V1-03

Apparently, During the incident, I had acquired quite a few bumps, bruises, and even a cut on my forehead that needed stitches, but it didn't bother me one bit; I didn't even feel it.

However, I had been unconsciously wiping blood from my eyes since I had busted my head open on the pavement. Come to think of it, if memory serves right, everything was numb and desensitized, so I had unconsciously ignored my situation.

The only thing I was aware of was two different things, the high-pitched ringing in my ears and the soft bah-dum of my heartbeat. I had become aware that the constant ringing had been present since the crash had first happened.

I still hadn't spoken to Chase yet, though. It had been about 10 minutes since I left him on the sidewalk, and I still had not talked to him.

I could see how many people were surrounding the accident from the back of the ambulances. Fire crews and police officers were everywhere, and all eyes were on the center of the wreck. People had gathered at their balconies to see what the commotion was.

I recognized most of them since I only lived two buildings down from Chase's family. I had lived there my entire life, so it's no surprise that I knew most of the faces looking at the massive car accident. I wondered if any of them knew who was involved.

The Truck driver had gotten out of his semi when I was working on Tristian, but it didn't matter. If my brother died because of him, I would make him pay. If he walked away from the wreck and Tristian didn't, I would get revenge for Chase and his family.

Chase… "OH GOD, CHASE. "Where was he? Did he know how bad it was? Did he see his brother as I had? My mental afterburners went into overdrive.

I needed to find him; I needed to comfort him somehow. I wanted to be the one to tell him it should be me. I was his best friend; it shouldn't be some cop or fireman who told him what had happened.

But did I really want that responsibility? Would he blame me if his brother didn't make it? Would he tell me I hadn't made it in time to save his brother? I heard a shrill scream followed by loud sobs as if on cue. I knew the voice; oh too well, I had listened to that wail many times before. It Was Chase and Tristian's Mom. She knew.

Hearing her sent a chill down my spine; I could feel it for some reason. It was the first thing I could feel, and I'm still unsure why it was THAT; I could handle it, but everything slowed down again. Without thinking twice, I jumped down from the back of the ambulance and ran towards the weeping mother.

Carleigh was like a second mother to me; she invited me to everything from dinner to family functions. She always said I was the only son; she didn't have to go to the hospital. And since my parents were separated when I was 10, she had become the motherly figure in my life.

Running as fast as my legs would take me, I vaulted over the guardrail that had been put up around the accident and ran to her side. The crowd had moved back a few steps from her, and I saw Chase for the first time in what seemed like forever. He had his frail mother in his arms and looked just as broken as she did.

I shoved past the crowd of onlookers and Caught Chase's tear-filled eyes. I slowly walked forward, each step echoing loudly in my ears like a bomb going off each time my foot hit the concrete. The Small woman's sight caught ahold of me like a tractor beam and screamed even louder what sounded like my name, but I couldn't tell through the sobs if it was my name. Or if she was saying a combination of why would god do this?

Chase Caught me as I crumpled beside them. I stared at the sky as the sights, smells, and sounds flooded my mind. The sound of the idling fire engines, the murmurs of the people on the surrounding sidewalks, and more sirens in the distance all seemed too surreal, too chaotic to be real life.

Seeing both of them broken in front of me, I couldn't hold them back anymore. I cracked. I broke down, and Carleigh's arms wrapped around me; as she pulled me against her chest, she grabbed both Chase and me and held onto us both as if we were going to be torn from her grasp at any second.

She couldn't get coherent words out between sobs, so I assured her I was ok. I told them I had found Tris, and the paramedics told him he would make it. That he was more substantial than all three of us, put together that something stupid like a car accident couldn't faze him.

Until my Dad arrived, I neglected to mention that he was missing an arm and a leg. My Dad had been a cop in the city for years, so it was no surprise he would be here at some point. I had never seen my father on the job, so it was even weirder when he crossed the tape line and approached us. He knelt beside Carleigh, Chase, and me and spoke softly.

"Carleigh, I need you to go with Officer Burston. She will take you to the hospital that Tristan is heading. I'll care for the boys, but you must go with her." His voice was calmly collected and had authority behind it, and my Dad's tone alone was enough to get her up and to move.

Chase protested, saying he wanted to go with him, but my Dad just put his big hand on Chase's shoulder and gave him a stern look that instantly shut him up. He often saw what my Dad was like when he got pissed off and knew better than to talk back to him. He looked me up and down and cursed under his breath.

"Dean, were you the kid, the firemen were talking about who had to be forcefully removed from the scene?" Hearing my father's question, I looked down at my feet; what else could I do? It was true someone had carried me away from Tristian. I expected to be yelled at, but he just clasped my shoulder and forced me to look up at him.

"If he makes it through this, it will be because of your quick thinking. Good job. I'm proud of you." His words surrounded me like fire. He had never told me that. Not once, not when I graduated high school or won wrestling tournaments.

But this was different. The tone in his voice was double-edged and made me realize that although he was proud of me, it wouldn't mean jack if Tristian didn't survive, so I bottled up those feelings for later when I had time to think.

"I'm going to be taking y'all down to the hospital in my squad car separately from Carleigh. Mainly because I need to ask you some questions about what exactly happened; both of you were at the scene when the collision occurred, right?" We both silently nodded.

"Alright, both of you, hop into the cruiser and wait for me; I'll only be a minute or two." My Dad said before walking off to converse with a couple of other officers.

Chase and I obeyed blindly; why wouldn't we? For starters, he was my Dad; even if I took that little tidbit out of the equation, he's still a police officer. Regardless we obeyed and got into the back seat of his police cruiser.

As we waited, all the pain I hadn't been experiencing started to surface. It was like I had jumped off a 20-story building, or at least that is what I would compare it to. I've never jumped from that high. Come to think of it, to this day; I think I've capped out at 15 stories. But I'm sure we will get to that eventually.

It didn't take long for my Dad to make his way to us and get into the driver's seat of the cruiser. But when he did, the questioning I had become accustomed to in my short life began almost instantly.

"Dean, I want to know everything, and don't hold back on the details; we are waiting for the security camera footage to come back, and until then, we only have you to give us exactly what happened." My Dad was dead serious about me telling everything to him.

"But, dad, Chase." I looked at my best friend, but he was hardly recognizable. All the color had drained from his face, leaving his olive skin pale and sickly. I couldn't tell the entire story with him here. It would devastate him.