Falling for math

11. Nightmares

That night, at dinner, we learned Marcus, Lea and I among 4 other students from our school had been qualified for the next part of the competition. Lea was so excited she spit the water she had been drinking in the other math teacher's face. While she was apologizing, profusely embarrassed, I made the mistake of looking at Miss Rose and we had to look away from each other not to laugh at Lea's antics.

That night, I went to bed feeling lighter about what had happened that day. Unfortunately, as I was alone with my thoughts, Hailey's mother crying on my shoulder pledged my mind. It was a reminder of the time we had cried in each other's arms when I had woken up in the hospital and had heard the news that Hailey had died. I knew she had, of course, because I was in the car with her after all, but hearing it again broke me. It broke me as if until I heard it again, I had hoped it had all been a dream, a figment of an overly active imagination. It hadn't. But tonight, I was there. Again. And it felt so real.

I was blinded by the car's headlights before it hit us. Hailey was screaming, I was desperately trying to control the car but couldn't and we went tumbling over the side of the road and everything went dark.

I slowly came back to reality, feeling groggy, not knowing how much time had passed. For a few seconds, I didn't remember anything. As I slowly realized what had happened, I felt a sharp pain in my head, so sharp that it instantly made me nauseous. We had crashed straight into a tree but one headlight was still on, and the light was hurting my head even more so I closed my eyes again. I raised my hands to hold my head, like somehow it would stop the pain from resonating throughout my entire skull. Quickly, I felt something wet on my right hand and brought it down to look at what it was. Blood. It was shining brightly due to the headlight, the deep red almost looked pretty on my hand. And then I realized what it meant, my head was bleeding, that couldn't be good news. And if the stabbing pain and nausea I was feeling were any indication, I was probably badly concussed.

Then, I heard a painful moan next to me, someone was with me. I couldn't remember who it was, I was confused and the throbbing pain in my head was stopping me from thinking clearly. I took a few deep breaths, trying to focus and remember what was happening. That's when I remembered. Hailey. I needed to check on Hailey.

I had to open my eyes again and check on Hailey. After fighting off the wave of nausea that hit me, I did. And the sight I was met with almost made me pass out again. Hailey was still there, like she had been moments before, except a small tree branch was impaled through her stomach.

I gasped, looking at her and trying to reach her. I was surprised to see her looking back at me, with eyes too alert for the circumstances.

"Hailey!" I said breathlessly, my voice not strong enough to convey the anguish I was feeling.

"I know. It doesn't look good." She answered, her voice equally breathless.

She was right, of course she was right. Blood was slowly but surely seeping out of the wound, making me wonder how she was still conscious. But as far as my medical knowledge went, that was good, I had to keep her awake as long as possible, until we could get help. Surely, the driver of the car had called for help, or someone had seen what had happened. I tried looking around for any signs that help was on the way. But after frenetically twisting my neck in all directions, making my headache worse, I had to accept that no one was there. And that at 4am, in the middle of nowhere, no one would be coming any time soon. That meant we had to act and call for help ourselves; well, given Hailey's state, it meant I had to act and call for help myself.

I started looking around in search of my phone. It wasn't where I had left it, the impact of the crash must have sent it flying somewhere else. It was either in the back of the car, or, given the broken windshield, outside.