Lights Up

As Meghan watched the car come careening towards her, she squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the moment of impact.

It never came.

She was confused and scared, wondering what had just happened.

She looked down at her hands and saw a mess of blood covering them.

She screamed but didn't hear anything leave her mouth.

She looked up to find her mom sitting in the front seat, her head rolling to the side.

Meghan unbuckled her seatbelt and fumbled to open the car door.

There was a long line of cars waiting behind her, and she sank to the ground, worried about her mother and herself.

She looked up to see flashing lights, red and blue, and people jumping out of a truck. The truck seemed to be the source of the lights, and she remembered what the truck was called.

"Ambulance?" she tried to rasp out. She felt her throat moving, knew she was talking, but still couldn't hear.

She started to cry, a long heaving sob, and people rushed over to her.

Her eyes were shut, so she couldn't see anything the people were saying.

She opened her eyes to see a man shaking her shoulders and mouthing "Miss, can you hear me?" very clearly.

She shook her head and sobbed.

The man beckoned for other people to come over.

"She can't hear," Meghan saw him say.

"Oh, poor dear," a woman said, and knelt down to look at Meghan.

"Can you come with me, dear?"

Meghan didn't want to go with anyone but her and her mom, but she knew her mom was most likely dead, so she took the hand of the woman and walked away from the car wreck.