The Hybrid

Chapter Five - The Accident

Zachary and Anna went back to their living quarters after enjoying the holographic campfire with Kalle and talking about suffering loss in their lives. Later that night, Zachary sat in front of a window. He couldn't sleep at all, the memories of his parents and Andy kept bothering him ever since he talked about the day he lost them earlier. Even though it felt better talking about it to Kalle and Anna, it still saddened him sometimes because he missed them so much. While he does let those memories be his strength instead of weakness, he always wished that he would go back to the day it happened and change things. Not let his last words to them be hateful, not hitting Andy out of anger, and not storming off during an argument.

He even started to remember when he had depression, there were times when he felt sad, withdrawn, tired, he would wake up in the middle of the night sometimes. The guilt that he went through of losing his parents and younger brother would overwhelm him sometimes. It wasn't easy for him trying to get through that depression. But he always remembered that one event that gave him the strength to move on. It all happened a month later after the accident when he struggled through depression and blaming himself a lot for their deaths, he got involved in an accident when he was coming home after school.

Three years ago...

It all started when he took the taxi ride home during a rainy day, he was so tired that day since he started having sleep problems. All he wanted to do was just sleep and have a peaceful dream without another nightmare tormenting him. It's been a month since the death of his parents and brother, he blamed himself everyday after what happened on that day before they died, he hardly interacts with people, doesn't eat much, locked himself in his room when he comes home, mood swings. Now he knew what depression really feels like when you lose someone close to you, it's worse when the last memory that you had with them was an argument and never had the chance to apologize before they died. He still remembers the moment when his sister Beth told him they went out to go find Zachary after the argument and they died in a car accident. He always felt like it was his fault because they went out to find him when he stormed off.

Just when he almost fell asleep, the taxi cab was suddenly struck by a car. The impact was so hard, it was enough to flip the cab upside down and make him lose consciousness during the crash. When he came to, he felt a lot of pain from his ribs, it was so hard to see everything because of the blood rushing from his wound on his forehead, there was also a piece of glass embedded in his left leg. Just a couple of inches from the femoral artery. He was in so much pain and on the brink of death. He was ready to die. Dying won't be bad anyway since he'll get to see his family again, apologize to them for what happened before they died. Until suddenly he saw a family trapped in a car, it gave him the strength to come back to the world of the living. He decided that he wants to live. He lost his family, but he's not going to let another family lose their lives.

He grabbed his jacket and ties it around the glass to hold it into place. He tried his very best to ignore the pain from his ribs and leg as he climbed out of the cab and limped towards the vehicle. There were nearby civilians calling an ambulance while three people were trying to get the family out of the wrecked vehicle. After the couple was pulled out of the car, the civilians managed to pull a young boy out of the car. Zachary noticed that the boy wasn't breathing, he only had a weak pulse. Zachary hoped that it wasn't too late as he performs CPR.

He grunted in pain while doing it, but he didn't care how much pain he was feeling from his ribs, he will not stop until he saves the boy.

Suddenly, the boy started coughing and opened his eyes. Zachary felt relieved after saving the boy's life.

"Don't worry, everything's gonna be okay." said Zachary.

"Thank you." the young boy said.

It was a day that he would never forget for the rest of his life. During his stay at the hospital, the couple from the accident visited him when they recovered and they thanked him for saving their son. He remembered how frantic and worried Beth was when she heard about the crash, wanting to know if her brother survived since she was afraid of losing him. He also remembered a conversation they had on the day before he was released from the hospital.