Page 3 of Holding On

"Pull over?" He laughs. "Why the hell would I pull over? You two planning on doing it in the woods? You seriously can't wait till we get to the cabin?"

"It's not that. I just think maybe you—"

"Found it!" Lyndsay holds up his cell phone.

"Thanks, babe." He takes it from her and gives her a kiss.

"Jason!" I yell as I feel the car veering toward the shoulder.

"Got it," he says, getting us back on the road.

"Seriously, dude, you shouldn't be driving," I say.

"You need to relax." He points to the glove compartment. "Babe, get him a drink."

"I don't need a drink," I say.

Lyndsay opens the compartment and takes out a bottle of vodka and holds it over the seat.

"I don't want it," I tell her.

"I do." Kasey takes the bottle, opens it, and swigs down a shot or two. "Come on." She holds the bottle up to me. "Have some."

I ignore her, my eyes on the road as I see a car approaching.

Jason says something to Lyndsay. I'm not sure what. I'm not listening, my attention focused on the approaching car. Lyndsay says something back to Jason and he laughs. He reaches over for her hand and I feel us swerve onto the shoulder.

But this time Jason doesn't swerve back on the road.

The next few seconds play out in slow motion. I feel each and every movement. I see it like it's happening frame-by-frame, like when coach analyzes our plays after a game.

The front of the SUV lifts up, up, up...then comes crashing down. Down, down, down. It hits something hard and I watch, helplessly, as Kasey flies out of my arms, her head banging against the side window. I reach for her just as the SUV shoots up again, up in the air, then flips on its side, then the roof. It flips again and the interior lights flash on just long enough for me to see Kasey's body being tossed around like a rag doll as blood splatters everywhere.

The sounds echo in my head. The blare of a car horn when the SUV first careened off the road. The crunch of the metal as it landed, then flipped. The screams. The high-pitched screams coming from one or both of the girls. And then...

Silence. I'm left with deafening silence. Blackness. The smell of smoke, gasoline, rubber. And a numbness coming from my leg. I try to move it but can't. It's stuck. All of me is stuck. There's a heavy weight on top of me, a warm liquid trickling down my arm. My vision fades as I go in and out of consciousness, but in my semi-conscious state, I know the weight I feel is Kasey. Her lifeless body. And the liquid I feel is blood.

"Help!" I cry out. My voice is weak, hoarse...and yet I try again. "Help! Someone please help!"

I feel my mind drifting off. My eyes falling shut.

And then the darkness takes over.

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