Bittersweet (something like a Nicholas Sparks love story)

Bittersweet(Part 1)

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Part 1

Chapter 1

Chelsea

Lightning cut the sky, split it apart in a beautiful, dangerous way before disappearing. The moon and the stars were obscured by dark, thick storm clouds that hung over Naboomspruit. A lonely car was driving down the long road and into the little town. It had its lights on bright, because there were no street lights to make the road more visible. The road, like most in South Africa, had a pothole here and there.

The driver, Ben Hart, was familiar with the road. He dodged the potholes and squinted, in an attempt to see better, in this extreme weather. The wind was screaming outside like a banshee, and the booming sound of thunder followed the lightning. The family, warm and dry inside the car, didn't heed nature's warnings.

"Please help me to look for our turn, Honey," Ben said to his wife, Ellie. He had very good eyesight, but it was raining too much for him to see well. They kept their attention on the dark wet road and couldn't see far. What they saw next changed their lives forever.

It happened so fast. One moment they were sitting calm, warm, and safe in their car. The next blinding headlights shone into their eyes, followed by a loud crash! The car that collided with them was driving in the wrong lane, in their lane. It happened so fast that Chelsea was not even sure what was happening. One moment she was chilling in the backseat, thinking about the ocean's waves, and the next, the world was rolling.

The other car had struck the front of theirs, by the driver's side, which made the airbags inflate and the car spin. The hood crumpled, and the car slipped of the road. It still had a lot of momentum, so it rolled twice before it came to a stop on its roof. Adrenaline coursed through Chelsea's veins, and it took her a moment to realise that she was hanging upside down.

"Mom... Dad..." Her voice was a whisper, like those of a child waking her parents in the middle of the night to seek comfort after a bad dream. But this was not a dream. This was real. And her parents were not sleeping. They were...

"Mom! Dad!" Chelsea cried loudly this time. From where she was, she could only see the backs of their heads unmoving. Silent.

Chelsea wanted to undo her seatbelt, and that was the moment she knew that there was something very wrong with her right hand. It did not want to move. She looked down at it and saw that her wrist and two fingers were bent at unnatural angles. She whimpered as she realised that they were broken. And then she felt all the physical pain. It shot through her right wrists and fingers as well as her left arm. Blood was dripping, from her nose, like spit from a dog's mouth. Her head was throbbing, and she had scratches all over her from the glass from her shattered window.

"Help!" she cried. "Help us!"

She started crying hysterically and fighting her seat belt. The pain was overwhelming, and all she could think about was escaping. When she looked out of her window, she thought, for a moment that someone was standing there.

She closed her eyes and drew a deep breath. When she opened them, there was no one outside, and she knew she had imagined it. No one was coming to save her. She had to do this herself. Painfully, she moved her left arm and forced herself to push onto the button that released her seatbelt. It hurt. A click followed, and the seatbelt shot free and let her fall forward, onto her face. She used her legs to push off, as if she was in a swimming pool, and crawled towards her parents' limp bodies.