The Middle - Volume Two ✔️

Chapter 34 (Shaun)

Shaun

"Zara, you need to calm the fuck down! This isn't helping!"

I yell at my sister because I need to. She hasn't stopped crying from the moment she called me. She barely even knows Jamie, so I don't even understand what she's so upset about. I'm driving over to the hospital, ahead of the ambulance. They wouldn't let us anywhere near the scene of the accident, so this is the next best move. Zara called me about ten minutes ago, and I came over to the library as quickly as I could. The paramedics and firemen were just arriving when I got to the library, so I managed to get a glimpse of the crash before they ushered me away. And I'll never unsee it. If Jamie pulls through, she is the luckiest girl on the planet.

The truck drove head on into the side of her car as she was pulling out of the junction. Her car is fucking mangled, and there was blood all over the windows. I didn't get a proper look inside the car, and for that I'm glad. I don't think I'd be in a fit state to operate a moving vehicle right now if I had. But, Zara did. And that's probably the reason she can't stop crying. I can't lose my temper with her, but really, she isn't helping.

"I'm sorry." Zara chokes out between tears. "It was just - it was..."

And she's sobbing again. I take a deep breath. We're almost at the hospital.

When we arrive, I pull into a disabled parking spot (bad, I know, I don't care) and rush out of my car. I stop and turn around, because Zara hasn't followed me.

"What are you waiting for!?" I yell over. She's sitting in the passenger seat, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. For god sake.

"Zara, come on!" I say, running back over to my car and opening the driver door again. "Let's go!"

She shakes her head at me. Her eyes are bloodshot and wet, she's a fucking mess. She needs to get it together.

"Shaun-" she looks like she's about to start crying again. "She might be pregnant."

I tighten my grip on the door as I feel the weight of my own body crashing down on to my knees. They're about to buckle.

"Wh-what?"

"I think she is pregnant." Zara says, looking up and trying to hold back a fresh wave of tears. "I caught her buying a pregnancy test earlier, so she told me everything. She's been throwing up, feeling dizzy, moody, and she skipped a period."

And with that, my own weight is too much for me to bare, and I'm on my knees at the side of my car. I can't breathe. I vaguely hear the passenger door open and close, then Zara's besides me on her knees too.

"Shaun!" She exclaims. I can't look her in the eye. I can barely move. "Shaun, say something!"

I shake my head ever so slightly. What can I say? Jamie's pregnant. And she's clinging on to her own life in the back of an ambulance. I've never felt so helpless in my entire life.

"Shaun, please!" Zara yells, shaking my shoulders with both hands. I look up at her, and there's so much pain in her eyes.

"What's there to say?" I whisper, shifting my weight so that I can sit down, knees up, back against the wheel of my car. I drop my head into my hands between my knees, and Zara sits down next to me with an arm around my shoulders.

"She's gonna be okay. The baby too. They have to be." Zara says. I don't know who she's trying to convince more, me or herself.

"You know..." Zara says hesitantly. What? What do I know? "She was with Noah too, right?"

Jesus Christ.

I look up at the sky and take a deep breath. Of course I know she was with Noah. A couple of nights before the Halloween Dance. And she was with me the night of the Halloween Dance. Barely three fucking days apart. If her and the baby pull through, it'll be almost impossible to know...