Hey!
I apologise profusely for the lack of update in the past THREE WEEKS :S
This chapter was insanely difficult to write, and my hectic life wasn't giving me much opportunity to do so – and then when I finally got the chance, I broke three keys on my keyboard. I tell you, it is crazy difficult to type without an 'o', 'c' or 'a' keys.
Anyway, sorry for late update, I'm already working on the next one so hopefully it won't be too long wait :) - and sorry it's not majorly long t make up for the wait either.
Also, apologies if this is confusing – it should be made clear in the next chapter if not by the end :)
A/N: Title for this chapter comes from the Snow Patrol song of the same name.
Also, normal type is present, bold type is past (in this case, it's the recent past)
Chapter Nine: Chasing Cars
"All happy families resemble one another, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Leo Tolstoy
-
When Eve Bass was a child she thought hospitals were magical places. That they held spells and wonders beyond belief within their very walls.
Sitting waiting for news of her father and uncle after they'd been involved in a three car pile up and the limo they were traveling in crushed by an oncoming city bus; she realized as much as she wished she still held that same childish faith, she just couldn't bring herself to believe in the magic until she saw its results for herself.
And that's when they appeared.
-
Arms wrapped around her; she felt the pull, the sway; but she resisted. Something didn't feel entirely right. She tried to stand, but found she couldn't. Looking down, she saw her knees crumbling beneath her, and she met asphalt once more.
She was in the midst of a haze, waves of heat rolling by: distorting her vision, muffling the sounds. Her head snapped back and forth. She reeled back at the bright lights, flashing red and blue. Someone was swimming before her, their mouth opening and closing like a fish. She turned her head to the side to try and gauge what they were saying; distinguish their face from the rest of the blur that didn't seem to be retreating to the edges no matter how much she squinted, how much she concentrated; how much she tried.
All she could see was the mangled metal, the bloodstained glass. All she could see was –
She heard her name being called, felt arms tighten around her; and soon she was defying gravity. She couldn't feel her legs, and a sudden wave of anxiety came over her; and she jerked her body away. Her dark eyes flew across the scene, desperately searching for the blue ones she needed: clear and hypnotizing.
Her name was uttered once more, this time clearer, more defined. She turned her head to face the source and squinted as she stared into two pools of blue.
She felt her body go slack, the lull of her name on his tongue reassuring her: telling her that everything would be ok.
But it wasn't.
And nothing would ever be quite ok again.
That she was sure of.
And the feeling churned her stomach like the agitation of metal and rubber on the asphalt, the pain piercing her like skin sliced by broken glass.
-
Eve didn't remember much between the mass panic and realization that resonated within her, and her arrival at the hospital.
She remembered the exact moment of impact though.
She remembered the slip of concrete beneath her feet as her heel dropped a step with her heart when images flashed before her eyes like a terrifying horror film stuck on repeat.
She remembered the crunch of metal and the screech of tires and the precise moment when her eyes fell on the sight of that city bus slamming right into the side of her father's limo.
She remembered not being able to breathe, the entire time: not being able to think of anything but him.
She still felt that way.
-
Voices sounded faint, but not disjointed. Faces were blurry, but present.
The limo journey to school was as entertaining as ever; her father and Uncle left the business chat till after her departure, preferring to simply fall into easy conversation.
She was pulled from the memory as new figures appeared before her. Her father's smirk, mischievous twinkle in his eye, her Uncle's smile, her own laughter; it all faded into nothing.
She didn't even have the chance to utter a single question before they provided answers; frantic in their own distress.
-
Eve Bass believed in reason, in rationality. Everything had an explanation; you just had to discover what that was.
So when she found the space next to her empty, her hand hanging limply by her side, the skin on her right hip cold; she knew their would be justification. Except her boyfriend wasn't there to give it to her.
