Roommates // Ben Hardy

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ben let out a sigh of relief as he heard the announcement. "flights have been delayed due to a multi-car collision outside the airport. She's probably just stuck in the traffic" he laughed slightly.

"so why is she not answering her phone then?" Joe asked, worry evident in his tone.

The five of them suddenly ran out the airport and could see a flurry of blaring lights and flames ahead of them and a large crowd of people. They quickly walked over to the scene of the accident, Ben praying he wouldn't see you.

They began to push through the crowd until they got to the front. The scene had been cut off by police tape so that was the closest they could get. They all watched in silence as they searched frantically for any signs of your car being there or you. There were at least seven cars involved so it was hard to depict them from each other, especially since half the cars were in flames and the other half blackened from the fires.

"oh god!" Lucy shouted and she pointed to a blue Volkswagen in front of her – one identical to yours.

A silver Vauxhall minivan had crashed into the side of it, pushing it into a wall. The car was, needless to say, crushed. The firefighters had just finished puting out the flames on the blue car and had ran over to the silver minivan to put that out.

Ben shouted to one of the police officers at the scene.

"sir, I'm gonna need you to step back" he started but Ben jumped in.

"my friend- I think that might be my friends car there" he said flustered, pointing to the burned blue car. The officer looked at him concerned.

"hold on" he said, walking towards the car and back. "what your friends registration?" he asked and Ben told him – it was your initials followed by the year you were born (92).

The officer's eyes widened. "I'm so sorry, that matches the registration on that car" he said, sympathetically.

Ben fell to his knees whispering 'no' over and over again to himself, until it eventually became more audible and he started screaming it in anger. It brought him back to the break-in and he couldn't believe that something like this had happened again. It wasn't fair. Joe bent down to hold him to calm him down slightly.

"is she still in there?" Lucy asked, her voice breaking.

"all bodies were removed and they got taken to the hospital. I can't tell you if the victims are alive or dead, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. This is one of the worst accidents I've ever seen" the officer said, walking back to the larger crowd of people.

Ben was still on the ground, violently shaking and sobbing into Joe's shoulder when Lucy said "okay, we need to go to the hospital. She'll be there whether she's alive or..." she stopped, letting out a shaky breath.

"come on, let's go" Rami said, quickly helping Ben up, holding him close, and they all got in the next taxi to the hospital.

When they arrived Ben immediately ran to the front desk and they brought out a doctor, but they told him that none of the patients have been identified yet and there were many casualties - drives, pedestrians and people who ran in to help.

They sat in the waiting room of the hospital for a tedious and nerve-wracking hour when Ben's phone rang. They all jumped slightly and Ben looked at his phone. It was an unknown number, but he answered anyway.

"hi, I'm looking for Ben Jones, is he there?" the male asked.

"this is Ben" he responded, his voice soft and raspy from screaming earlier.

"you're listed as the emergency contact of y/f/n, we're sorry to inform you that she's been in an accident" the voice continues.

"I know I'm in the hospital" he said, and he perked up slightly in the hope you might be okay.

"well that makes things easier for us then. I should inform you her injuries are quite extensive – when she was found the steering wheel had been crushed into her ribcage at such a force that she has broken ribs. The window smashed inwards and left deep cuts across her upper arm and the pedal was jammed down on her foot, crushing the bone. Our main concern is she hit her head quite hard and there is some bleeding on the brain. She's currently in surgery to unveil the severity of the bleed and if there are any injuries to the spinal cord, which is likely in cases like these. I must inform you however that around 40% of these cases are fatal" he said.

Those were the words he was dreading. The words that finally wore down his last tinge of hope. It was a lot for Ben to take in. He was expecting to come home to you safe and sound in your apartment waiting for him, not on your possible death bed.

"I know this is probably a lot to take in, but the best thing to do would be to go home and we'll call you once we understand the true nature of her injuries" he continued.

"no, I'm not leaving. I'm staying here for as long as it takes" he responded, through the tears spilling from his eyes. He knew he wasn't being rational but the love of his life was hurt and even just being in the same building as her made him feel better. Like he was watching over her.

"okay, I'll let them know" the male replied and hung up the phone.

Ben took the phone away from his ear slowly, staring impassively at the floor. He eventually averted his gaze to his friends, who were sitting in anticipation, all clearly on edge, waiting to hear what the call was about.

After Ben finished explaining, he told them that they should all go home and get some sleep and he was going to stay in the hospital until he knew what had happened to you. After a small argument, they all gave in and left Ben on his own. He needed to be alone now anyway. The pit in his stomach was too intense to talk to anyone or just be around anyone.