𝐔𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤 | 𝐙𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐞𝐥/𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐲

23. Car accident

April 13th, the night of the accident.

"Daniel, where are we going?" I huffed as he pulled me along by our intertwined hands. "We're going back to my place" he dryly responded, looking left and right. It was the middle of the night and Daniel was pulling me through some trees in a place I'd never seen before.

He'd at first taken me along familiar streets, but had began acting weird. He'd pulled me through a large hole in a wired fence and into an area of trees - perhaps a shortcut, but I felt uneasy having nothing around us.

"Why are we going this way? It doesn't look safe" I replied. Daniel didn't respond, so I pulled his hand to stop him. "Daniel, can you please talk to me? We finally got invited to a party, and it really seemed like for once we were fitting in without having people judge us. And then all of a sudden you just drag me out? Something's gotta be going on."

Daniel frowned, pulling me in to his embrace to comfort me. "I'm sorry" he mumbled against my shoulder. "I have to get you home, safe with me, and then I'll tell you about it, ok?" He soothingly reassured. I nodded, ready to pull away but he kept me tight in his grip.

"We're being followed" he whispered into my ear. "What? What the fuck do you mean!?" I whisper yelled, panicking. "Just stay calm Zach, this is why we're going this way. It's safer" he reassured.

"Walking through trees is safer than walking down a regular fucking street?!" I hissed. I grabbed on to Daniel's hand, hurriedly pulling him past the last few trees. I saw an opening in the fence that had wrapped all around the brief area of trees we were passing through. There seemed to be a deserted, empty road on the other side. "Come the fuck on before we die" I urged, pulling Daniel along.

"Zach, no! Stay away from the road!" Daniel yelled. He tried to pull on my hand to hold me back but I let go, crawling through the gap in the fence and running out into the road. I stood in the middle of it, looking around, but no cars were coming either side. One end of the road was a dead end, probably a reason why it appeared unused by cars. It's pretty dodgy to have a useless road on the middle of nowhere...

There was a single street light, and apart from that it was nearly impossible to see anything through the thick darkness that surrounded us.

"Zach, get the fuck back here!" Daniel whisper yelled from the side of the road, trying not to draw attention to us. I squinted, seeing a faint light of headlights pouring through the gaps in the trees in the distance. The other side of the road came around on a bend, so it was hard to fully see the car as of yet.

"Daniel, there's a car coming. We can ask if for a ride or directions or something instead of dying here cause of some creep" I yelled at him.

"No Zach you don't understand, it wasn't just a person following us, it was-" Daniel was cut off by the bright headlights of the car. The car was now on the road and was coming full speed ahead. I jumped up and down and waved my arms to catch the drivers attention but they ignored me, still coming full speed ahead. If I didn't move they were going to hit me, so I tried to move to the side of the road but the car followed me. I kept trying to move out the way but the car was coming full speed ahead at me and I couldn't escape from it.

"WHY THE FUCK IS THE CAR COMING AFTER ME" I yelled. My heart was running 100 miles an hour as I realised the car wasn't just swerving. The car must have been trying to hit me, and I couldn't outrun it forever.

I had reached the dead end of the road and there was nowhere to escape to - I was trapped either side by wired fences. The car had almost reached me and I couldn't get away from it anymore. I had nowhere to go and nothing to do to stop the car from hitting me.

I screamed, feeling my body being shoved by a strong force. My head smashed against the ground, sending a sharp pain shooting through my skull. For a moment, everything was black, and the only sense that penetrated my mind was the deafening ringing sounding out my ears. I clenched my eyes shut, groaning at the disorienting pain.

I had to get up - I knew I had to. I opened my eyes to be met with blurred vision. In the distance the pair of headlights faded away as the car sped off out of sight. I lifted my hand to my head, and when I withdrew it I saw the red on my fingertips. I pushed it away, my main concern being Daniel.

A sharp cry of pain escaped past my lips as I pushed myself to stand. I could barely stay upright as the world around me spun in a blurred, confusing mess. I gripped onto my shoulder which was burning with immense pain.

I stumbled, trying to gain balance as everything around me moved in nauseating chaos. I tried to focus my vision, blinking to clear the blurriness. And that's when I saw it. In the middle of the road layed Daniel's body...

I tried to run over to him, loosing my footing and scraping my knees on the gravel as I fell beside him. I dragged myself over to him, finally grabbing on to him. "Daniel? DANIEL?!" I screamed, shaking his body. My vision was still foggy but I could see his blood on my hands.

My mind was numb, and in that moment the only thing that I could think about was Daniel. He pushed me out of the way. He got hit by the car because of me.

I shakily pulled out my phone, dialling the emergency number. When someone picked up on the other end the sound shot a sharp pain through my head.

"I need help" I sobbed down the phone. "I don't know where I am. My boyfriend's just been hit by a car, he's bleeding and he won't wake up. Please, I need help!"

I couldn't listen to the distant words that followed on the other side of the line. I dropped my phone to the side, drowning out everything around me. There was only one thing left on my mind.

I pulled Daniel's body into my lap, cradling him as I rocked back and forth. I ran my thumb across his cheek. "It's going to be ok Daniel, stay with me." My voice came out as a strangled cry as I broke down with him in my arms in the middle of the empty road.

I couldn't tell if he was breathing, but I knew there was no way he could be dead. There was no way. He wouldn't leave me. "Daniel, wake up" I sobbed, my voice breaking.

I stayed there, crying with his lifeless body in my hands and my vision blurred by salty tears for what both felt like an eternity and a state in which time did not exist. Nothing existed apart from the boy in my arms.

The last thing I remembered hearing were the sirens wailing in the background.

And thinking Daniel was gone.