☣ alien ☣ || h.s. au

xvii. the removal pt. 2

THE GIF I'M DYING.

THIS CHAPTER GOES TO @scream-nthedark FOR VOTING THANK YOU (:

- h a r r y -

           When I was on Earth, I had only seen one truly traumatic thing. As I was driving with Annetta one day, we had passed a car accident. One small, cubelike car had rammed itself into a midsized truck. The roads were slippery, as the day was glum and rainy, and the car must have not been able to hit their brakes in enough time to avoid the truck. Or maybe the car didn't see the truck. Either way, the person inside the cube car was stuck inside. I watched as we slowly passed, and the medical team and some others were trying to remove the person. Another body lay in a field. The view was obscured by the many people surrounding, but I could see blood. Lots of it.

           And in that moment that I realized that the people in both vehicles weren't in good circumstances, I imagined myself in that position. I thought that what if that had been Annetta and me? I asked myself what I would do if I survived and she had not. However, the pain was so strong that I didn't allow myself a moment longer to dwell upon it. That day occurred three and a half weeks before today.

           So, as you can imagine, when I opened my eyes and looked over to see Annetta shouting the lyrics to a song I'd never heard, just as she had on the day I saw the accident, I was quite confused. I smiled just as I did that day, and I looked ahead. The scene of the car accident was nowhere in sight.

           "Harry, what kind of music do you listen to?" she asked me, looking at me momentarily, and I swallowed hard, as I did not have an answer.

           "I..."

            "Oh, c'mon, Harry, I'm not going to hate you just because you might listen to bad music," she flashed a closed-mouth smile my way.

            "I listen to everything," I told her, and this must've sparked her interest because she looked at me and pursed her lips.

           "Hmm... you kind of seem like more of a classic rock n roll or indie/alternative kind of guy," she said, then a quiescence settled upon us.

           "What kind of music do you listen to?" I asked her a while later, as we neared the place where the accident had happened.

           On this particular occasion, I didn't get to hear her answer, because a small cubical car came rushing behind us, spiraling out of control, the rain obscuring the driver's view of the road. They regained control of the wheel, but not in enough time to realize that they were still going an unreasonably fast speed, and they couldn't stop the accident. I looked at Annetta in that fleeting moment, I looked at her eyes, her beautiful hazel eyes. I looked at the way her lips were set in a permanent half smile, the kind that only the happiest of people seem to have. I looked at her face, how happy she seemed. I looked at her button nose, her hair that was blown back because of the car air conditioning. That was the last thing I saw before my sight went blank.

           I opened my eyes, and I was being strapped to a stretcher. I managed to speak a raspy sentence. "Where is Annetta?"

           "He's awake," one of the paramedics said, and the one on the other side of my stretcher nodded.

           "Where is Annetta?" I asked again, and the medic looked at me with a grim expression.

           "Just focus on me, alright? The other medics are doing the best they can for the little lady that was in the car with you. Just focus on staying awake, alright?" I couldn't focus on him. I couldn't focus on staying awake. All I could focus on was Annetta's permanent half smile. All I could focus on was her button nose, her blown back hair, her hazel eyes. I shut my eyes, although the medics were calling out to me to stay awake. They don't know what they're saying, I told myself, I'll just sleep for a little longer.

           "She's dead!" I hear someone scream over the sounds of my sleepy conscience. I hear them shouting that the girl was dead. Annetta was dead. I smiled, because I knew she wasn't dead. She was standing here before me, offering me her hand. She was beckoning me to walk out of this place. She was asking me to join her. I did.

-

           I opened my drowsy eyelids to see myself in a place I didn't recognize. The sky was an Earthly blue, and I felt the hard ground on my back. I sat up and looked around. There were seemingly outdated structures built, and the ground was a sandy color. I walked down the streets, peeping into every window, and seeing no one there. The town was eerily quiet, and the wind was howling as it drifted through the empty buildings. I thought of Annetta. I took her letter out of my pocket.

- a n n e t t a -

           My mother was standing before me. She was smiling, laughing, telling me to get up and try again. I smiled as I saw her youthful, beautiful face crinkled in laughter. I did as she asked, and I looked around. We were on the playground. The same playground we always played on as children.

           "C'mon, Annetta, we only have ten more minutes left!" She helped me back onto the monkey bars and watched me closely as I reached forward three times before my strength faltered. I couldn't bring myself to reach across to the next one. My mother spoke encouragement to me, yet I remained where I was. My hands began to burn, but I slowly reached for the next one, then I fell. I tried again four more times before I made it to the fifth monkey bar.

           My mom smiled at me and gave me a sloppy kiss on the cheek, telling me how proud she was. I felt happy, knowing that I'd made her proud. I wanted to do it more often.

           It was 15 years later that she had her heart attack. Yet, instead of the actual manner of how the story happened, I was with her. I watched her clutch onto the kitchen counter as she fisted her t-shirt in her hand, gasping for breath. I watched her search for the phone. I watched my father rush in, a terrified expression on his face. I watched him cry into the phone as he called for help. I watched her collapse onto the ground. I watched as the ambulance took her away. I watched as my father called me after the medics had taken her away.

-

           I felt hot. I felt the sticky sweat covering my body, making my clothes cling to me. I opened my eyes slowly, yet the sunlight was so bright that it forced my eyes closed again. It was so hot... so very hot.

           I tried to stand, to take in my surroundings. However, the sunlight was so bright, and the heat so sweltering, that I wasn't able to do much. My body was exhausted, and I was starved. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth. My lips were cracked and dry. I tried to recall what little I knew about surviving in such an intense heat. There were small little houses in sight. I wondered who would want to live in such a place as this. Why would people live here?

           Then I remembered that Harry could be somewhere, somewhere close by, so I shouted his name. Again, and again I shouted, begging him to please answer me. I exerted every ounce of energy into shouting as loudly as I could. I screamed and screamed until I collapsed onto the ground, drained and lacking all hope.