A Family Podcast (english)

Chapter 35

Taylor

I jolted awake. A dull roaring filled my ears, and everything was blurry. Groaning, I tried to piece together fragments of memories, but everything seemed distorted. Weren't we just in the car? What had happened? Did we have an accident? Something wet ran down my leg, and I reached for my throbbing head. Slowly, the fog in my mind began to lift.

A glance at the passenger seat revealed Noah hanging unconscious in his seat. I was about to reach out to him when I heard the noises from the backseat. Aden and Liam were shouting frantically, although the ringing in my ears was so loud that I could barely understand them.

Aden held his head, and Liam had unbuckled himself and slid over to Aden's side. A glance at the side window revealed why: the window was slightly open, and water was pouring in.

Immediately, adrenaline surged through my body, and I unbuckled myself with trembling hands. A glance out the window told me that we seemed to be completely submerged in water. It was dark, and the sound of rushing water merged with the pounding in my head.

Shit, we had to get out of here immediately! I pressed the buttons on the door to roll the windows down, but of course, the electronics didn't work with all the water. I needed a moment to collect myself and coax my throbbing head into remembering what to do in such a situation. Then I took a deep breath and reached under my seat for the emergency hammer I kept there.

Then I leaned towards the twins and handed the hammer to Liam.

"Okay, listen. We need to get out of here right away" I coughed. "Liam, you have to break the window."

Liam looked at the hammer in his hand, panic in his eyes.

"Are you crazy? More water will come in if we break it" he stammered.

"We have no other way out. You have to try to stay calm. We'll wait until the car is filled with water, and then we swim out. Don't try to swim against the incoming water" I clarified as I released Noah's seatbelt.

The twins nodded hesitantly, but I could see how scared they were. But we didn't have time. We had to hurry. My head still throbbed uncomfortably, and it was pure adrenaline that drove me to act, but it didn't matter because staying in the car was definitely not an option.

"We can do this. I'll take care of Noah, so you'll be on your own for a short moment"

The twins exchanged a brief glance before nodding again. Then Liam took the hammer in his hand and struck the window. The glass vibrated, but it didn't break. Liam looked at me with a questioning look, and I gestured for him to try again.

So Liam braced his feet against the seatbacks to get a firmer stance. When he forcefully threw the hammer against the window this time, the glass shattered. Cracks spread across the window, and Aden pulled Liam back to his side.

Then the glass broke, and water gushed into the car with such force that the twins were thrown against the car door. I had climbed over to Noah's side and was now doing my best to keep his head above water. He should spend as little time underwater as possible. I feared that in his current state, he wouldn't be able to hold his breath for long.

The car filled with water, and I desperately tried not to panic too much. It took only a few seconds for the car to become completely submerged, and Liam was the first to exit. He squeezed through the opening and swam upward as fast as he could.

Aden was about to follow him when his foot got entangled in one of the seat belts. Panicking, he yanked at it, and I maneuvered myself to his side on the backseat, loosening the belt. Aden managed to free his leg and grabbed the door handle to pull himself out of the car.