"Fakir, can you please turn that down a bit?" Duck said in an annoyed tone as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
"Sorry, I thought you didn't mind this rock station." Fakir replied as he reached over and turned off the radio.
Duck sighed.
"No, I'm sorry, Fakir. It's not that I don't like it, I'm just starting to develop a headache, and it's bringing back memories of people I'd rather not think about right now," She paused to lean over and rub her temples. "I also probably had one too many shots tonight."
Fakir chuckled.
"Yeah, you're probably right about that," he said in agreement as he reached over and rubbed her shoulder comfortingly, one hand still wrapped securely around the steering wheel. "It's not like you to drink more than a beer, if anything at all. I'm surprised at how well you're holding your liquor, actually."
They both glanced at each other for a moment and he flashed her a soft, sympathetic smile.
He turned his eyes back to the road, but she continued to watch him drive. He lifted his hand from her shoulder as they approached a red light, but Duck grabbed it and linked her fingers through his before he could return them to the steering wheel.
His eyes remained focused in front of him, but he smiled once again. Duck giggled a little, and then a little more. Before they knew it, they were both laughing, without any clue as to why.
Then the light turned green. They squeezed each other's hands. Duck's smile softened at the thought of how much Fakir had changed from when she'd first met him. He had a pretty stiff and cold exterior when it came to meeting new people, but he was really such a nice guy once you got to know him.
Fakir stepped on the gas and the car rolled forward into the intersection.
A moment later, there was a flash of light, and a scream, and a deafening crashing sound.
Duck's ears rang. Her grasp on Fakir's hand was so tight that she was beginning to lose feeling in her fingertips.
She lay on her back, still fastened into the seat of her boyfriend's car, staring up in shock through the shattered front window.
Her vision was slightly out of focus, and her arm was a little sore, but other than that she seemed physically okay. Duck turned her head slowly to the left and a sob escaped her throat.
"Fakir!"
In a matter of seconds, she had unbuckled her seatbelt and was climbing over Fakir to his side of the car. She didn't dare let go of his hand.
The driver's side door was bent and it wouldn't open properly, but after a few tries, Duck managed to kick it open. Her knees scraped against shattered glass as she collapsed at an awkward angle to hunch over Fakir from outside of the car.
Her left hand still clung to his right, so Fakir's arm was now draped across his chest.
Duck looked up at him through blurry, waterlogged eyes. The worst injury was on his head, where a huge gash ran from his left temple to a couple of inches behind his left ear. It was bleeding profusely.
She reached out to him with her right hand, and cradled his head in it. His eyes opened, but just barely.
And he smiled.
"Sorry... hope this doesn't put too much of a damper on our evening."
Duck could have slapped him.
"Shut up," She angrily whispered as the knot in her throat tightened. "Shut up, shut up, shut up."
Fakir squeezed her hand, and Duck moved closer, carefully wrapping her arms around his injured body.
She glanced behind them for a moment to survey the scene.
The silver SUV that had t-boned the left side of Fakir's car had spun out onto the side of the road, dark black tire marks following in its wake. Both cars were an absolute wreck, and it didn't look like either of them would ever run properly again.
The sidewalks surrounding the intersection were littered with people who lived in the surrounding area, and Duck saw at least three of them on the phone. She feared that Fakir didn't have much time, and she hoped at least one of the people was calling an ambulance, not just gossiping with a friend about the horror they had just seen play out in front of them.
Duck had been that person way more often than she'd like to admit, and in that moment, she hated herself for it more than she ever had before.
She looked down at herself. Dark Crimson pools stained the bright yellow of her shorts.
Duck turned back to Fakir and buried her face in his chest. She could feel his shallow breaths on the side of her neck. They were growing weaker.
"Hold on Fakir, please baby, hold on. Just a little longer," She whispered desperately into his ear.
"Don't you worry, Ducky," Fakir's voice was strained as he uttered the words. "I'm not going anywhere."
Duck broke down completely as soon as the pet name left Fakir's lips.
Then, not even seconds later, the feeling of his breath had ceased to cross her neck.
Duck tightened her clutch on his body as it fell limp, and she looked up at his face, only to see skin that was too pale and eyes that were too lifeless to really be his.
"No." She whispered the word first, and then she yelled it. This couldn't happen to her... not again.
The sound of sirens came next and then everything after that was numb.
Duck was dragged away from the car kicking and screaming and yelling for Fakir.
Fakir...
She ended up sitting down on the back of an ambulance and staring out in front of herself blankly, forced to sit and watch everything unfold in front of her.
Duck saw Fakir pulled out of the car and laid on a stretcher. No matter how much she wanted to or how hard she tried, she just couldn't look away.
Even after she had been taken to the hospital for the night, she never once stopped crying.
If you were to ask one of the nurses that were on duty, one of the ones who had to help sedate her, they would've told you that she even seemed to be crying in her sleep.
... I love you!
Hunters Don't Wear Ballet Shoes is written by drowsymuse and edited by Wattpad user readerholic101
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