned her attention back to her mother.

I looked to the front seat, where her mother sat. She was just starting to pull her phone away from her ear.

"No, no, no." I murmered. I was in a panic. I couldn't make it. There was no way I could make it. I could already see their car swerving slowly into the other lane.

The doors to the school suddenly burst open and the principal stalked out.

"Brandy Smith! If you do not get in my office right now, you will be suspended for-" the rest of his sentence was cut off by the horrendous sound of the two vehicles colliding with each other. It was exactly as it was in the dream. The same truck, noises, and people.

A desperate scream tore itself from my throat and hurtled toward the scene that lay before me. People were starting to get out of their cars to help, but I beat everyone to it.

The car was on its side, the woman suspended in the air by her seat belt. Her long brown hair was hanging around her limp head in waves. She was unmoving. No breaths came from her lips and her chest didn't rise or fall. She was dead.

Tears were falling down my cheeks freely now, but I had to see if the little girl survived.

I shuffled over to the other side of the car. The girl was in the same position as her mother, but her eyes were open. Her bow was now tangled up in her hair. Tears ran down her face, much like my own. She was calling out to her mother who didn't reply.

She looked at me, so scared it physically pained me. Her big brown eyes showed nothing but fearfulness and concern for her mother. The glass was shattered, so I could easily talk to her.

"My mom." She told me urgently. She couldn't be more than eight years old, but in that moment she acted as if she were a teenager.

"I know sweetie. We'll get her out in a minute. Can you tell me your name?"

She nodded. "Jannet."

I smiled at her as best as I could manage in the moment. "Ok Jannet, does anything hurt? Your legs, or arms, or tummy?"

She nodded.

"What hurts?" My eyes raked over her body, but settled on her arm that was twisted at an awkward angle, the bone showing through. Blood was slowly dripping out of the wound and I had to close my eyes for a second to figure out what to do. I schooled my features into complete calamity. People were finally arriving and calling the police.

One man was trying desperately to get the mother out of the car. He was almost finished. Her body was laying limply in his arms as he went to lay her down on the concrete next to us.

The man shook his head sullenly and looked at me. I held up a finger, silently telling him to give me a moment.

"My arm kind of hurts." She finally said.

"Ok Jannet. I'm Brandy. Me and this nice man are going to get you out of here ok?"

"I want my mommy." She cried. "I'm not leaving until I see mommy."

I sighed heavily. It broke my heart to lie to her, but it was the only way to get her to agree to get out of the car. "Mommy's fine ok? She's waiting for you just outside. You need to trust me, can you do that?"

Janet mumbled something incoherent and I nodded to the man beside me. He and I managed to pry the door open just as sirens swallowed the city.

He cut off the seat belt and I pulled Jannet from the vehicle. I pressed her head into my shoulder so she wouldn't see her mother lying lifeless on the ground.

I handed her off to a paramedic who arrived minutes later. I sighed heavily and wiped my tears.

Just as I went to go give the police my statement, my eyes caught on a strange looking boy. He was wearing all black, his blue eyes deeply contrasting from his outfit.

That wasn't what demanded my attention though; he was looking straight at me. His face was stoic, showing no emotion in them at all.

I jumped as a car honked and looked away for a split second. When I looked back, the mysterious stranger had disappeared.

Hey guys! So this is one of my first ever stories, so please take it easy on me. I plan on updating on Sundays and Wedesdays. I might throw in some extra chapters here and there though. Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.

I'm only 14 so there will be grammatical errors. If you happen to see any, please point them out so I can fix them. Until next time :)