Author's note: Okay, right now I'm in the process of working
on another story, but since I haven't posted one in a while, and this one was
laying around on my hard drive, I figured what the heck? I think it's pretty
good, nothing compared to my last one, but I'll let you be the judge.
Rating: PG-13 for content. (car accidents and shtuff)
Disclaimer: Welcome to the Disclaimer. At the sound of the
tone, you will here a message that clears the author of any legal penalties
that may be suffered for copyright infringement of any kind. The author wishes
to state that she does not own Digimon and is DEFINETLY not making a profit
from any literary works involving anything affiliated with it. Thank You.
The cars swerved in and out of the lanes, sometimes at irate
speeds. Sometimes they didn't even
bother to signal, and other times the drivers were too busy on their cell
phones to realize that the car in front of them had had its brake lights on for
a few seconds. The combination of horns
blaring and the smell of exhaust fumes began to drive the young boy crazy.
The sun had begun to set, and it seemed like they had been
on the road for hours. In actuality,
they had. Matt Ishida and his father
were returning home from a business trip out of town. The trip required more time than Matt's father had wanted him to
stay home alone, so he half-heartedly tried to play this trip off as spending
quality time with his eldest son.
"So, how did you like the trip Matt?" his father said, in an
attempt to break the awkward silence that plagued the two since they left the
hotel.
"Oh, it was great Dad," Matt lied, "Very scenic."
If you would call rows of trailer parks, miles of deserted
highway, and the numerous truck stops scenic, Matt thought. The truth is, he had been miserable the
entire time they were away. He didn't
get to spend any time with his father, except at night when he returned from
covering his story, and in the early hours of the morning, when they would get
breakfast. Other than that, he was free
to roam around the hotel all day, or keep himself occupied by watching T.V. in
the hotel room, or play a video game or two.
Oh, and of course the hours of quality time they spent in the car ride
up there and back. Especially when his
father would yell at passing motorists for cutting him off and little old
ladies traveling too slow in the fast lane.
Matt rested his chin on his arm as he leaned against the car
window and sighed. The sooner this trip
was over, the better he mused. It
wasn't that his father did not care, it was just that he never seemed to be
able to get away from his job long enough to ever spend any real time with his
family. Namely Matt, since his little
brother T.K. lived with his mom.
Matt's father looked over at him and he bit his lower lip,
slightly out of frustration. Every time
he missed an opportunity to spend with his kids, he promised to make it up, but
ultimately never did.
"Hey Matt?" his father said as he picked up his cell phone
and tossed it into his son's lap. "Why don't you call up your mom's house and
see what T.K. is doing? Maybe on the
way home we can swing by and pick him up and he can spend the night. I'm sure your mother won't mind that, just
for a night."
"Sure thing Dad," Matt replied. This idea started to cheer him up. He liked spending time with his younger brother. It was something he seldom got to do.
"Tell her we should be back in town in about an hour and a
half, so around 6:30p.m."
Matt dialed the number and waited anxiously as the phone
rang.
"Hi Mom! It's me, Matt. Listen, is it okay if T.K. comes to
spend the night? It is? Thanks Mom!
Dad says we should be in town about 6:30p.m. Okay. We'll see you then."
Matt smiled as he hung up.
"So your mother said yes?"
"Uh huh," Matt nodded.
Half an hour later, the car had just entered its last
stretch of highway before the freeway 15 miles up the road. Matt had always hated this strip of highway
because it was on a hillside and there were only two narrow lanes going in
opposite directions. He started to become
dizzy as he looked out the passenger side window to see nothing, but the guard
rails and the bottom of a deep gorge.
Matt reached down to his side and clutched his seatbelt
buckle, making sure it was securely fastened.
This was something he had started to do to comfort himself when they
traveled on roads that he didn't particularly like.
What started to scare Matt even more was how his dad was
looking at the cars and road ahead of them.
"What's that idiot doing!?" his dad remarked.
Matt turned his head to see what was going on in front of
them. He couldn't see what was
wrong. In fact, he really couldn't see
too much of anything with the big rig driving in front of them. That is, until it started to swerve to the
left and right. Apparently, someone was
trying to pass in the other lane and had underestimated either the power of
their car, or the speed of the car ahead of them. In any case, they didn't leave themselves enough space to return
back to their respective lane, and the giant semi was trying to avoid a
collision with them.
