Death...It's Only the Beginning

Prologue

Now.

I’m cold. So, so cold.

            Where is Jason? I want him. I need him to hug me, give me his warmth.

            There is yelling everywhere. Police and firemen scurry around. Crying highschoolers are scattered around the street. Mascara rakes down some of their faces. People line the sidewalks. Yellow tape blocks them out of the area I’m lying in.

            I get up, sore. Why am I lying in the street, on the ground? Jason’s car is a silver wreck, and so is another red car. Smoke makes the black sky a hazy dark grey and firemen in neon yellow uniforms are trying in vain to tame the fire raging inside a third car. Ambulance sirens, wailing louder and louder, screech to a stop right outside the yellow line.

            “Rose? ROSE! No, let me go!”

            I whip around and see Jason screaming my name outside the caution tape. There’s blood running down his face. His tux is torn in several places, revealing red, scraped skin beneath. Policemen are pulling him away from me, restraining him, as medics duck under the tape and run towards me. Another two roll a gurney under the tape.

            “What’s going on? Let Jason go!” I yell at the medics, but the first runs right past me and kneels on the ground behind me.

            “Hey! I’m talking to you!” Why are they ignoring me? They roll the gurney past me too, and I turn to see what’s happening and gasp. A girl is lying there, broken and bleeding. Her blood pools around her.

            Even with the blood and her crooked leg, though, it’s obvious that she used to be beautiful. Her hair used to be in curls, but now it’s a knotted mess of dark brown. Her dress is covered with little tears, probably from the glass that is shattered around her, twinkling red, blue, and yellow from the flashing lights on the police cars and the streetlamps.

            Medics gently pick her up, and she hangs limp from her arms. They strap her to the gurney and roll her to the ambulance over the badly-paved road. I follow them, not wanting to loose sight of her eyes, staring into the sky, unseeing.

            Jason is still screaming my name. Shame on me. How could I leave him like that?

            “I’m alright, Jason. I’m okay. Just calm down!” I try to yell over the noise, but he doesn’t hear me. Jason is also being strapped to a gurney, but he jerks out of the ties and runs to me.

            “Rose!” he yells again. I put my arms out to hug him. A shard of glass sticks out of his leg, but he doesn’t seem to care. My angel loves me so much.

            His eyes are wild, crazed. There’s a thump behind me as they start to load the girl into the back of the ambulance.

            Jason, I’m okay. You have to go to the hospital, though. You’re bleeding everywhere! The words are on the tip of my tongue. He stumbles before he reaches me, and I brace myself to keep him from toppling us both over.

            I wait for the impact. I wait for his lips to feverently cover my face between his words of concern.

            But instead of his warmth I feel a violent chill. It shivers up my spine and freezes my body as he stumbles right through me.

            No. That isn’t possible. He must have somehow run around me.

            I try to tell myself that. But when I see him shaking the girl’s shoulder’s violently, screaming, “Rose! Get up! Move, blink, do anything! Please!” Everything stops.