Wow, that's a lot of reviews for one day. I'm so glad everyone liked that chapter. I figured I'd have mobs with pitchforks hoarding me. But, no, I don't. Yay! I'm really hyped about this story, because it's really fun to write so far. Well, fun in an angsty, dark sort of way.
Thanks to everyone that has reviewed, and that means you, LyssaBoot, crazy steph, Allie, Sassyangel05, fdfdf, AL, and Laura. Oh, and before I forget, Sassyangel05, if you want to archive this one too, that'd be great. I'm glad you like my stuff.
Well, I know that I left you in suspense last time, but I'm doing it again. There's more closure (not much) next chapter, but the uncertainty continues the whole time. Once again, please review!
~Cop~
* * * *
Soundtrack of Sorrow
Chapter Two: Rude Awakenings
Joan was having one of the strangest dreams of her life. She must have dozed off in the car, because what was happening now definitely couldn't be possible. The car had been near silent, except for the tapping of Adam's fingers and the murmurs of the voices on the radio. But suddenly, all she saw was brightness, and all she heard was crashing and tearing. Then they were tumbling, the sounds grew louder, and screamed, confused and completely at a loss of understanding for what was going on.
The next thing she knew she was laying on a bed of soft leaves and blood. There was a slight smell of smoke on the air. Part of her mind told her to open her eyes to see what happened, but the other wanted her to lay still and rest, for their would pass, and become naught but a memory, as all dreams did.
Eventually the enticing first idea, aided by her curiosity, won out, and Joan struggled to sit up. It was definitely a challenge, since she felt like her entire body was broken. She was also bleeding from several different cuts. And no wonder. There was a very clear path in the undergrowth where something very large had tumbled through. As she followed this path of destruction, she came to the sudden realization that she'd never felt pain in a dream before. Startled by this thought, she stumbled forward as quickly as her battered body would allow her to.
She made her way into a small clearing, and what she saw there made in jaw drop in shock. On its side, up against a giant oak tree, was the remains of their car. Or at least the back half of their car, anyway. It was torn jaggedly, with every window broken.
How she had managed to be outside of this metal death trap, Joan wasn't sure. The only two people in the back had been herself…and Luke. With a gasp, Joan creeped closer to the car, afraid of what she mind find. Luke, however, was not inside, and his door, pointing directly upwards, appeared to have been forced open. So maybe he was alright. Joan had no idea where Adam and Grace were, but she would have bet money that they were with the rest of the car, wherever that was.
For now, Joan had her own problem to sort out, and that was to figure out where she herself was. After sitting down on a half-rotted log, she peered up, looking for the road, and she was dismayed when she saw nothing but trees. She wasn't sure if they'd been hit, or had just driven off the road. The bright light had to be related somehow, but Joan's mind was far too murky to think too much on the matter.
The pain that came with her injuries was beginning to grow, and Joan tried to assess how badly she had been hurt. She knew that she was cut in at least half a dozen places, and that her entire body felt bruised. Her wrist also throbbed terribly, and felt like it might be broken. Other than that, she didn't seem to be in terrible shape. She only hoped that she could say the same for Grace, Luke, and Adam.
Well, since those three were MIA, it seemed to be Joan's responsibility to find them. Or maybe they were all together, and Joan was the lost one. But if they were wouldn't they be trying to find her? She couldn't hear them calling for her, and there were no signs of life nearby. Unless, of course, they were in no condition to look for anyone. They could be hurt, or even worse…
Joan tried in vain to push this dreadful thought out of her mind, and staggered to her feet, anxious to find her friends and brother, before it was too late.
* * *
Luke had come to with a start quite a while before his sister had woken. He was still strapped in by his seatbelt, but this had turned into an inconvenience, as the half of the car that he was in was on its side. After a few moments of fighting with the buckle, he finally freed himself, and hit the ground with a dull thud. He slowly sat up and tried to comprehend he situation that he was currently in. The front of the car was nowhere in his line of sight, and the side of the car that Joan and Adam had been sitting on was horribly smashed and mangled. Joan's door was torn off as well, leaving Luke sitting on a carpet of grass. There was no one else in the car, and for a brief moment Luke wondered if that meant that there was no one else alive. He knew that they had to have flipped of the road, and was surprised by the fact that he had survived it.
