Page 81 of Starstruck
The sound of glass shattering from behind me causes me to startle, and then someone says, “Ma’am, stay calm. We’re going to get you out of here.”
I look back to see one of the firefighters through the window beside my dad.
“Please, h-help,” I beg.
“We are, ma’am. Are you injured?”
“M-my arm. I think it’s br-broken. My seatbelt is stuck. It h-hurts to breathe. But my parents—” The words rush out of me as if he can’t see them.
“I know, ma’am. What’s your name? Is it just you three in the car?”
“Lennon, y-yes. Please h-help them.”
“Lennon, I’m going to come around to get you out first while the rest of my team works on prying these doors open to help your parents, okay?”
I nod, more tears welling in my eyes. He leaves, and I turn to look back out the shattered front windshield. I watch as morefirefighters pull the other driver out of their window just as the car begins to catch fire. They set the man on his feet while paramedics rush over to check him out. The fact that he’s standing, alert, and talking seems like a good sign to me.
Or at least better than my parents.
“Okay, Lennon,” the firefighter yells. “I’m going to use this tool to pry open your door so I can get to you, alright?”
I nod, pulling my body away from the door to protect myself.
A minute later, the door is open and the firefighter is cutting through my seatbelt. It loosens, and although it hurts, I feel like I can breathe again.
“Hi, Lennon. I’m Jacob,” he says once I’m free.
Smiling softly, he moves to the side to make room as a paramedic rushes over to me, giving me a quick once-over and wrapping a C-collar around my neck.
“Do you think you can walk?” she asks.
“Yes, I-I think so.” I steadily move to get out of the vehicle, the EMT on one side of me and Jacob on the other. Once I’m out, Jacob holds me up as I turn back to see firefighters prying open the doors on the other side to get to my parents. “Are they going to be o-okay?”
It’s a stupid question, I know. He doesn’t know. But I need someone to give me some hope because all I have right now is worry.
“I’m not sure, but I hope so. Come this way and we’ll get you set up in an ambulance. Your parents will each be put in one, too, and they’ll take you all to Mount Sinai Hospital. The doctors will be able to answer your questions better than I can, okay?”
I nod, looking back at him. He looks to be about my age, maybe a few years older. He’s tall, maybe six-foot-one, and he has bright-blue eyes. He looks kind. “Thank you, Jacob,” I tell him as he leads me to the nearest ambulance.
“Just doing my job, Lennon.” He smiles sadly back at me.
Jacob leaves me with the paramedics, and I watch from theback of the ambulance as my parents are removed from my smashed up car, each of them loaded onto a stretcher. Another tear falls, and I bite the inside of my cheek, eyes scanning the scene, trying to remember what happened.
I catch sight of the other driver near another ambulance across the intersection as a cop approaches him. Next thing I know, the cop is holding something up and the driver is blowing into what I’m sure can only be a breathalyzer.
Oh. My. God.
“Are you okay, miss?” one of the paramedics asks, noticing my rise in heart rate on the cardiac monitor I’m hooked up to.
“No. I don’t think I am.”
“BROKEN” BY LIFEHOUSE
I startle awake, shooting up in bed. Tears stream down my face as my chest rises and falls. My breathing picks up, the image of my mom bleeding out next to me and my dad unconscious in the backseat stuck in my mind. I press my palms into my eyes, hoping to force the memory away, but it doesn’t budge.
Gripping the sheets on either side of me, I squeeze my eyes shut and bite the inside of my cheek, trying to focus on the pain.
Just breathe, Lennon. You’re okay. You’re alive.
