We're Not Sleeping, We're Just Dreaming {Geoff Wigington/Waterparks}

32{car accident}32

Ariel

"You know what, there seems to be a lot of traffic." he paused, looking to the left as he decided whether to pull out of the gas station parking lot to the left to just to go right. I watched out the window as all of the cars came speeding by from the right. "We are going to take the longer way home, the more scenic path." 

My mom groaned from the passengers seat. "Just get us home safely, Jarred." Mom mumbled, looking out the window. 

Dad pulled out of the driveway to the right and we started the ten minute journey back home. "So, I was looking at houses the other ni-" Dad started but Mom cut him off.

"Jarred! Quit it with the house talk! We cant move houses yet!" Mom shouted, getting frustrated. This is a talk Mom and Dad have a lot. They always want to move out of our house. Well, by they, I mean just my Dad. He hates our neighborhood and our neighbors. Its the kind of neighborhood where on every corner you see two people trading or buying drugs. It's not really a safe place for me to be, but I really like our house. "We aren't in the financial state to move, Jarred. We still have to fix the living room and the kitchen before we can even think abo-"

"Shut the hell up about the living room and kitchen! I told you I will get to working on them!" Dad yelled back at Mom, angrier than Mom was. I brought my legs up to my chest and leaned against the door, looking out of the window. We were crossing over a small bridge with a river flowing underneath it. 

"You've been saying that for the past four fucking years!" Mom screamed. 

Dad slammed his fist on the center console, taking both hands off of the steering wheel and looking away from the road. I started to panic in the back seat. 

Mom and Dad were yelling at each other, none of them paying attention to our surroundings. "Mommy." I called out. I got no response. 

Mom then realized that the car was going out of the lines on the road. She reached over Dad and tried grabbing the wheel. I sighed a breath of relief. But that breath caught in my throat when Dad took the wheel and turned it right, still yelling at Mom.

We suddenly flew off of the road and I screamed. Glass flew everywhere, everyone stopped yelling, and I hit my head really hard on the window. "Mommy!" I screamed. 

It felt like the car was flipping. Everything started to slow down and I felt the car jerk back and hit into something really forcefully. Tears fell from my eyes like the flood gates were opened.

I hit my head once again on something and everything started to fade out. "Ariel!" I heard Moms voice yell. "Are you alright, baby? Ariel? Ariel!" Moms voice repeated.  

My hearing started to fade out and everything went black.

"Ariel. Ariel!" I felt a hand rub my cheek. I opened my eyes, but regretted it right after. A few tears slipped out of my eyes. Through my blurry vision, I could see Geoff, laying on his side facing me. 

I pushed myself into his body and started to cry. "Ariel, are you alright?" Geoff asked, sitting up and pulling me up with him. I sat up on my knees and he stood up off of the bed. He pulled me into a hug as he stood and I sat. "Love, are you okay?" 

"I-I-Yeah." I said, crying into Geoff's chest. He kissed the top of my head and held me tighter. "Ju-just a dream." 

"Do you want do talk about it?" He asked, still holding me.

"Yeah," I mumbled. He crawled back onto the bed, sitting with one leg under his other legs thigh while that leg was hanging off of the bed. He turned on the lamp that was on the nightstand next to him. He pulled me next to him and held me. "A while ago, when my Mom was still alive and my Dad was still with us, we were at a gas station and when we pulled out of the parking lot, he said something about there being too much traffic so we would take the longer, scenic route home. But then Dad started saying something about moving houses and Mom got mad and they got into an argument and Dad wound up driving us down a hill and into a forest where we crashed into a tree. I was like ten at the time. The only thing I remember was my Mom calling my name and then everything started to fade out. I don't know how I didn't die. I hit my head so many times on everything. But I have this dream, and two others from my childhood, a lot." I tried to explain. Geoff probably couldn't understand a thing I said because I was crying so much. 

He held me tight again, every now and then wiping the tears off of my cheeks and kissing my head. "Hey, hey, hey. Its alright. The good thing is that you're alive, and healthy, and right here in my arms. Nothing can hurt you." He whispered into my ear, rocking me back and forth. I smiled and he let me go. "Do you want to try to go back to sleep, or do you want to watch TV?" 

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, opening my eyes again. "Uh, watch TV. Unless you don't want to and you want to go to sleep. I could just go in my room." I panicked. 

Geoff chuckled. "No its alright, I've been up for like two hours. I could use some TV." He said, reaching over to his nightstand. He grabbed the TV remote and put Disney on. 

We sat for an hour watching reruns of old Disney shows. Geoff rubbed my arm and I wound up falling asleep on him again.