Luke glasses were slight cracked, but still useable. Strangely enough, not only had he lived through the accident, and was almost unharmed. His face was slightly cut up from the glass of the broken window of his door, and he definitely felt sore, but was fine besides that. All those years of wearing a seatbelt like he was supposed to had actually paid off. His mind raced. Had Joan been wearing *her* seatbelt? Luke was pretty sure that the answer was no, since she had claimed it was too uncomfortable to sleep that way. As for Adam and Grace, well…seeing as their half of the car wasn't even there, Luke had no way of knowing how they fared.
Luke stood up and pushed his door open, and then clambered up and out of the car. The front was too twisted and jagged to attempt a climb through. When he was out he found himself in a small meadow, all alone. The sun's first light was peeking over the tops of the trees, signaling to him that he had been out for at least a few hours, if not a day or more. The others had probably awoken long before him.
He paused for a moment, and listened for the voices of his friends or of his sister. But, since he didn't hear anything, he decided it would be best to try and locate everyone himself. Turning away from the path that the back half of the car had taken, Luke made him way into the undergrowth. It wasn't long before he came across a small stream. Knowing that there was a large river flowing through here somewhere, and that this stream would probably lead there, Luke began to follow it. It would be logical for the others to make their way to water, since without it they would die before they could be found and rescued. He walked beside the stream for quite some time, until the undergrowth became so thick and tall that Luke found it near impossible to even take a step without stumbling in it. Sighing, he decided to revert to his only other option.
"Joan?" he called, as loudly as he could. "Adam? Grace? Can anyone hear me?" Luke hoped that his yells would bring a bear or something like that down on him. That would most definitely be inconvenient.
He was about to yell again when he heard his sister's voice.
"Luke? Is that you?"
The sound had come from the meadow where the car was. Luke turned around and ran back, tripping occasionally, but then getting right back up and continuing at the same pace.
"Luke? Did you-"Joan stopped mid-sentence as Luke entered the clearing.
Luke only had a moment to scan his sister for injuries before she had thrown her arms around him in a hug and started sobbing.
"Shh," he said, trying to comfort her, "don't worry, it's fine. We'll – you're hurt," he stated suddenly, seeing the cuts on her face, neck, and arms.
"It's not bad," she said softly as he guided her down to sit on a nearby log, unaware that she had just been sitting there moments before. Her cuts seemed to be shallow, but her left wrist was definitely broken. He could also see dark bruises blossoming all over her body.
"Come on," he said, helping her to stand, "there's a stream here, so we can get you cleaned up. We'll have to figure out something to do with your hand."
"Are you hurt?" Joan asked her brother, who shook his head.
"Seatbelt," he explained, "I told you they were good for something."
Joan nodded in understanding. "Do you know where Grace and Adam are?" Luke shook his head again, and Joan sighed. "Do you think they're all right?"
For once, Luke didn't have an answer.
* * *
There was something wrong with the windshield. Grace sat there, just trying to figure out what the problem was. Adam was sitting beside her, and Grace thought about asking him if he knew what was different.
That was when she noticed that the can of Pepsi in the cup holder was dripping towards the ceiling. She slowly tilted her head upward, or downwards, and saw water running through the car. With a start she realized that she was upside down, and that the car was partially submerged. She quickly undid her seat belt and landed in the water.
Grace sat perfectly still as the car rocked slightly. It looked like they were in a river, but she couldn't be sure.
Suddenly she wondered why Adam was so quiet. Maybe he was unconscious. As she reached up to undo his seatbelt as well, her hand brushed against his red shirt, which was soaking wet and sticky. It was then that Grace remembered that Adam *hadn't* been wearing red. She gasped as she realized that the red, sticky liquid was blood, and that it was mostly focused around a dark object protruding from Adam's chest.
*TBC*