The truck clipped the front end of the unlucky car, which
sent it spinning towards the side of the hill, but not before it collided with
another vehicle. Matt and his father
watched in wide-eyed horror as the two cars careened into the hillside. The
crisis had not been averted yet. When Matt's father snapped his head back in
the direction of the semi, he realized that it had begun to jack-knife.
"Dad! Lookout!" Matt screamed. He was frozen in his seat. Completely paralyzed by fear. The back end of the rig's trailer was inches
away from their windshield. Matt
clenched his teeth and forced himself as far back into his seat as possible.
Instinctively, his dad slammed on the brakes, which sent the
vehicle screeching to a halt. Matt
lurched forward in his seat and his dad threw his arm out to stop his son from
knocking his head into the dashboard.
Unfortunately, the car behind them was following so closely
that it did not have time to react and rear-ended them. The added momentum shot them forward sending
their car sliding down the highway.
Ironically, it looked like they were in pursuit of the semi. Matt's dad
jerked the steering wheel to the right, trying to avoid hitting the underside
of the rig as it tipped over on its side.
It was already too late, when he realized the mistake he had
made. The car went right through the
guard rails and plummeted over the edge of the hill.
Matt turned pale and dug his nails into his seat cushion.
"Daaaaaaaaaaadddddddd!!!" he screamed, as the car began to
roll down the hill into the gorge.
The impact of each roll sent his body rocking back and
forth, slamming him into the side of the door.
One second they were upside down and the next right side up. The roof had slowly begun to cave in with
each hit. Matt barely managed to catch
a glimpse of his father through the whole ordeal, but when he finally did it
was something that he would recall for the rest of his life. He had never seen the fear in his dad's eyes
that he had witnessed at that moment.
His mouth gaped open, as if he had started to scream, but nothing came
out. His fingers were laced so tightly around the steering wheel, that his
knuckles were white.
Each jolt to the frame of the car seemed to compact it even
more as they tumbled down the hill. Matt's side began to hurt, but he couldn't
tell why. As they made their final
spin, both Matt and his father threw their arms up to shield their faces as a
massive piece of a tree branch crashed through the windshield, showering them
in glass and leaves. Luckily for them
it went straight through the middle, narrowly missing Matt's ear by
centimeters. The last thing he
remembered before blacking out was his head making sharp contact with the caved
in roof of the car.
When he finally awoke, he could hear rescue workers above
them, but they were nowhere near being close enough to the wreck to help them
yet. Matt knew they were upside down,
but he didn't know the length of time they had been sitting there.
"Matt?" his dad called weakly. "Son? Are you…" the last lines came out trembling.
"I'm okay Dad," Matt quickly answered, "How are you?"
"Thank God," his dad muttered under his breath, "I'm alive
son, I'm alive."
After further inspection, Matt realized that the branch had
torn right through his seatbelt when it came crashing through the
windshield. He was lying upside down on
his back in an awkward position, with his head at a forty-five degree angle,
shoved up against the dashboard of the vehicle. The pain in his side that he had felt during the fall was now
resurfacing again. He tilted his head
in his father's direction, and saw his dad's hands clearing away a bunch of
leaves that blocked the view to the driver's side seat. Moments later he could visibly see his father.
He did not look that bad, all considering. His head was a little banged up, and the
bump that had begun to swell up on his forehead was evidence of that. He had a few cuts and scrapes from the
shattered glass on his face and arms, but other than minor injuries, he seemed
to be in good condition.
Matt's father did not seem so optimistic about his son's
appearance though. Unbeknownst to Matt,
the right side of his face had swollen up when all the rocking and jolting had
caused him to bang the side of his head into the passenger side window. His shirt was also almost completely covered
in blood. The passenger side door had hit some jagged rocks on the way
down. They had caused the door to dent
inwards. The sheet metal on the inside
had bent; leaving a large protruding piece that had managed to stab the young
boy in his side.
His father's guess was that the adrenaline was still flowing
throughout his system, and that was why Matt did not complain of any pain. Looking at the branch that could have nearly
killed him or his son, he had time to reflect on what a close call it was.
