Ashley groaned as her head lolled to the side. She couldn't feel the left side of her face... she couldn't feel her left arm, either. She opened her eyes, only to wince and shut them again as she reached for her eye. It had felt like a weight had been pressing against her eye, and god it had hurt...
She just wanted to lie there and sleep forever... But she knew she couldn't. Not until she was sure Zach was safe.
Knowing better, she only opened her right eye and looked down at Zach. "Hey, are you okay, kiddo?"
He didn't respond. He didn't even stir... and that really worried her.
"Kid," She croaked, lightly shaking his shoulder "Zach, are you alright?"
Seconds ticked by without response, and that only made Ashley more scared. Her heart raced in her chest, and adrenaline pulsed through her veins.
"Zach. Please, please talk to me. Or-or just move a little, anything!"
"Why do you have a machete under your seat...?" Zach asked weakly. Ashley exhaled and laughed in relief as she crushed him in a hug. Tears pricked her eyes. She had really been scared there, for a moment...
"Dad gave it to me," She answered as she untangled his limbs from the seat belt. Zach hummed in acknowledgement as she picked him up, only to wince and yelp as she yanked his leg out from under the crushed dashboard.
Tears welled in his eyes as he grimaced and curled in on his self. "Ashley," He whimpered, "My leg really hurts... I wanna go home, now."
"I know, kid, I know," She told him softly, "I'm working on it. You just try to stay still for now, and stay awake- I'll get us out of this."
She opened the door and got out. Once she put weight on her leg, pain shot up and she had to hold herself up on the roof of her car. Biting back a groan, she leaned down and held her arms out.
"Alright, kid, let's go" She told him, doing everything she could to keep her voice steady, "We've gotta get you out of there."
Zach nodded and crawled over to her, biting back cries of pain as she lifted him in her arms. He looked at her face, and all but screamed. "Ashley- your face! It's!-"
"I know." She grunted. "It'll be okay."
"I don't think it will..." He said, speaking so quietly that she almost couldn't hear him, even as close as she was.
Ashley staggered a few feet ahead of her car, and glanced back. Her car... was fucked up. The passenger side was completely crushed. The other surviving head light flickered ominously and showed the stream of smoke that was spilling out of the engine. Her windshield had shattered. It was gone. A large portion of it was probably in her arm and face.
"Aw man..." She sighed before turning and continuing ahead, "My car..."
Zach buried his face into the crook of her neck, and Ashley realized with a start that his shoulders were shaking. "I'm sorry," He choked out, "This is my fault."
His statement surprised her so much, she forgot that her leg hurt and walked on it. She yelped and fell to her knee. "What?! This isn't your fault!" She protested as she shakily stood back up. "Listen, kid, this had nothing to do with you..."
"Yes it did," he sniffled, "We were only out here because of me, and now your car is broken."
Ashley sighed and set him down. "I don't give a damn about the car... I only care about you."
"But-"
"-Listen, babe... We can discuss who's at fault here, later. I have to see what happened to the other car." She pulled out her phone, silently praying for it to still work. The screen lit up, and she silently cheered before putting it into Zach's hands. "Call someone. Anyone you can get your hands on that'll help us. I'll be right back." She promised. Once he nodded, she staggered and limped over to the side of the road.
Ashley flinched as she saw the sight before her. The car appeared to have rolled down the hill, crashing into and felling multiple trees until coming to a stop at a particularly thick tree, almost a quarter of the way down the hill. A small fire had started near the engine, and she realized with a curse that, oh damn, she had to get down there and help them!
Her adrenaline pumped like never before as she limped as fast as she could back to Zach and grabbed the phone from out of his hands. "Hello, who is this?!" She panted, "Make it quick, I've gotta hurry!"
"Ashley...?"
Gerad. Of all the people Zach could have called, he called Gerad.
"Gerad, listen," she started, "We got in a car accident. I think Zach broke his leg or something, and I'm bleeding, and the other person's car is on fire. You need to come down here, or get someone to come down and help. Stay with Zach, make sure he stays awake- talk to him. Try to keep him calm. I gotta go!" Despite hearing faint protests from the phone, she ignored them and thrust the phone into Zach's hands.
"Listen, babe," Ashley told him, lightly running her thumb across his cheek, "I have to help this person. Their car is on fire, and I need to get them out."
Zach shook his head as more tears welled in his eyes. He started to protest, but Ashley shushed him and kissed the top of his head before hugging him with her good arm.
"I love you," She murmured, "I'll be back before you can say 'where's she gone off to?' okay? I promise."
Zach shook his head vigorously and grabbed her shirt sleeve. "No, please don't... Ashley, I'm scared."
"It's alright to be scared, bud. I'm scared too, but we need to be brave, little man. Just stay in the light-you have my phone, someone's coming; It'll be okay. You will be okay. And so will I. Cross my heart and hope to die." She assured him before standing up and staggering back to the side of the road, hugging her hurt arm to her chest.
She started to make her way down the hill, slowly but surely, trying to slip as little as possible and grabbing onto any trees she could get a hold of. She knew that if she fell down that hill, she wouldn't be able to get back up.
