Page 2 of Monster’s Magic

I glance again at my mom. She’s stillnotmoving.

“Mommy, please,” I cry out. “Talk to me, please, moan, mumble, anything!”

“Get her out of there,” a paramedic calls out next to Eric the firefighter.

“We’re almost there,” Eric calls back.

I feel my right arm begin to shift. I try to pull it from the trap it’s in, but my elbow is still stuck.

“Mommy, please, answer me,” I plead with her. The tips of my fingers graze her cheek and she’s still, perfectly fucking still. Pushing my fingers into her cheek, I pull my hand toward her mouth.

I need to know if she’s alive. No one is telling me shit.

That should be an indicator, but I’m stubborn and a real shit sometimes.

Ask my dad.

Fuck…

Where is my dad?

My fingers are at her mouth and I’m able to shove a digit inside. Her mouth doesn’t budge the way it would when anyone would force a foreign object inside.

And… she’s not breathing.

She’s not fucking breathing!

“Mom,” I scream and my right arm is now free. “Mommy!” The sobs start and I feel myself fall into the arms of a man in uniform. Yellow surrounds me and I can hear him talking to me in a softer, more gentle tone, but the words, they don’t reach me.

“No,” I whisper. “No,” a little louder is put out there. “No,” I finally shout, and squirm in the arms of whomever is holding me.

“I need you to hold still. I’m taking you to get examined. You’re hurt,” he says as he reaches for my arm.

“I don’t fucking care! I want my mom back, and where’s my dad? Has anyone seen him?” I finally take a moment to see whose arms I’m in and it’s Eric’s.

“Let’s get you looked at first, then we’ll talk, all right?” He sits me on a stretcher behind an ambulance.

A woman approaches with a badge that reads Diana. She’s middle-aged with dark brown hair and tanned skin. “Hi. I’m Diana. What may I call you?”

I stare at her for a long moment and remain quiet.

I was in an accident; my mother is probably dead and my father… where is he?

And she’s asking me my name?

“Do you remember your name,” she adds.

I stare at her as if she’s gone mad. Maybe she thinks I’ve lost my mind. Maybe I have. “Yes, of course I remember my name. I’m Teagan Osborn.”

“Good, thank you, Teagan,” Diana praises. “Do I have your consent to check your wounds?”

I blink. “I didn’t realize that was a thing you had to ask. I mean, yeah, of course, whatever you need to do.”

Diana’s fingers are on my forehead, left eye, my mouth, shoulders, neck, and other parts of my body. She sounds off different things to herself, then motions to the stretcher. “Lay down for me, please. We need to take you to the hospital for x-rays and a few stitches on your head.”

Now my blood is boiling. Everyone is adamant about not answering my questions about my parents. I hop down and feel a bit woozy when I do. I won’t tell Diana that, though.

“No,” I state flatly. “Not until I know the state of my parents.” I turn away from her and take a few steps forward. Road cones have been set out around the vehicles in the collision.

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