Page 164 of Meet Me at the Metro

My heart is thundering as I sprint to where I last saw them, but there are so many people scrambling for refuge and so much scattered debris from once-standing structures that I can hardly make anything out.

“Dad!” I scream, frantically searching for any sign of him or the others. My voice is hardly detectable over the commotion expanding all around me. “Kimberly! Connor!”

Where are they? Where are they? Where are they?

I run back and forth in the pandemonium, circling at every turn I make where their faces don’t seem present. I’m lost in a sea of frightened bodies, none belonging to any of the three people I love the most.

I’m panicking.

Why can’t I find them? Where did they go?

A horrendous bang splits through the air, so close to me and so startling I halt dead in my tracks.

“Oh God!”

“Help!”

“Someone’s been hit!”

“Are they okay? Are they moving?”

“Somebody help!”

Up ahead, white smoke billows, clouding the air. I run straight toward it, letting it guide me as I elbow my way through a horde of people quickly gathering around to observe what I can only imagine is an alarming scene.

I can’t believe my eyes when I reach the center of the mass.

The white cargo van I spotted earlier is now nothing but a heap of crushed, mangled metal. Its hood is bent around the solid utility pole it crashed into, spitting furious fumes.

It’s the sight of my brother standing frozen beside the wreckage that has my blood icing over.

“Connor!” I yell, running for him. “What happened?! Where’s Kimberley? Where’s—DAD!”

No. No. No. No.

It’s not him. It can’t be him.

I refuse to believe that the man, whose disfigured body is now pinned between the vehicle and the pole, is the same one I was teasing and laughing with only a handful of minutes ago.

However, brutal realization forces me to face reality.

“Oh, God! Dad! Oh, God!”

Connor falls to his knees, crumbling right before me. His eyes are glazed over with utter fright—shock.

“What happened?! What the hell happened?! Answer me! Get up! Get the fuck up, Connor!”

My stepbrother remains as still as a statue, but I don’t linger around and wait for him to move. I hurry straight toward my dad. “Someone help me! For God’s sake, someone fucking help me!”

Men and women rush to bring me aid, working collectively to shove the van back. I hold Dad’s limp body in my arms as the tires roll back, catching the weight of him when he’s finally unpinned from the mass of the van.

I lend Dad my full attention even as a flash of bodies moves to aid the driver left in the crumpled van, and the surrounding bystanders speak back and forth.

“Did someone call an ambulance?”

“Yes, they’re coming.”

My hands are trembling as I pull my dad’s maimed body into my arms, clutching him fiercely. “I-it’s going to be okay. Y-you’re alright. I’m right here. R-r-right here, Dad. I’m not going anywhere, okay? I’m not leaving you. You’re going to pull through this. You’re going to be okay. I love you. I love you so much, Dad...”

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