As she neared the car, she noticed a figure slumped against the wheel from the light of the fire, and cursed. "Oh damn..." She breathed, "That does not look good."
When she got to the car, she all but ripped the car door open and dragged the unconscious guy out with her good arm. "You better be glad I'm not leaving you here," she gasped as she struggled to get up the hill, "You hurt my baby, and I have half a mind to leave you here!"
He didn't respond, so she settled with just grumbling to herself. After a few minutes of climbing up the rest of that hill, though, she came to realize just how much everything hurt. She was positive she had some glass shards in her face, but she didn't want to reach up and touch to make sure... That would probably just make it worse.
Almost halfway up the hill, she had to stop. She leaned against a tree and gasped for breath.
"You better have a good excuse for having crashed into us like an idiot," she panted, "Because if you don't, I'll drag you from the hospital to this hill, and throw you back down it..."
After a minute or two, though she didn't want to, she knew she needed to get up the damn hill. So, she decided to try it a different way, and threw the guy over her shoulder before making her way up.
Carrying him instead of dragging him up the hill did help. She could use her good arm to grab an anchor to keep from falling down the hill, now, but it was still hard. Sweat trickled down her face and back, and her legs trembled with silent protest. Her arms throbbed, and her left hand was slick with blood.
It wasn't a fun time. But it was (just barely) doable, and that was all she asked for.
After what felt like weeks, she could see above that damned hill and see Zach, and a familiarly large figure kneeled down in front of him. Zach caught sight of her peeking above the hill.
"Stop! I'm okay, I'm okay- don't help me, help Ashley!" He all but screamed.
She grinned at the young boy before dropping the unconscious man onto the top of the hill and resting her arms on the flat(er) ground and giving her legs a moments rest. And boy, did it feel good... Her right hand was all sweaty, and now that she stopped, her entire body screamed obscenities at her for pushing it to and beyond it's limits.
Finally, she was getting a bit of a break... It was right on time, too. She had been starting to get awfully light-headed, and her thoughts were in a garbled mess. All she cared about at this point was Zach and getting some sleep.
Gerad ran over and got on his knees in front of her with a relieved smile, only to stop and wince at the sight of her face. "Daggon, Ash... Can you even see out of your eye?! You look horrible!"
She breathed a laugh. "Not really... And thanks, by the way- That's what every girl wants to hear, Gerad. Real confidence booster, aren't you?"
Realizing what he said, he stuttered an apology, only to be cut off by the tired, sore, and stupidly happy and relieved girl.
"Don't even worry about it," She told him weakly, "Just please get me off this damn hill before I decide to blow it to smithereens once I'm fit for it..."
He nodded and smiled weakly at her before holding out his hand for her to grab. Her spirits soared, and she couldn't stop grinning like an idiot. She was finally going to go home, and sleep. Dream of sweet nothings and forget about this horrible night- err... morning.
She lifted her arm to grab his hand, only to slide down the dirt and grass a good foot and a half. Her eyes widened as she grabbed the grass with both hands, and she swallowed thickly as she bit down a bit of panic.
"Okay..." She said as calmly as she could, "Let's try this again. We don't want me dying right in front of Zach- that would scar him for life. Plus, I enjoy living. I gotta stay around to help Zach grow up, stay calm."
Gerad gulped. "Why don't you grab my arm with both your hands...? Just to be sure..."
"I can't..."
"What?"
She grimaced. "I said I fucking can't! I would love to, but just moving the son of a bitch hurts like bull doodie!"
"That's not good," Gerad squeaked, nervousness written all over his face as he held out his arm as far as it would go, "Okay... We're just gonna have to be real careful... Ready?"
She nodded and tried to place her feet on solid ground so she wouldn't slip. Once she did, she threw her arm to his, and held on as tightly as she could. But... her hand was slippery. Partially from sweat, partially from having wiped blood from her face.
Her hand slid, and she caught a glance of Zach, looking at her with a horrified expression before losing sight of him as she fell.
She tumbled and rolled down the hill, hitting many trees, bumps, and rocks along the way. Thankfully, she hit her head against a particularly large tree, and it knocked her out the rest of the way down, and then some.
How long it was that she was on the bottom of that damned hill, partially covered in leaves... How long it was, her being covered in a blanket of darkness, blissfully unaware of just how injured she was, of just how much pain she should have been in...
All good things must come to an end, unfortunately. She was ripped from her peace, from the sweet, sweet black and thrust into consciousness: a world so excruciating, so horribly painful that just opening her one good eye, the one that wasn't stuck closed from dried blood, made her whimper.
She looked around. There wasn't much around her. Trees. Rocks. Dead leaves littered the ground. She was laying in a small clearing, and the moon shined through the empty branches of the trees. The man on the moon seemed to mock her, smiling at her in all her pain.
At first, she couldn't recall a thing. Not her name, not what state she was in, not why she was there-nothing. But as the seconds dragged on, details, the most important ones, came back to her.
Zach... Where was he?! She could recall that he had been hurt, and she had been, and still was, dearly worried. That was the main thing that came through her clouded and fuzzy mind. Zach. He was hurt. She was hurt. And she had promised him something... What had it been?!
