Love is Silent

Chapter 20

I retreated into myself over the next couple of days. I refused to go to school and I stopped talking once again. I remained in my room, not even leaving to get something to eat. My parents became frantic with worry, and Chase was completely bewildered by the change in my attitude. I would curl up against him when he came to see me, but I wouldn’t even talk to him.

            After three days of this, he’d finally had enough. “Damn it Dana, tell me what the hell happened!”

            My eyes snapped open in shock at the tone of his voice. So far he’d been quiet and understanding, not pushing me into anything. But now he’d obviously lost his patience. “There’s nothing to tell,” I said, my voice raspy from lack of use.

            “Bullshit. Three days ago you were perfectly fine. We had a great time with Blake and Hailey and you were happy when I left you. The next morning, you turned into a shell of a person. What happened?”

            “I had a nightmare,” I whispered.

            He rubbed my back gently. “Okay, what was it about?”

            “The crash.”

            He frowned. “I thought that’s what they were always about.” When I nodded, he laid his hand on my cheek. “What was different about it?”

            My breath hitched as I turned away from him. “I remembered something.”

            He sighed and forced me to look at him again. “What did you remember?” When I didn’t answer, he framed my face with both hands. “Dana, please tell me. This is killing me.”

            It was only then that I realized how pale he looked, and he had circles under his eyes. “The accident happened so quickly,” I said. “One minute we were driving along, and the next we had a car slamming into us. I remember Luke looking over at me just before we were hit. The look in his eyes is one I’ll always remember from now on. There was a lot of fear in them, but there was also a brief flash of determination. A moment before the car crashed into us, Luke jerked the steering wheel to the right, causing his car to veer to the side a little.” I paused and placed a hand on my leg. “If he hadn’t done that, I would’ve been killed.” I don’t know how I knew that, but I did.

            “He saved your life,” Chase said quietly.

            I was jerked back to the present by his words. “And in exchange, he lost his,” I said bitterly. “He should’ve just let the car hit us like it was supposed to. Then he’d still be alive, and I wouldn’t.”

            “You don’t mean that,” Chase said warily.

            “Yes I do. Luke was a much better person than I was. It should’ve been him that survived, not me.”