RAINDROPS

Chapter 19

It seems like an eternity before I finally hear the faint sound of sirens. I look up at Jack and see he's already looking at me. Excitement and hope in his eyes.

'They're here!' I say loudly, a smile starting to form on my face. The sirens are getting louder and louder. It takes less than a minute before I hear the sharp sound of wheels coming to a stop on the hard asphalt. Doors open less than a second later. I hear people shouting at each other. Their footsteps clearly coming our way.

'Hello?!' I yell loudly. 'We're in here!' The head of a firefighter comes down next to the car window.

'Can you identify yourselves?' the man asks.

'My name is Alex Thomas.' I tell him.

'I'm Jack Mason and my dad is in the drivers seat. He hasn't responded. You have to help him first.' Jack follows.

'What's your dad's name?' 

'Alcott Mason.' Jack answers.

'We have to get you two out of there first, then we can focus on your dad. Okay?' the firefighter says now. Jack is struggling, I notice it in the way he looks at me. He doesn't want to go first, neither do I. But this is literally the firefighter's job. He has to know what he's doing. I put my hand on Jack's arm, trying to calm him down.

'He knows what he's doing.' I tell him. 'The sooner we get out they can help your dad.' He thinks it over for a slight second. The determined look in his eye as he nods at me says enough.

'Okay. What do we need to do?' He yells out to the fire fighter.

'I'm going to try to open the door. Can you help push from the inside?' 

'Yeah, but shouldn't we be careful? We smelled gasoline.' Jack says. I'm just letting him do the talking. 

'We have the situation in hand, don't worry.' the guy answers confidently, but for some reason I'm getting a bad feeling. 

He and Jack work together to open the door. It takes a couple of tries and eventually the door gives in and opens, loudly creaking in the process. The car was left shaking in the progress, panic slowly rising in my throat again. 

'Can you stand up?' he asks Jack. He nods as an answer. That has to be good right? His screaming in pain must have just been for his arm. I'm really worried about him.

He reaches for the firefighter's hand with, what I'm assuming is, his good hand. He manages to get out and immediately gets escorted away. I move up a bit, shaking the car again in the process. I stop and wait for it to lay still again.

'The car is moving.' I tell the firefighter. He looks around the car, probably assessing the situation.

'Don't worry. It will be alright.' Once again his words are supposed to calm me, but I don't feel any calmer. It doesn't feel like it is going to be alright. Hopefully that's just the adrenaline talking. I have no choice but to do what he says.

'Okay, I'm going to move slowly.' I tell him. Event though it is only about two feet to get to the door, I intentionally work hard to distribute my body weight in such a way that the car won't move. It kind of reminds me of having to walk up the stairs without making a sound in the middle of the night.

The firefighter has stretched out his hand for me too. I grab it and manage to set my right foot on the pavement of the road. Cold air hits my face as the firefighter yanks me out the rest of the way. I say yank, because it nearly felt like he was dislocating my arm. 

Everything happens really fast after this. Ambulance personnel surrounds me asking me a bunch of questions. There are police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. I see Jack sitting in the back of one of the ambulances. EMT's are taking care of his wounds and there is police asking him questions. Behind me more fire fighters and EMT's are rushing to the car. Relief floods over me as I realise they are taking care of Jack's dad now.