That she would be back! That was it! She had gone down a hill to help someone... Who...? It didn't matter. She had gone down, promised Zach she would be back, and things would be okay! She had crossed her heart... She had crossed her heart and hoped to die to him, that things would be okay. And she was lying in a ditch, half covered in leaves, that didn't qualify as okay, now did it?
She needed to get up... She needed to get up, and find Zach.
If only she could remember where he was... Every time she tried to think of where he was, she just got a terrible migraine...
One thing at a time, she decided. Focus on one thing at a time. She had to get up, first. If she could do that, at the least, and get some of those damned leaves off of her...
But god, just laying there hurt... The left side of her face throbbed annoyingly, and every throb sent waves of pain to her head. And her arm... Every twitch of a muscle felt like it ripped flesh. Her right arm wasn't too bad, but it was sore. Like she had been carrying around a dead weight for hours...
She couldn't even feel her legs. And to be honest with herself, she was quite glad she couldn't. She was worried that if she could feel how bad it hurt-and she was quite positive it was, she would give up hope and lie there in defeat, without even trying. She didn't want to give up... She had made a promise, and by god she was going to bloody keep it- or die trying!
"I promised," she croaked to herself, trying to pump herself up enough to get up, "I promised him... I told him that things would be okay, and things are not okay if I'm stuck in a ditch! I crossed my heart and hoped to die, so I gotta try! For Zach!"
She moved to get up, but once she moved her left arm, red hot pain exploded all through her left side and arm, and she fell back to the ground as tears welled in her eyes. She tried three more times to get up, and failed every time... Stupid nerves... The pain wouldn't be a problem if her nerves would stop working properly, damnit!
"Well, I crossed my heart and hoped to die," She choked out as she futilely dragged herself along the ground with her good arm, "And I'm not sure I can do it... So I guess this is the part where I hope to die. And then die... in lots of pain, in the dark, by myself. But I have to keep trying until the end..."
How long had it been since she made that promise, she wondered... A day? Two? If it had been a day, then that meant it was her birthday, she distinctly remembered. Twenty years old... One more year, and she could drink and party like all the other kids that age...
When she stopped and looked around, she realized that she had barely moved from her spot, she gave up. She didn't like to quit, but she wasn't achieving a damn thing...
She looked up at the sky. God, it was beautiful... The moon was bright. Lovely, really. It shined lots of light. Almost as much as a street lamp... And it was cold. Cold enough to see her breath. Easily below freezing temperature, and she was certainly glad for it. She had always preferred the cold, and maybe it would numb her up enough so that her face would stop throbbing so much. The only thing that could have made it better was a bit of...
"Snow..." She said weakly as a half smile crossed her face. Small bits of icy fluff floated from the sky, and landed around and on her... It was beautiful. She breathed a laugh. She guessed that Jack Frost had come through for her, after all...
"Now all I need to see is Zach, to tell him I love him," She mumbled quietly, hoping for a miracle to happen. Deep down, though, she knew she wasn't nearly lucky enough, nor did she do enough good in her lifetime for it to happen... But she could still dream...
Seconds turned into minutes, which turned into hours. Her eyelid drooped more and more, until she could barely hold it up.
"I don't want to go..."
Her quiet protest didn't do jack for her, and she was tired... so tired. She figured she had done all she could, so she finally let her eye lid shut.
She didn't care that her own name escaped her. And she could care less about which state she was in. What her house(or had it been an apartment?) looked like... Had she even had a car...?
Bah... She didn't give a fuck...
Darkness surrounded her, but she wasn't scared. She knew there was no reason to fear the dark. All she needed to be scared of was what was in the dark. And anything that lay hidden in the shadows couldn't do anything but speed up the inevitable. She wasn't afraid...
She only wished she could have spent more time with her brother...
No, she had nothing to fear...
Her consciousness left her, and all that was left in her mind was darkness. She no longer felt any pain...
Then, white exploded behind her eyelids...
And she was gone.
Author's Note~
asdfsdfjkha holy nugget in a biscuit! AGH! My heart! It can't take all the positiveness you people are giving my story! GLOB I love you people! Like, I don't even know what to DO, yo. Like, 20 people favorited and followed and reviewed, and it's- I don't even know!
Ahem... Okay, I'm good now. Thanks for all the positive stuff about this guys. It's... incredible. I really appreciate it, and I'm glad that people are liking this as much I like writing it. I stretched this one out as much as I could to make up for the really short chapter I put up last time... However, school is rearing it's ugly head once more, and it may take me more than one day to submit a new chapter from this point.
As always, tell me if I messed up anywhere and how to fix it, por favor. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to read this, and I hope you get a few laughs out of it.
... Well, now that I think about it... Maybe you won't get that many laughs out of this bit. It's not a very happy chapter... A person dies, and junk. And it doesn't make a whole lot of sense near the end, since Ashley's kinda losing herself from the loss of blood and stuff, so... I guess all I can say, then, is I hope you don't hate this chapter...?
,BlueAsh666