New Year's Angel (R5 Fan Fiction -Rydellington)

The Accident

January 2014

Ellington

                My palms became sweaty as my heart rate escalated. Why was Rydel knocked out and how did this giant cut get on her head? I remember Mark running up to her calling her name. “Rydel, can you hear me? Rydel sweetheart I need you to wake up.” Mark kept calling her as Riker had brought him a damp cloth to wipe her head. Rocky had started searching the room for evidence of what had happened.  I of course was standing behind Mark probably looking like the biggest idiot in the world. I guess at the time I just couldn’t believe what I had heard was Rydel crashing to the floor. Rocky had suddenly run over pointing towards her hand, “She moved! Dad, I saw her move. Rydel, its Rocky can you answer me? What happened?”

Rydel had in fact moved and within a few minutes she had opened her eyes and begun answering Mark’s questions, “Rydel can you remember what happened here? Do you know where you are? Do you feel any pain?” After a while we had determined that Rydel had been walking into her room lost in thought when she walked into the corner of her bed. I never told the boys what she was most likely thinking about as it didn’t seem to make a difference. Riker had decided that what had happened included Rydel falling into the corner of the end table. Whether this was what actually happened or not, Mark told Rydel that she needed to go to the hospital to get checked out.

Rydel had mentioned feeling pain in her head but had otherwise seemed fine and as per usual had tried to argue with her Dad about going. Mark asked if she would go if one of us would take her and when I offered to drive she finally agreed to go.  Riker and Rocky hugged Rydel and wished her a fast recovery before heading back to bed. Mark thanked me for offering to drive and gave me directions to the nearest hospital while he helped me get Rydel into the car. That drive was probably one of the craziest rides I have ever taken. I had continued talking to Rydel making sure that she was still with me. The hospital was about 20 minutes away and as we drove Rydel had begun asking me about the kiss. Did I think it was the proper time for that conversation? No, not really. But clearly this was what she had wanted to talk about and therefore I was going to answer her.

We were about five minutes from the hospital when everything went wrong. Rydel had been seriously talking about how happy she was that I had been her first kiss and I was so concerned with what she had been thinking about when she hurt herself that I didn’t even see it coming. I was making a left turn onto Broadway Ave when Rydel screamed “Ratliff turn the wheel!” The last thing I saw was the headlights of a big white truck driving right at us and then blackness.

An hour later I had woken to the sounds of sirens and dispatchers on a radio. I had been placed on a stretcher and someone to my left was screaming at what I assume to have been the paramedic. As my senses focused I had started to feel pain all down my left side. Trying to move I discovered that my entire left side was covered in blood. Someone beside me had noticed that I was conscious and I heard him say “Ellington don’t move, you need to wait till you get to the hospital.” From what I remember of that night, the voice beside me had been Rocky and the screaming had turned out to be Riker looking for Rydel. I just kept hearing him say “She was in the car with him. What do you mean you have nothing?” My mind was so clouded that I was unable to process what he was saying at the time. I guess if I had been registering thoughts properly I probably would have thought he was being told that Rydel was dead.

Anyway from that point on the rest of my memory gets pretty vague. I woke up on January 3rd 2014 after what I was told was life saving surgery. The police officer on the scene had pieced together a car accident involving the Prius I was driving and an 8 wheel delivery truck. Apparently the driver of this truck had been drunk and was driving on the wrong side of road. He had hit our car right on the corner of the driver side flipping it making it role from the passenger side to the roof. The truck had also caused the glass and metal in my door to penetrate my entire left side of my body. This however was not the worst news I had received that day.

When I did fully become conscious, Ross was in my room sitting in the chair by the window. I remember seeing his face and wondering why he looked so lost. Ross is very often lost in thought but this time was different. It was like he was lost in his own little world. After about 5 minutes of looking around my room I had found my vocal cords and called for him. “Ross, what happened? Is Rydel okay?” Nothing would have prepared me for his response. Rydel was nowhere to be found. As I have since figured out, Riker had been told by the paramedic that Rydel had not been found in the car. In other words we did not know what had happened to her. Ross had looked at me and asked very seriously, “Was she in the car during the accident Ratliff?”  I could see sadness in his eyes when he asked this and when I had assured him she definitely was in the car his face had switched to heartbreak. “What is it Ross,” I had asked. Ross very quietly said “If she was in that accident the paramedics say she would have been lucky to survive.” I was sure my heart was going to stop beating. If she would have been in critical condition, where could she have gone? This question has haunted me every day since.    

 Sometimes I think back to that day, and wish it had happened differently. I think about all of the things I could have done to prevent it. I could have changed the subject. I could have been more concerned with just getting her to the hospital. I could have turned that goddamn wheel! At night when I dream about that day, all I can picture is her face with her happy smiles, the shine in her eyes, and blush in her cheeks while we danced. At the time I was positive it was my fault. I had believed that I had been the cause of all the suffering the Lynch’s and I were going through. Then we learned the truth.  It wasn’t my fault. There had been a plan from the beginning, made by a person no one could have ever suspected. I still believe that if I had been paying more attention, the accident never would have happened. However, that wouldn’t help bring her back. I had to figure out what had happened to Rydel after our accident. I was going to find her.