-
The elderly couple stood before her, their eyes asking the questions their mouths couldn't quite form, and she knew what they were saying; because she was, after all, a girl of reason and sensibility. Yet the words were lost on her, syllables falling from tongues as if foreign to her ears, because all she could see was the little boy by their side. The child with blonde hair and blue eyes, looking at her to provide the answers his wringing hands desperately asked for, looking at Eve to step aside and present Chris to him and his grandparents.
She knelt down and gathered Julian in her arms: because he needed his big brother and she needed him too, and if they couldn't have him then they would have the next best thing until they could.
…
Eve returned to her seat, Julian's miniature hand in hers, and he crawled up onto her lap.
Vanessa was standing off to the side, her Uncle Dan casting worrying glances over at her every few moments as he sat a couple of places away from Eve holding tight to her Aunt Serena. Her Uncle Will had come rushing in a short while ago telling them that Eric had called to inform him of the situation, and that he was to tell them that he was overseeing everything and that he'd let them know of any immediate changes. She was vaguely aware of utterings of her own grandparents' whereabouts, but they were muffled with the anguish of the unknown. Chris's grandparents took a pair of seats across from their grandson's girlfriend and their youngest and simply sat, waiting.
She felt her mother move towards her, even before she saw her.
Blair took the seat next to Eve, her body turned towards the teenager, face contorted in a swirl of emotions.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart, I… " she started; her eyes caught onto the brilliant blue of the child in her daughter's arms and she was suddenly at a loss for words.
"Please," the teenager turned to face her mother, breaking the elder from her momentary reverie. "Don't start apologizing."
"I know you're sorry; about everything, about this. But it's like it's your answer for everything," the younger female told her. "And apologies won't fix things. Right now, only doctors will."
"Or maybe they won't," Eve admitted, and her dark eyes seemed to dull at the words.
Blair turned her head and followed her daughter's gaze to the set of double doors, where Eric stood next to another man in matching scrubs.
The look on her Uncle's face told her more than the stained material ever could; too much blood had been spilled.
-
There were a few places Eve Bass held close to her heart; places she could rely on during those times of need. Places to escape to in the moments like those that had come so hard and so fast that she had no time to duck and run.
In her father's arms.
Watched by her Uncle Nate's reassuring eyes.
Before her Uncle Eric's understanding words.
Under her Aunt Serena's bright smile.
Surrounded by Vanessa's unwavering aura.
Within the tight grasp of Chris's hand.
In her mother's arms.
Protected.
When she found herself at the hospital chapel, she wasn't surprised. There had been no other viable option.
-
Eric's eyes met Eve's for the briefest of moments and then he started moving towards them, getting closer and closer; and it occurred to her at some point that she seemed to be the only one who hadn't moved, who seemed frozen to the spot.
But moving meant discovering the identity of whomever it was that was making her Uncle look so distraught.
Moving meant discovering who was.
Her Aunt's eyes settled on her as did her mothers, and suddenly she was standing up, lifting Julian from her lap and watching his grandmother reach out for his hand and lead him to her as the adults formed a circle around her Uncle Eric and his colleague.
But when Eve got to them, it wasn't her mother's tears or her Aunt's that fell like the water she'd seen at the Angel Falls with her Uncle Nate last summer; it was Vanessa's.
-
Her legs buckled beneath her, and her knees hit the carpeted lane that split the rows of pews like Moses did the Red Sea. She looked down and all she could see was those crimson waves; all she could see was the blood that stained the pavement, the blood that colored the glass and metal; the blood that tainted her soul the real shade of death.
She felt a drop of water hit her palm and held her hands up to the Heavens.
She wasn't wearing rose-tinted glasses, wasn't looking at the world with anything other than perfect clarity. Her tears were red, her hands of the same color; and she offered them up. One bleeding heart for another.
She just didn't know whose.
TBC…
A/N: Sorry is this was confusing, more answers will be given next chapter – which I'm trying to type up right now so, again, hopefully it won't be too long wait :)
Thanks so much for reading, and please let me know what you think – means a lot!
Steph
xxx