I remember the day as if it were only yesterday. I was with my best friend Lissa, her brother Andre and her parents. They were all going to the mall in Portland because it had a shop that Mrs. Dragomir loved to go to and I was graciously invited to go along. The Dragomirs were like my family, my only family, since my mom deserted me at the academy when I was only 3. I had been a part of their family since I met Lissa in preschool. After the teacher scolded Lissa and I for not writing our names right, I called her a fascist bastard and we have been like sisters ever since. Her parents took me with them during the summer and Christmas vacation since I didn't have a family to go home to for the holidays and at the time I was too young to stay at the academy for the summer.
Well anyways, we were driving down a long winding road that never seemed to end. The windows were up and the heat was blasting because it was only 10 degrees outside. Mr. Dragomir was driving with his wife up in the passenger seat, Lissa, Andre and I sat in the back with Lissa in the middle. The car behind us held guardian Petrov, Stan and 3 others that had to accompany us on the trip. All of us were playing I-Spy, but since we were in the middle of nowhere we quickly grew bored and remained quiet for a while. Soon Andre was asleep and Lissa wasn't far behind him. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Lissa shivering and furiously rubbing her arms to keep warm, without thinking about it I shrugged out of my coat and wrapped it around Lissa, who in return opened her eyes and smiled at me. She snuggled into my side and closed her eyes.
"Thank you" she mumbled before she finally fell asleep. I didn't need to be thanked, it was my job to protect her and look out for her. I was going to be her guardian one day and she was my sister. An hour passed before I let myself fall asleep against the window. Just as I was dozing off I felt a bump and the car swerved violently. Everyone was jolted awake and stared wide eyes and held their breath as Mr. Dragomir gained control of the car again. Once he had everyone relax, but it was too soon. Out of nowhere, an SVU came blazing down the road and smashed into the car. The second I felt the hit I curled myself protectively around Lissa. The car slid off the road and rolled down the hill. I felt a sharp pain in my side every time the car hit the ground. Loose objects were being thrown around and screams were heard, mine included. I held onto Lissa tighter and continued to take the majority of the blow to my body. Glass shattered as the car hit tree after tree. A branch poked through my window and cut my head. I felt blood everywhere and smelt the fire, heard there screams and I thought "This is it". The car finally hit the ground and my mind new no more.
I came to a second later when I heard Lissa screaming for her parents and for Andre and for me to wake up, but only I did. I sat up and a sharp pain went through my side and head. I gathered Lissa in my arms and she buried her face in my chest. I checked her for any life threatening injuries and saw that the only bad one she had was a cut on her face stretching from her temple to her ear. I ripped the sleeve of my shirt and held the fabric to the cut to slow the bleeding. It was then that I noticed that I was covered in blood, my blood. Not even a minute after the car had hit the ground I heard yelling from the guardians.
I looked and saw that Stan and Alberta were the first ones there. The windshield was completely gone so they could see the extent of the damage even clearer.
"Lissa, we have to get out of the car. Come one, I'll help you." I tried to undo her seat belt but when I leaned over a pain shot through my said and down my leg, but I ignored the pain and hit the release then I did the same to mine. During this time, Alberta had climbed into the car and checked Mr. and Mrs. Dragomirs pulse while Stan had climbed into the back where we were to check Andre.
"Lady Dragomir, are you hurt?" Lissa shook her head and Stan reached around her to grab her waist and hoist her out of the seat.
"Close your eyes" Stan told her and she obeyed and her helped her slowly out of the car. Alberta climbed over to me, her eyes searching mine.
"Rose, are you hurt?" I shook my head even though it was a lie. She snaked an arm around my waist and started to hoist me up when I gasped in pain. She stopped and slowly put me back into the seat.
"What is it, what hurts?" I struggled to breathe through the pain.
"My side" she lifted up my shirt to see a long cut that was gushing blood and a bruise that was black and blue.
"Oh god… Guardian Alto, I need your help over here!" not even 10 seconds later Stan came through the windshield and into the backseat, he saw my side and said,
"Shit…" he took a roller bandage that he had brought and wrapped it around my side to put pressure on it. I yelled out in pain.
"We have to get her out of here." One of them said but my eyes closed and I wasn't really listening anymore.
"We can go through the windshield…"
"I tried that, she can't move very much." I heard a bang and a crash and opened my eyes to see Stan shoving my door open. When it finally opened they helped me out of the car and into the snow. My eyes closed and my body slumped toward the ground, but someone caught me, picked me up, and set me down onto something solid. Then I knew no more.
I remember waking up a week later in the infirmary at St. Vladimir's academy. Lissa had stayed with me for as long as she could before she had to return to her classes. Her parents and Andres funerals were hard for her, I felt that. I don't know how and I don't know why, but I could feel her pain and despair as they lowered their once joyful beings into the ground forever. I put an arm around her and walked with her through the pure white snow back to the academy cars. We were going home, for how long it would be our home, I don't know, but for the time being it was the only place either of us could go to anymore. We were the same now, alone, with no one to care for us or about us. We were in this together… I knew that now.