PULSE

(thirty) june 9

(THIRTY) JUNE 9

The impact should have hurt me, but it should have killed Ava.

It did neither.

When Ava and I collided with the hood of a parked car, I should have felt unbearable pain, but instead, there was nothing at all. I felt the impact clearly, but none of the agony that I knew should accompany it came. I knew that we had landed by the way my bones were all rattling under my skin, and my vision was blurred and unreal, but otherwise, there was no other effects. It was as if I had been injected with some strange drug that sucked the pain out of me and left only the assortment of strange feelings that usually came with it.

After trying to move and realizing that despite the absence of pain, my body was still shocked and reeling, I settled down again. It only occurred to me in the vaguest sense that I was still lying on top of Ava, and my mind wasn't working well enough yet to process that I should move. I waited, lying on my stomach, staring at one of my arms, which was hanging over the edge of the car and dangling down. Once I was sure that I was breathing again properly and the fog over my mind was slowly starting to lift, I reached out further, straining to touch the ground just a few inches away from my fingertips. The motion of reaching felt strange and difficult, but the longer I did it, the more I could feel my body slowly starting to recover its strength.

It wasn't until Ava let out a strained breath below me that I was fully thrust back into reality, and my entire body seized up. I stayed where I was, frozen in place by the feeling of her chest against mine, her breathing slowly evening out to match mine.

"Why?" I whispered.

As soon as I spoke, there was a noise behind me—the sound of doors slamming shut, following by heavy footsteps—and suddenly a hand latched onto my arm, dragging me roughly off of the car and onto my feet. Lev grabbed me by my shoulders, searching me over quickly with frantic eyes before deciding that I was alright and pushing me away. Because I still hadn't completely regained my bearings from the fall, his light shove was enough to send me to the ground, where I stayed, watching him.

He touched Ava's shoulder gently, watching her with wide eyes. It shocked me to see that his hands were shaking terribly, and it occurred to me that I had never seen him this afraid.

"Hey, A..." he said slowly, unable to move.

"I'm okay," she said immediately, though her voice sounded tight and uncomfortable. After a few seconds, she slowly began to sit up, and Lev put his free hand on her back, nervously helping her up. When she was finally sitting, she offered him a weak smile. "Don't worry like that. I'm fine. Really."

"How?" I whispered to myself.

"Should I... Do I need to call—" He fumbled his words, still touching her as if he was afraid that she would fall over without his support. She seemed more than strong enough to sit on her on, though.

"You don't need to call anyone. I'm really okay."

"We should go to the hospital to have you—and him—checked out. Just in case."

"No, Lev. We're both okay. What you can do is drive us home, though? Will you pull your mom's car as close to us as possible?" she asked.

He stared at her for a few moments before quickly nodding and rushing toward the parking lot. As he disappeared, Ava turned toward me, watching me where I sat in the street. She smiled.