Matt soon found out that his father's assessment was not the
exact extent of his injuries. When he
tried to shift himself into a more comfortable position until the rescue workers
arrived, a sharp pain ran up and down his left leg. Tears welled up in Matt's eyes and he cried out.
"What's wrong son?" his dad asked with worry in his voice.
"Augh!" Matt grunted in pain, "I think my leg is broken." he
managed. Matt looked down and found
that the tree branch had done more damage than he thought. It had crushed his leg underneath its
enormous weight.
"Just stay calm Matt and don't move." his dad soothed. "Help
is almost here."
The adrenaline was starting to diminish from his system, and
Matt began to feel excruciating pain.
He squeezed his eyes shut and moaned.
He was trying so hard to bear the throbbing in his leg and his side, but
it was becoming overwhelmingly difficult.
Then he felt his dad's hand resting on top of his. Matt
turned his head as best he could at the angle it was at, and looked over at his
father.
"It's going to be okay Matt." his dad said, trying to
comfort him.
Hours later, after the emergency crews had freed the two,
and had rushed them to the hospital, the car crash was all over the news.
Tai Kamiya sat with his family watching the footage of the
young boy and his father being pulled out of the wreckage.
"Wait a minute!?" Tai exclaimed. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. That was his best friend on the T.V. screen. He looked anxiously
at his parents. "Mom, Dad, we need to
get down to the hospital now!"
Matt awoke in the recovery ward of the critical care
unit. He had an ice pack on one side of
his face, his leg was in a cast, and he could tell that there were stitches in
his side. When his eyes began to focus
better, he noticed that his mom and little brother were fast asleep in the
corner. The clock on the wall read 11:30p.m.
He then heard a shuffling sort of noise and when he looked up he saw his
father smiling down at him. His arm was
in a sling, and his head was bandaged.
"How are you feeling Matt?" he whispered.
Matt nodded his head as best he could and replied, "I'm
okay. You?"
"Fine, now that you're awake. The doctor told your mother that you had minor internal injuries,
and they're going to keep you overnight to monitor you."
"Oh." Matt replied. "How did Mom and T.K. take it?"
"They were both very upset, but when the doctor told them
you'd make it, they calmed down a bit."
T.K.'s eyelids fluttered open and he jumped off his mother's
lap and ran over to Matt's bedside.
"Hey kid," Matt greeted.
"Matt! I'm so glad you're awake! I thought you were a goner for sure, and I was crying and
everything and so was Mom. Boy you had us worried."
"Well, I'm alright now bro." he replied.
"That's good! So when am I gonna be able to spend the night
again?" T.K. asked.
Matt shook his head and smiled and looked up at his dad.
"Soon," he answered, "When your brother is all better. By
the way," his dad began, "you have a few more visitors." he said and motioned
to the door.
Tai and his sister Kari entered the room.
"Hey man!" Matt exclaimed, "Didn't expect to see you here."
"Didn't expect to see you here either! Now what did you try
and do?" Tai smirked.
"I wasn't driving!" Matt retorted.
Kari looked up at Matt, then at his father.
"I don't care who did it, I'm just glad everyone's okay."
she said.
A nurse came in and informed everyone that if they weren't
patients, they had to leave, so Matt could get his rest. Everyone said goodbye and Matt's mother
kissed him on the cheek before she left.
Despite the pain and discomfort, Matt drifted soundly off to sleep,
relishing in the knowledge that even though his dad was a busy man, he did care
for his family. He hoped that the
accident had taught him the value of spending quality time with his loved ones,
before it was too late.
The End.
End Note: Okay I
think this'll probably be the last time Matt end's up in a hospital when the
story's over. lol. I was thinking about it and the ending seems to be getting
rather tiresome. Anywho, sappy enough for ya?
Btw, if anyone has any idea what Matt's father's name is please clue me
in! I'm getting kinda tired of calling him "Matt's dad/father" and "Mr.
Ishida." Eh, let's see anything else I gotta say before I leave you in peace,
oh yeah I tend to be very critical of myself, at least my writing anyway. I
particularly hated this ending, it seems like I tried to rush it, but I didn't.
Any comments or feedback is welcome, r+r! ^_~
