A/N - This is a two shot based on Sam Smith's incredible song that is just UGH and I had to write on it. And yes people, this one is kind of a tearjerker. Get the tissues...if you're so inclined. Enjoy...
"You're telling me you didn't sleep with this chick?"
"Yes!"
"I fucking don't believe you man. No way. She was giving you the eyes all night and you didn't even hit that?"
"She had a boyfriend."
"Like that's ever stopped you before," Shane McMahon snickered and shot his friend a sideways glance.
Paul Levesque grinned sheepishly and shrugged his shoulders. If chicks wanted to screw around on their boyfriends it wasn't his problem. It's not like he was planning to settle down and get fucking married. One night, get it in, get gone and never see the girl again. What happened after was her shit, not his. And besides, his good old buddy was one to talk. "Or you. Tell me again how you met your current woman?" This time it was Paul who snickered at the glare shot his direction. Shane cared about this one, that much was obvious.
"That's different. Rissa and I…."
"Suuuurrreeee it is, whatever you say." Paul took a few moments of silence before asking the one question that never failed to grate on the other man's nerves. "So did you tell her you love her yet?"
"Fuck off Paul!"
Paul let out a cackle and moved his legs out of the way of the swift punch that flew in from the side. He managed to speak between the laughter, his soon to be prophetic words hanging in the air. "Will you fucking stop that! Keep your eyes on the road or you're gonna get us killed for fucks sake."
On cue, an ominous clap of thunder exploded in the dark night sky. Sleet and snow had been pelting down all evening. The duo was driving back to their shared apartment on a blustery winter's night yet little did they know what lay ahead. Shane was just about to respond to his friend's negative comment when suddenly the steering wheel pulled tight. In a flash the car spiralled out of control. The ice beneath was merciless, sending the black SUV careening onto its side. The car crunched and screeched off the ground in a twisted metallic dance, flipping upside down and eventually smashing into a tree on the driver's side door.
Paul groaned, barely conscious. He didn't understand what was happening. His vision was depleted to the point that he could barely make out a single thing. A slick wetness covered the right side of his face and a piercing pain rippled through his crushed ribs. The air was thick with smoke making it hard to breathe. He let out a painful cry as an overwhelming panic began to set in.
It was at that moment he realised he was hanging upside down, still secured by the seatbelt cutting into his skin. The sound of his heart mixed with a deafening ringing beat endlessly through his ears. It was unbearable. Paul swallowed meekly and tasted blood. He knew he was in bad shape and without thinking, un-clicked the seatbelt from the buckle. He fell down hard with a heavy thud, landing on the upturned roof of the car. The impact made his head spin and ribs scream. Both the car and Paul himself were in such a state that he was completely disorientated. He coughed weakly and once again felt the copper taste of blood slip down his throat. He didn't know if it was internal or trickling into his mouth from the obvious gash in his head. His hands were shaking when he reached out and tried to open the door. It was crushed. The entire car was crushed, making the space between the upturned roof and the seats impossible to move in. Paul's head hung low as he just about managed to turn in the other direction. Shane was hanging from his seat covered in blood, just like he had been, only he wasn't conscious. A horrible feeling rose in Paul's stomach. He barely had the strength to move but he reached across and gingerly nudged the other man's shoulder. "Shane?"
Nothing.
"Shane?" His voice was so weak and his vision was starting to blur even more viciously. Everything was turning red and blue. Red and blue. Red and blue. A different sound joined the ringing in his head. It was so loud. Constant. Multiple. Like many different things going off at once. And then the sharp smell of gasoline cut through all his senses. Paul felt it, choking his bruised lungs and stinging his eyes as he wiped the blood from them. It was too much. He felt heavy. Yet it somehow seemed to register in his brain that he smelled gasoline. Gasoline. Car. Blood. Upside down. Gasoline. Fire. Shane.
"This thing's gonna blow," a sombre paramedic called to the other emergency services on the scene. The smell of gasoline was pungent and they'd all been in this situation before. From what they could see there was a man in the car struggling against the window. The soles of his shoes kicked against the broken glass. "We don't have much time. Let's get this guy out of here."
Paul scrambled with what little energy he had to get his friend to safety but he was so out of it he didn't know what he was doing. "Shane!" His hands blindly searched for the buckle holding the other man in place but the red liquid was seeping into his eyes at a faster pace than he could keep it out. Suddenly he heard voices and felt movement. Something pulled at his leg…then his other one. He reached for Shane and found himself further away. "No!" he kicked out, desperately stretching despite the pain wrecking his body. He needed to get to Shane. He needed to save him. When he surged forward again he was even further out of reach. Glass cut into his stomach and hips as he was pulled out of the broken window.
"There's another man inside! There's another man inside!" called a second paramedic.
"Shane!" Paul cried in a panic. His bloody vision looked up into the dark night sky as a thick white snow fell all around him. The bitter cold sent a shock through his system and he gasped, suddenly unable to breathe.
The first paramedic strapped an oxygen mask to the wounded man's face and with the aid of two policemen, rolled him on to a stretcher. Everything from that point happened so fast. A fireman surveyed the scene and looked dejectedly at the paramedic standing closest to the driver's side door trying to help the second victim. A small ignition occurred at the back of the car and the fireman knew they were out of time. "We don't have time. We have to go now."
"But there's somebody still trapped inside."
"This vehicle is going to explode any second. There's no time."
The two men reluctantly made a dash for safety just as the car caught fire. It didn't take much longer before the horrible explosion erupted through the sky in a puff of orange flames and thick black smoke. The thunderous sound was the last thing Paul heard before he passed out in a terrified state of pain, panic and the horrific awareness that his best friend was still trapped inside that car.
