Page 4 of Buried Dreams

“I’m on my way,” I say. “I should be there in about nine hours.”

“I’m going to the hospital right now,” she declares.

“Can you call me,” I whisper, “and give me updates?”

“I will call you on the hour every single hour, even if there isn’t anything to report.”

“Thank you,” I reply, grateful she was there to help me and save my mom. “Did she regain consciousness?”

“No, sweetie,” she reports. I put my head back, and my bottom lip quivers. “She didn’t.”

“Okay, I’ll speak to you in an hour.”

“Yes.” She disconnects the phone, and I put the hospital address in my phone and head on my way, going way over the speed limit. I just hope that if I get pulled over, they will have a little bit of sympathy for me.

Every single hour, Mrs. Gregory calls me to tell me the latest news. Mom was rushed into surgery for a blockage in her heart. For the past six hours, I’ve been on autopilot as I wait for her to tell me she is out of surgery. I spent the past six hours talking to her about how much I missed her. About how much my life would never be the same without her in it. About how she is the only person in my life who has never let me down.

I drive into town after eight hours. The town name lights up, and if you didn’t know any better, you would think this is a peaceful town. A town where everyone is friendly, and I have to say when I was growing up, it’s where I knew I wanted to live forever. But now, now it’s the place I want to run away from. It’s as if my body knows I’m back because the minute I cross that threshold, the memories come back with a vengeance, and I can’t stop them no matter how much I’ve locked Pandora’s box.

“Baby.” I hear the soft voice in my ear, and I want to open my eyes, I really do, but I can’t. My eyes are just too heavy. “Baby, please,” Brock pleads with me, but then I hear more voices all around me.

Voices that seem far away but in abundance. “Holy fuck,” a man says right before I’m sucked back in. “We’re going to need the Jaws of Life.”

The shouting makes me try to open my eyes again. “Jennifer!” Charlie calls her name frantically. The approaching sirens make me want to force my eyes open, but they feel like they are sealed shut. Someone says something as my eyes flicker open and the buzzing starts in my ears right away. I try to lick my lips, but the taste of metal is on them, and I feel like I’ve been punched in the face. I wiggle my fingers and try to move my hand up to my face, but it’s stuck under something. “Brock,” I whisper. “Brock.” I try to move my head, but it’s lodged against Jennifer’s.

My eyes shut on their own as the darkness takes me away again. The sound of crunching metal drags me back from the darkness. I try to say something, but everything hurts. My face feels like it’s on fire. “How the fuck did this end up upside down?” someone asks once the crunching metal stops.

I try to move off Jennifer, but my body feels like it’s dead weight, and I hear Brock. “Baby, are you okay?”

After trying to answer him with words and forcing my eyes to open, I groan. “Everleigh,” he sobs, “please answer me.”

My left side feels like it is being crushed as I try to take a deep breath, but the pain rips through me. I groan softly, trying to push away the pain away as I fight to open my eyes. “We got this door open!” I hear someone shouting, but I’m not sure if it’s right beside me or far away.

“Fuck,” another voice yells, “let’s get him out!”

“Everleigh?” Brock mumbles from beside me, or at least I think he’s beside me. “Everleigh, are you okay?”

“Hmm,” I hear mumbled, “my head.” I finally pant out, “It hurts.”

“Guys, how is Jennifer?” Charlie asks from the front seat.

“I think she’s on top of me,” Autumn says. “I can’t move.”

“Brock, are you okay?” Charlie asks as I blink my eyes more and more to make sure I don’t close them for too long. I try to turn my head, but I’m not able to.

“Foot is stuck. It feels like something is in my leg.” His voice is pained, and I want to touch him, but I feel squished on both sides.

It sounds like a saw is working near us, and then the sounds of crunching metal make me wince again. I want to lift my hands to my ears to stop the pain. “We got a door off!” someone shouts. “Fuck, I think he’s DOA.” DOA, my head screams. Does that mean someone is dead? “We need more hands.” I can hear more and more people’s voices as I try to look around, and finally, my eyes spot Brock, who is the one pushing me into Jennifer.

“Brock,” I say, and his head turns to mine. Blood is running down his face. The bright light now feels like it’s being shined into my face, so I close my eyes.

“Everleigh,” Brock says to the man.

“We have to get you out first and then get her,” the man states, and then I hear him roar out in pain from beside me, and I want to help him. It’s a howling sound I don’t think I will ever forget. “We need a paramedic here.”

“His foot is jammed,” someone announces. “If we pull him out, it’ll rip through his whole thigh.”

“We need to get the driver out.” I hear more footsteps from the other side of the truck.

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