"Crane!"
Ichabod heard a voice of panic in the back of his mind but couldn't bring himself to open his eyes. A few minutes passed before he heard his name being called again. This time with more urgency.
Wake up.
"Ab-bie" whoever the voice belonged to sounded as if they had just run a marathon.
Open your eyes.
"Help!"
The voice rang loud in ichabod's head vibrating off of his skull. He tried to pry his eyes open just then.
Come on.
You can do it.
Ichabod tried once more to open his eyes. Willing his brain to see anything besides the back of his eyelids. This time coming closer than he did before.
Almost there.
Is that music?
He woke up with a start, taking giant gasps of air as he looked at his surroundings. The radio blasted Christmas tunes. Abbie loved Christmas music and insisted that they played it in the car.
Music.
The car.
Abbie!
Ichabod craned his neck to the right of him. Was he upside down? Something didn't seem right.
"Crane! Thank God can you move?" Ichabod recognized Jenny's voice. She was in the back seat. He also took in the fact that he was stuck. All the blood rushed to his head. He was definitely upside down.
"Crane! Are you alright?" Jenny asked seeing the faraway look in his eyes.
"Have a holly jolly Christmaasssss" the radio was the only one to respond.
"Now is not -" her breath got caught in her throat. The seatbelt was choking her and It hurt to breathe. "Now's not the time for you to check out crane." She started again.
We were supposed to go and enjoy some hot chocolate. I insisted on driving .
"Crane please" Jenny whispered "I can't breathe," she choked out.
How stupid am I. No matter how much the lieutenant protested my wanting to prove myself able got the best of me. She warned me. She warned me about the black ice and still I insisted. "Crane I have no chains on my tires." She spoke to me. In the end she handed over her keys. Curse her for being so generous. It was really her-
"Crane, Abbie's hurt." Jenny stated.
This got his attention all too quickly. He turned to his right again and took in the sight of abbie.
"Lieutenant!" He yelled. Her hair completely covered her face as the seatbelt helped her defy gravity.
"Already tried." Jenny said said between breaths. "If you can move ichabod you need to go and find help. I think my phone is around here somewhere." This all took too much out of her. She was going to pass out. Crane simply reached over to Abbie's face and brushed back her hair. She had a thick streamline of blood dripping from out of her mouth. Her teeth were all red. Ichabod remembered the horrific scream that she let out before he blacked out.
"Its beginning to look a lot liiike Christmas." The radio sang.
He heard Jenny start to cry in the back seat. it was such a foreign sound. The pressure on her neck from the seatbelt intensified because she was upside down and sliding upward. "Crane you have to get help. " her voice strained. The shock wore off and he was now aware of the situation. The lieutenant bleeding from her head and mouth, Jenny choking to death, how cold it was. He began to wiggle trying to scoot out from underneath his seatbelt. A success.
"Miss Jenny I do believe I've
gotten out!" He said excitement in his voice. He turned around and crawled on the ceiling of the car, which was now the floor, to the back. Jenny was unconscious. She too suffered from a head wound. Ichabod reached toward the seatbelt attempting to free her. It didn't work.
"Excuse my impropriety Ms. Jenny." He said as he placed his Hands on her waist and began to push her up. She got stuck, any chance of her breathing normal cut off. Ichabod panicked. He rushed back to the front of the car and reached inside abbies pocket pulling out her knife.
"Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Jack frost nipping at your nose." The radio was Ichabod's only companion.
He feverishly cut into the seatbelt causing Jenny to fall on top of him. She wasn't breathing. Ichabod flipped her lifeless body so that she was now beneath him. He now performed chest compressions as he had once witnessed Nick doing to Abbie.
1.
2.
3.
No sign of her.
1.
2.
3.
"Wake up Ms. Jenny, please!"
1.
2.
Jenny's eyes opened slowly and she began to gasp for air just as her sister once did. Ichabod was relieved. "Are you alright? " he asked when Jenny finally calmed down. She nodded, a serious case of bravado. Although he didn't believe her he still gave her instructions. "Find your cellular device and get help. I'll help Abbie." There it was again her name. Her beautiful name.
