Aurelio's Dilemma

CHAPTER THIRTY

CHAPTER THIRTY

Pain.

Overwhelming, sickening pain.

In the darkness, with no sense of direction, no grasp on his surroundings, Aurelio couldn't even tell where the pain was the coming from, which made it all the more excruciating.

All he could do was whimper.

It took him a few seconds to be able to open his eyes, and when he did, he saw the inside of his parents' car. He was leaning his head back, looking up at the roof. He lowered his chin to check on Matt and Leslie, but his neck throbbed so hard and so suddenly that he froze instead, clenching his jaw and squeezing his eyes shut again.

"Matt," Aurelio mumbled. "Leslie?" No answer. Aurelio's chest tightened, and he forced his torso forward, only to hiss and blink back tears as a burning pain fired through his stomach. Breathing heavily, he strained to check the area and the sight nearly made him pass out.

The windows had shattered, and a few shards had cut his stomach open. Blood trickled around the wound, spilling over his leg and the seat. Bile rose up Aurelio's throat. He desperately swallowed it down and locked the fear and anxiety in his chest just so he could be able to act. Setting his eyes ahead, he tried to pinpoint any movement from Matt and Leslie, but they were both horrifyingly quiet and motionless.

It was this terror of losing them that made Aurelio reach for his door. After some pushing and pulling, he managed to open it, then he scooted to the edge and eased himself to the ground with a grunt. Except that the second he let his weight onto his legs, a sharp twinge hit his right knee, and he almost collapsed. He quickly held onto the door to keep himself upright. Then he limped over to the driver's seat, where Matt was.

"Matt." Aurelio's voice shook, and his watery eyes made the scene wobble and ripple before him; he could barely make out Matt's bloodied face, the wounds all over him, the tiny pieces of glass sticking out of him, the blood trickling from a cut above his brow over his eye and cheek. With a shaky hand, Aurelio reached a finger over to Matt's nose, checking his breathing.

Alive.

For now.

The air bags had exploded. All their phones were broken. Aurelio couldn't call an ambulence. He looked behind him, wondering if he could manage to hurry to the nearest place and ask for help, but the street was way, way too far away from any building. At either sides of the road were trees and land.

In front, there was the Jeep they'd crashed into, and to the side, a safe distance away, another car. And a man standing near it.

Aurelio's mouth fell open. "Hey," he managed. "Hey! Call an ambulence!" He looked at Leslie's limp body next to Matt. "We need help."

Silence. Aurelio gritted his teeth. "Please!" he shouted. "Please." His angry voice melted into a low, pleading one, and he tried wiping his tears with his sleeve, but he ended up crying into it instead. "They won't make it if you don't hurry." He looked up at the man again; his face was expressionless, emotionless, unbothered.

"I don't have my phone." The man shrugged.

He had a familiar voice. Aurelio frowned, squinting at him.

Uncle Ian.

"Uncle?" Aurelio said, but he had no time to question. "Then go get help. Go get someone to call an ambulence for Matt and Leslie." He glanced at them and his heart ripped apart. "If I move them on my own, I could accidentally make their injuries worse. Hurry."

Black smoke rose from the crushed hood of the Toyota, and Aurelio's gut squeezed. His heart skipped a beat. He froze to the core.

"Oh my God," he whispered, eyes widening with terror. "No, no, no. That's...That's gonna explode!"