Page 15 of Tandem

I laughed at Hank’s pissed face. He was bright red. “You little shit! When did you get a turbo put in that bitch?!” Hank swore as they got out of their cars. Freddie just smiled and held out his hand, and Hank slapped a fifty-dollar bill in it.

“Thanks for the donation,” Freddie said as Hank scowled again.

Then Jayden pulled my car up to the line, and god, it was so stupid that I wasn’t the one driving, but whatever, it was still a no-brainer. My car would beat Tyler’s. G-U-A-R-A-N-T-E-E-D. Tyler honked us off, the last one sounding as Jayden slammed his foot on the gas, and we took off.

I whooped as we went, and we started taking curves, just slightly ahead of Tyler, but he was hot on our rear wheel. As we drove down the curves of the hills toward the house, Jayden gripped the steering wheel, hyper-focused on each turn. He wasn’t a bad racer, but he also wasn’t nearly as good as me and Dad. We approached the big turn. This one was easy and could also be taken at a decent speed.

Except with the morning smog being burned off from the water, we never saw the pothole that wasn’t there before. We had gotten some nasty storms over the school year, and I hadn’t been up here since then. One moment, we were racing around the roads laughing and excited, then the next, it felt like we were floating in space. I looked over to Jayden and he was looking at me.

His eyes widened in fear as his arm flung out, pinning me to my seat as he shouted, “Rosalie!”

And then the ground was above us, or were we above the ground? The first impact snapped my head back into my headrest. I felt Jayden’s arm move slightly, then slam back down on my chest, and we flipped from the first impact. The secondimpact was on the hood, and the crunching metal sound was so weird, it was like I was watching in slow motion as the windshield shattered and the front bumper flung off into the air. The third impact came faster. This one, Jayden’s body slammed into the driver’s side door and window with a sickening thud. I lost count after that one until we were sitting upside down.

Jayden hung lifeless, but was his fingertips twitching?

“J-Jay… Jayden…” I tried to reach over to him, stretching my arm out. I felt a slight twinge of pain, but I pushed past it. Feeling his hand, it was warm. I tried to get my eyes to focus while looking at his chest, seeing it move.

Thank God, he’s alive,I thought, then the panic started to set in. We were upside down, in a wrecked car, which could catch fire, or worse. We had to get out. I yanked at the emergency release on the harness, but it was jammed. “Dang it!” I cried out in desperation as I kept tugging on it.

Then I heard a voice scream, “Rosalie! Jayden! Say something!”

Oh, thank God! Tyler was up there. I had to let him know we needed help.

“T-Tyler… Tyler!” I tried calling out, but my voice didn’t seem to be able to project. I kept trying to pull the seat belt. Looking over again at Jayden hanging, lifeless, I started to cry. I screamed out in frustration at the seat belt still not working as I yanked on the release again.

Suddenly Hank’s face was on the ground next to my window, which scared the shit out of me.

“Rosalie! Jayden!” Hank rushed out, his voice full of concern, face white as a sheet. He looked past me at Jayden.

“H-he’s breathing, Hank I’m lightheaded, we need help.” I sobbed as I peered back over at Jayden.

Hank tried to pull the harness release, and when it didn’t come out, he pulled out his pocketknife and started cutting.“Brace yourself, Rosalie. Tyler called your folks and 911, we’re gonna get you guys out.”

He worked quickly, then I fell on the roof of my car, and he carefully helped me out before running over to Jayden’s side. I sat there in the dirt looking at my beautiful and completely destroyed Viper half crumpled while Hank kept checking on Jayden. I think I was in shock. I could see Hank talking to Jayden, but I didn’t understand what he was saying. I was pretty sure I should be cold sitting on the damp ground right now, but I was having a hard time feeling anything.

The paramedics got there before my parents. One of them rushed to me and helped me up the hill and into the back of an ambulance while I watched them pull Jayden carefully out of the wreck. They had Jayden in a neck and back brace as they put him on a stretcher. Mom rushed to his side, looking at Dad, who stopped next to him. Dad searched for me and ran over to me as a paramedic checked me.

“Rosalie, baby, are you okay? What happened?” Dad asked as he gently wrapped his arms around me, his face and voice full of worry.

I threw my arms around him.

“We were just having fun, and then… Jayden was driving, and we didn’t know... it wasn’t there before… and then he tried to miss it, and then we went over the edge…” I couldn’t stop the sobs any longer.

Dad held me tighter and the paramedic told him I should still go to the hospital. He nodded and walked with me to the second unit. The one with Mom and Jayden had already taken off. We made the drive to the hospital, and I sat there as the paramedic did basic little tests on me. He believed I should be fine but recommended getting a full scan anyway once we got there just to be safe.

And Dad agreed. We pulled in, and I saw Mom in the emergency room waiting next to an empty space. My heart dropped a bit as they got me settled into another bed. “Where’s Jayden? Dad?” I peered at him, worried.

Dad patted my hand, trying to comfort me. “Let me go and talk to your mom, kiddo, and find out. I’ll be right back.”

I could tell he was trying to act like it was all fine for my sake, but the worry in his eyes dimmed their shine, and he walked over to Mom. They talked in hushed tones, and Mom hugged him and tucked her head into his shoulder. I swear she was crying.Please be okay, Jayden. Please.Dad stood over there rubbing Mom’s back a few minutes, and when they pulled apart, Dad came back over to me as the doctors checked me over.

“Jayden’s getting some tests done, honey, but he’s alive, so that’s the important thing, okay? Now, Doc, what does my little girl need?” The doctors and Dad chatted, and I got wheeled out for some X-rays. When I came back, Jayden’s space had the curtain drawn shut, but I could hear Mom and Dad talking with someone behind it. Then the curtain opened, and Jayden still wasn’t there.

“Where’s Jayden? Is he okay?” I asked as they approached me. Dad and Mom hugged me on either side of the bed.

“He’s alive, his right arm is broken, and… he’s in a coma,” Mom spoke quietly, her voice full of sadness. I pulled away the best I could to look at them.

“What do you mean he’s in a coma?” I tilted my head, confused. Dad sat down while Mom paced a bit around the main space of the emergency room.

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