Awakened

Chapter Four

My eyes snapped open as I came back to reality. I blink a couple of times when I realize I cannot make out my surroundings because of how fuzzy my vision is. I feel like I have been hit by a large truck. Every inch of my body is extremely sore, and my head is pounding.

“Amara?” I heard an all too familiar voice whisper. “Amara, are you okay?”

I feel a hand wrap around my wrist and a blurry figure with blonde hair appears over me. Slowly my vision starts to focus, and I can confirm that it is my brother, Jack. With further inspection, I realize that I am no longer in my parent’s car but instead, in a hospital room. How did I end up here? The last thing I can remember is the car rolling down a hill.

“Jack?” I said, confused. “How did I get here? Where are Mom and Dad?”

“You were in an accident,” he breathes. “It was pretty serious; you’ve been unconscious for two days.”

“What about Mom and Dad?” I asked again, frustrated that he had yet to answer my question. “Where are they? Are they okay?”

Jack looked away from me with sadness growing on his face. He does not speak for a few moments, but finally, he looks up at me and says, “They didn’t make it.”

“No, you’re lying,” I wail as tears begin to fall.

I tried to sit up, but the pain was too much. I winced and fell back onto my pillow.

“You need to stay in bed, Amara,” he says as he rubs my arm. “You’re lucky to only have some scratches and scrapes but you’re going to feel sore for sure, the next couple of days,” he explains.

“What happened to them?” I asked in between sobs.

“They say that Mom and Dad died on impact,” he replied as I watched a tear fall down his cheek. “The doctors and the investigators aren’t even sure how you made it out alive, especially without any serious injuries.”

“No,” I screeched in between more tears. “But how?”

“Let’s not worry about all those details right now. Let’s just focus on you getting better so we can get you home, okay?”

“How?” I asked again, more anger in my tone this time.

Why is he refusing to tell me what happened? What isn’t he telling me?

“What do you remember, Amara?” he asked.

The tears begin to fall harder now as I start to think of the last conversation I had with my parents. I wish I could take it back.

“Dad and I were arguing,” I started. “They had just picked me up from a party that Dad would not have approved of. Mom started to scream out of nowhere and that is when Dad and I noticed that a person was standing in the middle of the road. Dad tried to avoid hitting him. Next thing I know, the car is flipping over and over again down a hill. I must have blacked out after that because I can’t recall anything else. Now… now I am here.”

Jack shook his head with a look of amazement on his face. “The investigators aren’t sure how, but you ended up outside of the car. You were found about three hundred feet away from the vehicle, lying in some brush.”

“What about Mom and Dad?”

“They were still in the car when it went up in flames,” he explained. I watch as sadness flushes his face. “But I was told they died before the car caught fire.”

My entire body goes numb as those words leave his lips. They are gone. I killed my parents. I am never going to see them again and it is all my fault. All because I could not say no to that stupid party.

Jack wraps his arms around me but does not squeeze me too tight. “Try to get some rest for now. I am going to go talk to the doctors and I will be right back.”

Before Jack can even turn towards the door, we hear knocking and before he can answer, it swings wide open. Two cops appear and walk right in as if they own the place.

“Excuse me, can we help you?” Jack asked.

“Yes, we just have a few questions for Ms. Costa,” one of the police officers said.

“Can’t this wait?” Jack pushes, moving his body between me and the officers. “She only just woke up.”

“I’m sorry, but the sooner we get the information, the better,” says the other cop. “Memories get foggy over time.”

“Jack, it’s okay,” I assured him.

He nods in understanding and steps out of the way, “Okay, I will be right back then.”

Once he is gone, the two men come closer to my bedside and one of them pulls out a notepad.

“First, we’d like to say we are sorry for your loss, Ms. Costa,” the first taller cop with brown hair, starts. I looked up at his badge and read Reyes. “What you are going through, no child should ever have to experience but we do have to ask you a few questions. Answer them as best as you can, okay?”

I just nod. What else can I do? It is not like I can decline.

