Alone I Break | LingOrm FF

~ Part 1 ~

Dread filled Orm as Mikey jumped into the car and took off down the road. She wanted to speak; to ask him why he'd come and dragged her out of her house, but she couldn't seem to make herself talk. Before she could force the words from her mouth, they turned a nearby corner, and any thoughts she had died.

A block ahead, she could see it; see their destination without being told that was where they were headed. Flashing lights swirled all over the place; fire engines, ambulances, and police cars littering the road. Large spotlights lit up the area, illuminating the scene.

That was when she saw it; saw the telephone poll that was snapped halfway up and now hanging precariously by the wires it served to hold up. Below that, Orm could see a flash of battered blue metal.

"NO!" she howled, never realizing the anguished cry had come from her own lips as she jumped out of the car before it had even come to a stop.

"Orm!" Mikey yelled after her, but it was no use. She was already running full bore into a scene he knew she wasn't prepared to see.

Orm sprinted as fast as she could, despite her bare feet, toward the group of vehicles and rushing people. Nausea rolled through her stomach as she pushed her way through the gathered onlookers and emergency workers. Once past the final line of people, she could see it. There in front of her was an old blue van twisted and broken against the wood of the electric poll. She stumbled to a halt, unable to move any further. Her eyes furiously searched for something, anything. A few feet to the left of the crushed van, she noticed a group of paramedics huddled on the ground around something. She took a few steps toward them, then stopped as her heart shattered into a million pieces. There, at one end of the mass of people, she saw Adidas sneakers, the same sneakers she had given him for his birthday only four months earlier.

"No! James!" she screamed, her knees buckling.

Mikey caught her before she could hit the ground. He held her trembling, sobbing body as they watched the paramedics scurry around the body of her brother. When he saw that they had loaded him onto a stretcher, Mikey grabbed Orm and quickly walked her toward the waiting ambulance.

"Sir, you'll have to back away from the vehicle," a paramedic said once they'd reached the back doors of the truck.

"She's his sister," Mikey replied in an authoritative voice. He looked the man in the eye, hoping he would understand the importance of letting Orm through.

The man glanced at Orm, then at the stretcher approaching the ambulance. He quickly understood what Officer Harris was trying to tell him. "Okay, she can ride in the back, but she needs to stay out of their way."

Mikey nodded, pulling Orm out of the way as the stretcher with James was loaded into the back of the rig. The entire time, Orm said nothing; her eyes completely focused on the bloody face of her brother. Her daze was broken when Mikey gave her a push up into the ambulance.

She never heard the door slam shut, or the paramedic telling her where to sit. Her mind was only registering the fact that her much-loved brother was lying motionless on a stretcher right in front of her. A large gash on his forehead had covered his face with blood, and his left arm was jutting out at an unnatural angle. She winced when one of the paramedics jabbed a needle into his right arm in order to start an IV.

So lost in what had happened, Orm almost didn't see his eyes flutter open. But she did see it, and when she gazed into his pain filled eyes, the tears that she been holding back finally burst forth.

"James?" she whispered brokenly.

"Orm?" The word was barely audible, but she heard it.

Crouching down next to the stretcher, she lightly grabbed his right hand. "I'm here, James. Hang on, you're gonna be fine."

"Orm...love....you," he managed to utter hoarsely before his eyes drifted closed again.

"James!" Orm pleaded, wanting him to look at her again.

"Miss, you need to move out of the way!" one of the paramedics ordered.

Blindly, she stumbled backward onto one of the benches and watched through tear-filled eyes as the paramedics worked to stabilize her brother while speaking rushed words into the portable radios clasped to their shirts. Her mind drifted back to earlier that night; watching James's rush around getting ready for his gig, teasing him about being late, and the quick hug he gave her before he left. It was impossible for her to reconcile the image of her happy-go-lucky brother with the bleeding body before her.

The ride to the hospital passed in a flash. She hadn't even realized they were there until someone was shaking her to get her attention. All she could do was watch as they wheeled him out of the ambulance, down the hallway, and then into one of the trauma bays inside the emergency room.