GN: The prompt for this is Fright.
This is part of another longer story I haven't got around to writing that I think I will just put out in a few parts instead of the whole story just to get it out quicker and not have it on hiatus forever. Each part should be a standalone, so that should help.
Start:
The world slows down.
No. Not quite. The increased heart rate and processing rate that the body undergoes under periods of duress only make it seem that way. In reality the world is not slow, he is faster. Much like the flash; this would be really cool if it weren't for the cause.
What is the cause?
There is a scream.
He's never heard her scream before, but he is 100% sure that this is Amy. His eyes flicker up from the tablet in his hands to the street and his brain processes everything in front of him faster than it moves; than he moves.
He sees the bumper of the car in front of them, the dent on the side caused by a small collision and sloppily painted over. The street lines faded from the sun and friction of hundreds of thousands of tires. He sees the people on the sidewalk, their mouths held open in gasps and screams; one is reaching an arm out as if to pull him from this situation.
He hears crunching, and although he's never heard the sound of a car collapsing inward due to force, he is also 100% sure this is her car collapsing on them.
Now he is screaming.
Now he is upside down.
His head makes a fascinating sound as it smacks into the window. The world is black for a second.
He is no longer upside down.
Now he is wet; drenched.
And suddenly the world is in real time again. He is in a car that is sinking in the water and he needs to do nothing but get out. His mind assaults him with images of water dwellers that can physically hurt him and many others that can harm him on a microbial scale. He looks down to the chest level water and unbuckles his seatbelt before smashing the window. He is frozen in place as the car jerks and he is submerged under the chilly waves.
Out. Get out. Move. He needs to move.
He briefly remembers a flash of him being held under water by his brother at a lake near his house.
He struggles getting out of the car and pushes against it to swim to the surface. There is a burning in his chest to match the one in his brain, and his side. He is so cold in this water and moving so hard and yet everything just burns. If he breathes now, he most certainly will die. Sheldon pushes himself in a way he never thought possible for that final stroke and breaks the surface gasping and coughing. He splutters and splashes.
He is okay.
Sheldon coughs again as he begins to tread the water, but something's not right. There are flashing lights, his lungs burn and his heart is erratic.
She's not here.
"Amy," he turns in the water frantically, "Amy!" He is suddenly filled with a fear greater than one of him dying; one of her dying. He dives under, now his eyes burn, and sees her in the car, the airbag in her face. Did the airbag hit him? He doesn't remember. She isn't moving, her body still seating in the seat, sharing the space with the crushed door. Her face still against the airbag as her hair gently moves in the water. The window is already broken, but he breaks the rest of the window with a rock and starts trying to pull her out. The seatbelt won't come off; the door won't open.
She's not moving.
Sheldon feels hazy but he won't leave her. He needs Amy more than he needs to breathe. Something he may have to decide on soon. Someone jumps in next to him and dives to his side in an instant. Sheldon has her upper body in his arms, so he doesn't see how, but the man manages to pull Amy up. The two of them start to drift away from the car but Sheldon's head is too foggy to do more. He burns too much to move.
He shoves Amy in their arms and watches them go up as he floats in place. The light illuminates the two as the go up but the water is cloudy. It's red. He has to join them to see if Amy is okay. He has to. He kicks his leg out to swim up when he feels pain; a different pain. He's stuck. He jerks as consciousness begins to leave him. He can't do anything. The panic sets in.
If he breathes he dies.
He jerks again.
He flails his arms.
He has a flashback of bathing in the tub at MeeMaw's house, when she smiled at him and told him to close his eyes. He does. The thought is relaxing. She poured warm water on his head and told him that water could clean away all of the bad things.
He breathes.
But Amy's okay.
End