E V E L Y N N
Sirens. A sound all too familiar to me, and a sound that had been ringing in my ears for the past five minutes. I tried to sleep, thinking that maybe this was a dream and by sleeping that all this pain might just go away. But with these loud flashing lights, that wasn't happening anytime soon.
The car screeched to a stop and immediately gloved hands were all over the blanket that was covering me. I tried to open my eyes, but with too much effort and no results, I quit and decided to keep them shut.
They rolled me into the building and rushed me into a room. After finally opening my eyes I saw one little head appear into my vision.
5 HOURS BEFORE
I just admired everything about him. I sat and studied his features. His laugh lines, the little wrinkles above his forehead when he smiled, everything.
"What are you looking at, babe?" Paul laughed. He glanced at me then continued his long gaze at the road ahead.
"Just you, handsome." I replied, leaning over and kissing his cheek. I look at him again and notice those familiar white teeth.
"My parents are going to love you, Eve, I promise." He said, putting his hand on my knee.
Tonight we were driving about 30 minutes from our campus to visit his parents. We had been dating for 6 months and decided it was time to "officialize" us and meet one set of parents for approval.
I tensed up, meeting my boyfriend's parents always scared me. What if they didn't approve? What if I wasn't good enough for him and the parents seemed to notice? What if I somehow got food poisoning and threw up all over the kitchen floor?
These were the things I always thought about. I could feel a pit in the back of my throat stretching all the way to my stomach. I gulped and Paul seemed to notice.
"Don't worry! If I can tolerate you, they can too." He laughed.
I slapped his arm playfully. Even with his adorable yet corny jokes nothing could shake my nerves. I looked out the window and gazed at the light of the stars, and the moon shining down on his 2005 Jeep Cherokee.
The road ahead was calm, it was late enough in the night for the roads to be empty, with the occasional headlights passing by. The silence that fell over the car was comfortable, and the late night radio shows played faintly in the background.
I became so engulfed in the thought of the stars and bright lights that I hadn't noticed the headlight that had stayed longer than the other cars, and much brighter.
Before I had known what was happening it was too late. The air around me suddenly sucked in, I choked on the last breath I had inhaled. It all plays in slow motion, I look over at Paul and his bright blues stare back into mine, panic strewn across his face. My heart is pulsing, it's beats faster than the last. My thoughts going to a million different places as the car continues to flip, and flip, and flip. The car had seemed to stop, but I barely noticed. My eyesight beginning to blacken, I look around me taking in what had just happened, and suddenly everything turned to black.
