Page 2 of White Hole

“I got that hotel room for after junior prom. We can spend all night there if you tell your parents you’re at Becca’s place.” Lightly tapping his cold lips to mine, he walked around to his driver’s side door.

“I already did. Text me you made it home safe.”

He nodded, then drove off.

Getting into my little sedan, I buckled my seatbelt and cranked up the heat. The freezing rain was coming down faster, so I eased my foot on the gas pedal. So much for a beautiful spring night.

Carefully pulling onto the main road, I crawled to the next stoplight. The usually busy four-way intersection was deserted as I sat and found a new song to listen to on my phone through the car’s speakers. Cara would choose a stupid music theme for our prom. I was going to stop her.

Headlights blazed into my eyes. Blinded by the white flashes, I held my hand to my brow as I looked through my window. Tires squealed on the slick pavement before a loud crunch deafened my ears. My car was thrown into a spin for what seemed like an eternity. Around and around and around. Gripping the steering wheel, I was terrified at what would happen when I stopped whirling.

My windshield fractured in such a way as to create a beautiful prism of red that turned green when the traffic lights changed. Such a silly thing to focus on, but it must have taken away the fear that hit my chest when my airbag deployed. Then the impact of metal surrounding my body.

The car had stopped, wrapped around the side of a corner store on Main Street.

Hot liquid rolled into my eyes, but I couldn’t move to wipe them. It was blood. A man’s face peered into my side window. Before I shut my eyes, I memorized it: soft jawline, baby smooth skin, delicate lips, green eyes lit by the streetlamp, and a wild display of brown hair atop his head. The man, probably only in his early twenties, was wearing a houndstooth blazer and an expression of terror.

“Heyyyy. You okay?” As his breath crashed through my smashed window, my nose tingled with the ripe smell of alcohol. My mouth wouldn’t open, and something held my chest so firmly that I could hardly get any air. After getting a peek at me, he stumbled away with his hand running through his hair, back to his black car, hazy in the distance.

The darkness overtook me.

* * *

“No.You’rethe one who thinks I’m not doing enough. She can’t just force herself out of this, Jeff. Have some empathy.”

“Menot have empathy? All I’ve done is have compassion for her. And you, for what it’s even been worth. Not that you’ve ever reciprocated.”

“Please. This cannot be good for her.”

“You’re right. Jan, I think you should wait outside. I’ll stay here with her.”

“Me? Wait outside? I’m her mother!”

“Well, I’m her father.”

My eyes flittered open slightly, but I quickly shut them. The intensity of the light hurt. Surely, I was having a nightmare. I recognized my parents’ voices but not their tone or the words they were saying. I’d never heard my parents argue before. Not with each other.

“Oh, my God. Kinsley? Baby?” my mother sobbed.

Furrowing my brow with strain, I peeled apart my dry lips to try to speak.

“Shh. Honey, rest. I’ll get the doctor.” Dad’s comforting tenor soothed my bones.

Someone clicked a button over my head, and the room became darker behind my lids. I could open my eyes without pain, but everywhere beneath my waist was screaming at me. “It hurts.”

“Here, I’ll call the nurse. Oh, baby. Baby, I’m so sorry. We’ll get you some more medicine. Nurse!”

A robotic voice called from a speaker near my head, “Can I help you?”

Mom’s voice quavered. “My daughter says she’s in pain.”

“I’ll be right there.”

I must have drifted off to sleep because I awoke some duration of time later, and a young woman wearing pink scrubs with teddy bears on them was pushing medicine into an IV attached to my arm. When I looked down, my hands were lying on my blanket near my waist, both wrapped in thick bandages and splints. Despite my brain telling them to, I couldn’t move them. My legs were also immobile.

“What happened? What’s going on? Why can’t I move my legs?” My throat was dry, which made it difficult to speak. Like I hadn’t had a drink of water in days.

“Baby, wait until the doctor gets here.” Mom stood on one side of the bed while the nurse fussed with the IV machine. Her fingers grazed gently in circles on my upper arm.

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