Leila and her mum are screaming for each other and me, asking if we're okay. I want to scream back but I can't. It's like I'm paralyzed, but I know I'm not. I'm okay, yet not okay. I'm not in any pain, but my brain feels like it's shut itself off. The car has stopped, smoke is all over the place, making my lungs feel as if they're being barbecued inside of me. I can hear the high pitched sizzle of sparks.
My whole body begins shaking and it won't stop. I'm beginning to have a panic attack, I can see my hands shaking and I feel a huge lump in the back of my throat I can't swallow. The last car accident I was in ruined my life. It gave me the long, ugly, thick scar that runs across my back and over my shoulder, and made me go half blind in one eye. It was the same exact type of crash, a car colliding with the side of the car I was in. It was the exact noise, the crunch, the screeching. They keep replaying in my head. I want them out. I can't move. I can't speak. I can't think. My memory has been taken over by replaying the accident from year five, and this one. I'm broken.
"EBONY!" A muffled voice keeps screaming, they're sobbing. Leila. I hear an ambulance, and through the car window I can see red and orange flashing lights. (A/N: EB'S TOTALLY FINE PHYSICALLY, SHE'S JUST IN MENTAL SHOCK RN I JUST WANNA MAKE THAT CLEAR BC IDK HOW OBVIOUS IT REALLY IS!)
I'm vaguely aware my door has opened and there is a man with a shiny badge, a police officer, speaking to me. I can't hear him, his voice sounds like nonsense, far away. He picks me up and I'm carried to another car. This car is a police car. Here, I can see better, and breathe because there's no smoke. They sit me down on the back seat, facing out of the open door. There are medics there, who begin asking me questions.
"Can you hear us?" They ask me. I brace myself, and nod stiffly. I look up as they take notes.
A young medic, maybe twenty five rubs my shoulder, "you're going to be okay, honey." She whispers. I want to smile at her and say something, but she turns her head around abruptly towards her fellow medics. "She's freezing," she says to another person. He runs to a case and grabs a blanket, I look around. We're a good thirty feet from the cars. I can tell they have both been smashed beyond repair. I see somebody on a stretcher being rolled into an ambulance, the person in the car that collided with us. I hear the medics murmur intoxicated. So he was drunk. The young medic puts the soft, navy blue blanket around my shoulders, smiling.
"Are you in any pain?" Somebody asks.
I open my mouth to tell them I'm fine, but all that comes out is a soft choking noise. So I shake my head no. The medics take a few notes.
"Ebony! Oh my God," screams Leila, running up behind the semi circle of medics.
"Do you know her?" One of them asks.
"Yes," Leila says, trying to catch her breath. "I was in the accident with her, she's my best friend." Her Mum comes up behind us, they are both fine and uninjured.
"Okay," says the medic, "can you answer a few questions about who she is? We don't know if she hit her head and has a concussion or other head trauma."
"Sure, of course," says Leila. My heart's still racing like mad, but I know I didn't hit my head. My brain has just... Frozen. I want to go home, and see Caleb. The dramatic cycle of terrifying lights flashing in my eyes and the screech of times is branded in my mind. The medic begins asking Leila questions. What's her name? Where does she live? Does she have parents? My parents are called, but it's a pretty long drive, and they're both at work, anyway. I don't know if either of them picked up their phone. Somebody gets me water that I accept, I take a few sips, gripping the sides of the plastic up as hard as I can. My head is still pounding. It feels like I'm falling off a cliff, my stomach keeps flipping, making me nauseous. This is the feeling I have before I faint, but it's only ever lasted a few seconds. This feels like an eternity.
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Hold On Forever (A sequel)
Fanfictiona sequel to "the boy next door" this takes place in the summer of 2017. (June) (So they're still 14, but almost 15.) Caleb and Ebony's relationship has only grown stronger since the last book. They've finished school for they year, and Ebony has jus...
