Against The Odds

Ian's POV

Everything happened so fast.

The lights. Alice's voice. The crash.

The familiar voice was what brought me back to consciousness.

"Ian. Ian. Ian, please." She kept mumbling and shaking my arm.

I opened my eyes and waited for the blur too clear up. I blinked and moved my head, making me groan in pain.

"Alice?" I breathed.

"Ian, I can't feel my legs." Alice was crying uncontrollably.

I looked at her, even though it was dark I could see a metal object sticking out of her shoulder.

I placed a hand on her thigh and squeezed, "Do you feel that?"

She nodded, "Yeah, but I can't move them and my shoulder..." Alice tried pushing the metal tube with her hand.

"Don't. Don't move." I say and wiped my bloody forehead with the back of my hand. I tried unbuckling my seat belt, but it was stuck and the door wouldn't open. "It's stuck."

"My phone fell under my feet-- ow!" She gasped and clutched her stomach.

"Stay calm. Everything's going to be okay." I grunted and reached under her feet, searching for the phone with my fingers. I grabbed it and marked 911.

"Are they coming?" Alice says.

"Yeah." I say.

"Where's the other car?" Alice asked and I looked out my broken window, there was a cliff not too far from the car and I could see the truck that impacted us on the bottom, twisted like a pretzel. I choked on my breath.

"What is it?" Alice asked.

"Nothing. Just stay calm." I say and squeezed her hand.

***

Alice's POV

The paramedics gave me pain drugs in the ambulance that made me slip into a deep sleep. I woke up a day later in intensive care hooked up to an IV.

I reached for the oxygen mask and moved it away from my face in disgust.

"You should be wearing that."

I looked to the side and saw Eliot sitting on a chair at the end of the hospital bed.

"It stinks like plastic," I say after clearing my throat. "What happened?"

"They took out the windshield that was stuck to your shoulder and patched you up, but you're back is badly bruised. The doctor says it's a miracle that you're not paralyzed." Eliot says and I lifted my legs, relieved that I could move them.

I rubbed my temples, trying to remember everything, "Ian."

"He's fine. All he had was a really bad concussion and a broken wrist." Eliot says and I felt anger radiating from him.

"It's not Ian's fault we crashed." I say firmly.

"I know. It's just that mom's outside." Eliot muttered, avoiding my eye.

I sighed, "Let her in. She must be worried."

"Are you sure?" Eliot says, looking at me like I was crazy.

"What don't I know, Eliot?" I hissed.

"A lie as always. Or as she calls it "to protect you", bull crap." Eliot stood up and opened the door, letting my mother in.