Fix me

Chapter 37

The line goes dead, but I keep shouting her name. Coming to my senses I dial her number again. It goes straight to the answerphone.

Holding only the phone, leaving the food all over the place and the fridge and the cupboards open, I turn and run right out of the flat, slamming the door shut. She said she was nearly home.

I slip and fall as I turn towards the main road, grazing my palms on the concrete, but get up straight away and just keep running.

Her words are floating around in my head, all jumbled. The way she shouted 'Stop!'

It crosses my mind that once I reach the top of the main road, I won't know which way to go. But I keep running, my lungs on fire.

I think my heart stops for a second when an ambulance shoots past me, its sirens blaring. I run even faster, desperate not to lose sight of it. I see it turn left at the top of the road and speed up. It has to be her.

I turn left where the ambulance did and fall over again, but get straight back up and keep running. I can see it, in the distance, the ambulance has stopped, its lights still flashing. I feel like my lungs might explode but I don't even slow down.

When I see the sight before me, for a moment, everything stops. I stop running. I stop breathing. Maybe even my heart stops beating.

Cheryl's car is smashed into the back of a parked lorry. There is a motorbike on the floor a few feet away. As I start to move closer, through the thin waves of smoke emitting from the car, it seems one of the doors on the back of the lorry was open, and is embedded in the front windscreen of Cheryl's car.

That's when I spot Gary, clutching his face, surrounded by paramedics. But I don't see Cheryl. I sprint the last few feet towards the car; I know she's still in there. I just know.

'CHERYL!'

Someone catches me hard around the waist. 'Woah--!'

'Cheryl, I'm here! Let, go, she needs me--'

Someone else grabs my arm and starts pulling me back.

'CHERYL!'

'Wait, wait, it's ok I know her!'

Gary is there. He's ran over, his face full of blood, holding one hand over his nose. 'It's her girlfriend, let--'

'Kimberley!?'

Ignoring everyone, even Gary, I pull away from the people holding me back quickly and run for the car.

Cheryl's in the passenger seat. The open lorry door is wedged into the car, creating a barrier between her and the drivers seat, where there is a paramedic sitting, talking to her. There is glass everywhere. I run around the car. 'Let me talk to her, she's asking for me, please.'

The woman nods, sliding out. I need to get a bag--'

'Why haven't you got her out yet, you need to get her out--'

'We're waiting for the fire brigade.' She says to me quietly. 'We need to cut the door off her side to get her out.'

'Oh my God...' I go to push past her but she stops me. 'Keep her calm, and watch the glass, love.'

'Thanks.'

She runs off and I slide in, brushing a load of glass off the seat first. There's a big enough gap, even with the lorry door wedged in, for me to see her. 'Chez? Hey, Cheryl look at me.'

Cheryl turns her head towards me, wincing, her eyes full of tears. I reach my hand out and she squeezes so hard I feel my knuckles grind together. 'Hey, it's alright babe. Everything's--'