Angel on Earth

Chapter Seventeen: Shadow Guy in the Trees

Monroe POV

I groaned as I forced my eyes to open. As I blinked the spots dancing in my vision away, I registered flashing blue and red lights. I reached up to clutch my head when it began pounding, only to wince and pull my hand back. I looked down at my fingers and paled when they came back bloody. 

I heard a groan and looked to the left to see Axel hanging upside down. It suddenly registered that I was upside down, too. I felt my breathing pick up as the sirens grew louder. What happened? Why couldn't I remember what happened? 

I whipped my head around to see where we were, ignoring the pain that came with the sudden motion. We were leaning against a tree. I tried to see past the tree to no avail. I squinted and looked through the broken windshield when I saw a silhouette of a large man in the treeline. I squeezed my eyes shut when my headache came back.

"Monroe? Monroe! Are you okay?!" Axel said, panic clear in his voice. 

I groaned. "Yeah, I guess. My head hurts, and I'm sore, but I think I'm okay," I said as I faced him.

He didn't look any better than I felt. He was bleeding, too. My eyes trailed downward, or upward, rather, and registered blood leaking from his stomach. He followed my line of sight. I heard him curse under his breath. "It's okay, we'll be fine. The paramedics are on their way," he said. "Do you remember what happened?"

As I was about to tell him 'no', everything came rushing back to me. The movie, the drive, the headlights flooding my vision and the pain of the glass slashing across my skin. I nodded at him. "Do you?"

I sighed when he nodded back. I heard the crunching of boots running our way over the broken glass and fallen leaves. I watched worriedly as the paramedics cut the seatbelt off and caught Axel around the middle when he fell. My worry spiked when he released a shout of pain. 

As the paramedics carried me out and loaded me on a stretcher, I locked eyes with my dad who was speaking with another officer. His eyes widened as he ran over to me. I struggled to get off the stretcher. "Dad!" I whimpered as the paramedics loaded me into the ambulance.

He climbed into the ambulance and gingerly grabbed my hand as tears sprung to his eyes. He took a deep breath. "I was so scared when I got the call that there was a car crash. I thought something bad had happened to you."

I shook my head and apologized when the paramedic who was stitching the gash on my head told me to hold still. "No, I'm okay," I said as I glanced around. "What about Axel? Is he okay?"

Dad sighed. "He was taken to the hospital in the other ambulance about ten minutes before they got you out."

I started to nod but stopped when I remembered my stitches. My eyes widened as another thought hit me. "Does Mom know?! Oh gosh, do the kids?! Are they okay?!" 

Dad shook his head. "No, not yet. Do you want me to call them?"

 I bit my lip. "Not yet. I'm sure the kids will want to see Axel and I'm not sure how he's doing. His stomach was bleeding last I saw him."

The rest of the drive was made in tense silence. I moved from the stretcher to my dad's lap once I was checked out from the paramedics and given the okay. Luckily it wasn't anything too bad, just a few scratches and the gash on my head. When we pulled into the hospital, I climbed out and followed my dad to the front desk, where we were told the room Axel was in. 

I shifted on my feet as we rode the elevator to the floor Axel was staying at. I couldn't help but worry about him. He got the brunt of the impact, and judging by the way he reacted when his side was touched, he was in more pain than he let on.