Signs of the Past

After the Collision - Summer

The night that Peter and Charlie fought felt like the longest night of my life. When the police showed up, they immediately cuffed Peter. Simultaneously, Charlie and I were swarmed with medical responders. 

All at once I was answering questions about my medical history, and if I'd been hit on the head, or what kind of allergies I had. The questions ranged to irrelevancy and seemed to go on for an eternity. 

"I'm fine. I'm fine." I remember repeating over and over. I wanted to see Peter and I couldn't. No matter where I looked over, my view was blocked by the responders and eventually the ambulance walls. I was worried that he was already gone. That he had left me and Charlie behind in this big mess. 

I begged for him calling out of the ambulance. But my voice came out as barely a whisper. Medics asked me more questions but my throat was raw from screaming and exhausted from crying. I didn't respond. I didn't want to respond. I just wanted to find Peter and then everything would be okay, not good but okay. Peter would take car of the situation, he would handle it. Whether or not he would handle it well was now something I found more questionable. 

At last, I saw him. Peter was slumped up against a police car, his hands cuffed in front of him. Peter's eyebrows were furrowed together and he frowned as he spoke with an officer. He was staring over the officer's shoulder at the ambulance where Charlie resided. Peter's shoulders were tense and his hands remained in fists, as if Charlie, lifeless Charlie, might spring back up, ready for round two. 

I watched Peter waiting for him to feel my gaze. Normally, Peter would notice my staring fairly quickly, he was very aware of his surroundings, but he was too caught up in his own thoughts. The medics were moving quickly, calling over to each other having conversations about me that I didn't bother to listen to. I could tell they wanted to leave soon, but I Peter still hadn't looked over, and all I wanted was for him to look over. 

As one of the responders leaped out of the back of the ambulance, moments away from closing the doors, the officer questioning Peter shifted away. The movement caught Peter's attention and finally his eyes flickered over to me.  When Peter finally caught my eye his mouth dropped just slightly. "Mar..." He exclaimed. I couldn't hear him say it, but I could tell by the way his lips formed the word. 

The feeling of him seeing me, of us acknowledging each other was enough to make me acknowledge the night we had been through. My chin quivered and I scrunched my nose up, but it was no use, I was desperate to hold back my emotion, hot tears streaked down my face. Peter shook his head at my distress, he said something quickly to the officer and jerked away from where he stood. He only made a few quick long strides over to me, before the officer questioning him and another officer standing by grabbed him. 

"I'm so sorry." Peter muttered with his gaze dropped to the ground. 

Peter didn't resist the officers. I watched as he was shoved into the back of one patrol car. Charlie and I were sent to the hospital. 

Just a few hours later, my doctor would ask me if it was possible I was pregnant and then would insist that I take a pregnancy test.