He crawled to the front seat and his hand slipped on something causing him to fall on his chin. He looked down and his hand was on the passenger seat dashboard which was covered in blood. Her blood. The impact Must have been horrible. she had once informed him about air bags and how it was a possibility for malfunction. Who knew that she was speaking of her very own. Ichabod glanced at the driver's seat. The air bag was inflated. If only he would have let her drive then she would have been protected. No, if he would have let her drive then they wouldn't be hurt at all because there would be no crash. Now here he was slipping in a pile of her blood.
He took in the gash on her forehead it was so deep. Would it leave a permanent scar?
"He sees you when you're sleeping he knows where you're awake."
Crane stared at Abbie unconscious. The irony. Oh how he wished that he could trade places.
"He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sakes. Oh you better watch out. You better not cry."
Ichabod kicked the radio. He couldn't take it anymore. Jenny crawled out of the truck. The snow in between her fingers chilling her already cold body. Why was it so cold? She had spotted her phone a few feet from where the car sat overturned. As she dialed 9-1-1 she heard Abbie scream. She glanced up to see Ichabod attempting to pull her free of the truck.
"What is the matter?" Ichabod asked, shocked that she had woken up so abruptly. "My leg" she answered through steadying her breath. Ichabod glanced up to where her legs were and saw that a piece of glass was impaled through it and was getting stuck on the window where he tried to pull her through. Ichabod reached for the glass "No!" Both sisters yelled in unison. Ichabod flinched. "what?" He asked. Jenny crawled over to them, still unable to walk. "Never take it out." she told him as she was still on the phone. Abbie began to whimper. Everything hurt. "Its gonna be okay." jenny reached and touched Abbie's face. "I'll just go get the knife." Ichabod announced before he was about to enter the truck. Just as he was about to crawl in, the back burst into flames. "Wait!" Jenny yelled. ichabod stood to his feet. "We have to get her out!" He yelled. Jenny spoke into the phone "yes! I don't know. We need help send an ambulance. The truck is on fire. We need faster. Oh yeah we have your lieutenant here wonder what she would Think if her own team hesitated to come to her aid. That's more like it." She hung up the phone.
"Lieutenant, the truck is on fire." Ichabod informed her. She simply stared. "Just leave me," Abbie coughed. "I'm going to have to pull the glass out or you won't make it." He warned. "I said just leave me," She swallowed hard tasting the bitter blood inside her mouth. "Lieutenant, that is not an option. Now, do you understand? " he asked. She nodded and bit her lip as his hand touched the glass. He tugged it a little and a whimper left her mouth. "Hurry up Crane! Fire's getting close to the gas tank. Any second now and its gonna blow." she wanted to step back, but she also wanted to be with her sister. Crane wasted no time and began pulling the glass uncontrollably. Abbie was now screaming in agony. Her body shook from every angle. Is this how death feels? One of her tears dropped down into Cranes face, and he couldn't keep his tears in anymore. He let them slide down his face as he pulled. Finally it came out cutting Crane's hand as it did. Abbie's blood painted a river in the newly fallen snow. Ichabod went to remove Abbie, but she didn't budge. What was stopping her? "Her seat belt is stuck, Jenny panicked. "Where's the knife Crane," She screamed. Crane attempted to keep his hand on the lieutenant's puncture wound and look for the knife. "You can't find it," Jenny squealed. "I'm looking," Ichabod wailed. Abbie had passed out from shock a few moments earlier. By God's grace Crane's hand landed upon the knife. He sawed feverishly through the strange fabric, and as Jenny predicted the car blew. They were able to get far enough where they weren't hurt but debris hit them as it fell.
"I'm so sorry." He said to both sisters.
"Mistakes happen." Jenny. Shrugged.
"You owe her so much damn money. " Jenny said pulling Abbie's head into her lap.