“Why were you on that road so late at night?” asked the second, shorter and chubbier cop with black hair, his badge reads Myers.

“My parents were picking me up from a friend’s house,” I explained.

“Can you tell me what happened just before the accident?” asked Officer Reyes.

“We were on Oakland Road, going around that wide corner when suddenly my mother started to yell out. That is when I noticed someone standing in the middle of the road. My dad tried to swerve out of the way so we would not hit him and that is when we went over the side and started rolling down the hill.” A few more tears escaped, as I explained.

“Do you happen to remember what this person looked like,” Mr. Reyes breathes as he begins to write in his notebook.

“No,” I frowned. “It was way too dark outside. I could only make out what looked like an oversized black or dark-colored trench coat. It covered his whole body. You could not even see his feet.”

“Okay,” nods Mr. Myers. “What about afterward? Do you know how you got out of the car?”

“No, sorry. I remember hitting my head pretty hard as we were rolling down the hill. I must have blacked out because I do not even remember the car hitting anything on the way down.”

“Any other details you can think of that may be important?” he asked.

“No,” I frowned. “I’m sorry, but I don’t.”

They both shake their heads in understanding. “Okay, thank you for your time, Ms. Costa.” Mr. Reyes adds. “We will keep in touch.”

Then, without another word, I watched them both leave.

I spent the next couple of days in shock and disbelief, barely even speaking with Jack. He tries to talk with me, but I just show no interest, so he only checks in on me around mealtimes. I let him think I am eating, but when he is not looking, I am throwing away most of my food. I can hardly keep it down, so I eat just enough to where my body doesn’t want to throw it up and then I get rid of the rest.

My brain keeps jumping back and forth, trying to make sense of what happened. If only I had listened to my mother and stayed out of trouble and stayed at home. If Amana had not convinced me to go out, my parents would still be alive. It is my fault that we were on that road that night. It is my fault they are gone. How am I supposed to move on from this? What am I supposed to do without them? Where am I going to go? What is there left for me? What is next?

Each day Jack came in to tell me that Amanda had shown up in hopes I would let her in the room, but I did not want to see her at the moment. It would just cause more tears to fall, so each day I tell him to keep everyone away. She is partly to blame for my being at that party. I know it is not actually her fault, but I just do not want to see her face right now. It will make my parents being gone even more real and I am not ready for that reality just yet.

Emanuele showed up yesterday as well. I just cannot handle seeing anyone right now. And seeing them would make things worse. I would be forced to talk about it again and again; forced to face the truth. I am not ready to do that. I do not want to believe that any of this is real. I just want to wake up from this nightmare. I can hardly wrap my head around any of this. I cannot even figure out how I ended up outside of the car, let alone try to explain that to people. Why did I get to live? Why are my parents the ones that are gone? It should have been me.

Trying to stop my brain from exploding, I try to focus on getting through today. Today is the day that Jack gets to take me home so I can hibernate there for a while. I am still a bit sore but nowhere near as bad as I was when I first woke up the other day. The bruises on my arms and stomach have even started changing to a weird yellowish color. The pain in my head is also basically gone, only lingering around enough to make it more annoying rather than painful.

As I was putting on my leggings, I heard a knock on the door. I quickly shouted, “One moment, please!” I assumed it was Jack coming back to give me a ride home. “You can come in,” I said as I finished getting dressed.

As the door swings open, Emanuele appears. Frustration begins to fuel inside me. I thought Jack told him I didn’t want visitors.

“Hey Amara, how are you feeling?” he asked as he took a step into the room.

“I didn’t want any visitors,” I huffed.

“I know. I’m sorry. I have just been worried about you, Amanda too,” he explains.

“Why? You hardly even know me,” I said as I rolled my eyes. “Why worry about someone you don’t even know?”

“Because you seem like a nice person, and I was concerned. I just wanted to see that you were okay with my own eyes.”

“Okay, you’ve seen me, now you can go,” I pushed.