Mal Pugh

Part 3

"Mallory, oh my god" Kelly said.

"Kel I need off this bus" she said in between painful gasps of air.

Kelly noticed that Mal was starting to panic. Her and Christen each grabbed one side of Mal and began walking her off the bus. They could see the looks their teammates were giving her. Everyone was in shock. Everyone had tears running down their faces, expect Mal. That's what worried Jill the most. As Mallory stepped off the bus with her two friends basically holding her up, Tobin, Alex, Carli, and Jill followed.

These were her people. Her mother like mentors. The people she always went to after what happened three years ago. Her mother and father passed away in a fire in 2020. 1 year after the World Cup. Mallory was heart broken but she got through it. She had the people in front of her to help her get through it. She has put on a brave face and kept pushing through the pain. Sometimes she feels like she never faced it. She was too calm about it. Everyone around her knew she locked it away and kept it bottled up. That pain hurt. This pain, unbearable. Dansby was her best friend, the person who made her laugh the most and always made her smile, the person who she was madly in love with and wanted a family with. Was he ok? She didn't know. All she could do was feel the pain.
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When Jill got off the bus, she had told the other girls to stay on the bus. Even though they couldn't really hear what was happening, they could see through the windows of the bus. Everyone had been crying.

"How is she not crying?" Sonnet asked Lindsey.

"She's in shock" Lindsey quickly replied.

"She seemed too calm when her parents had died, this feels worse. You can see how much pain she is in right now, but we don't even know what happened yet" Abby said.

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When they got off the bus, Kelly and Christen led her to sit up against the side of the building. The bus had pulled over onto the side, however, it didn't block the view of the accident. Tobin and Alex tried to position themselves in front of it so she couldn't see. Mal, who had been leaning against the wall had now slumped over and was leaning on Kelly and had her arms wrapped around Kel. Christen sat on the other side on Mal and rubbed her back.

Carli and Jill decided to walk down the block and talk to the officers to find out what happened. Nobody was jumping to conclusions yet, except Mallory. Mallory knew they were talking to her but she didn't care. She couldn't hear a single thing. She just needed to know if Dansby was ok.

As Carli and Jill approached the seen, they knew. They just knew from the feeling in the pit of their stomachs. The front end of the car was completely smashed in and they knew there was no way he could have survived. Amongst all of the chaos they saw an officer walking their walk. The officer knew from the look on their faces that they knew Dansby. He told them the story of what had happened. Dansby had died on impact, while the 3 passengers in the other car had made it through would only minor injuries. The officer told Carli and Jill that the driver of the other was clearly drunk and Dansby was not at fault. Both women were shocked and in pain. As they turned to walk back. They saw the body bag being loaded into the ambulance. They felt sick.
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When the officer told Carli and Jill what happened, everyone on the bus knew. They could tell by the way their shoulders had slumped. The way Jill has gasped and covered her mouth. The way Carli had leaned over onto Jill. They looked over, Mal hadn't known yet. Tobin and Alex were still blocking the view. By the looks of the accident everyone had basically known, but the pain of actually knowing was so much worse. They saw Tobin and Alex talk to Jill and Carli. Suddenly, Carli and Jill were getting back on the bus. They told them Dansby had passed away. They then told them that Alex, Tobin, Christen, and Kelly were going to stay with Mal and take her back to the hotel. Jill asked the players if they still wanted to play. They all said yes. They knew they couldn't let their fans down. The World Cup was approaching and they needed this game. This game would be for Dansby.