Higher Stakes [Strings: Part 1]

Chapter 24: Chasing ... asphalt

Anything emitted by the surrounding; passing by cars, curious by-standers, honks echoed from far and clicks of flashing blinding lights were muted. They were blurry as well and seemingly came about in a heart-wrenching slow motion. She wanted them to go as fast as they could. She wanted to yell at them. Scream at them or even if she has the capability and ability would do want needed on her own. But she couldn’t.

“We’re losing him!”

Her inside tightened. Don’t leave me, she thought.

“FASTER!”

The smell of burned rubber against this hot-weathered asphalt clung onto the surrounding as tightly as it could. It burned. The taste of air was bitter and ghastly. Sound of devastatingly broken white was hair-raising. For once, death would be the end of his life but his chest was still heaving hard, pushing and pulling in the air as fast as the lung could cope.

As EMTs heaved the fallen newbie onto a gurney, quickly pushed it onto the back of a gaping ambulance; flashes of lights dimmed down to nothing and the on-going hiss and chatters of curious by-stander drawn to a halt. Selena felt that this vibe was utterly wrong. Bradley’s not dead. He’s not at all and this people must aware that he has survived. She wanted to yell at them before the rumor of Bradley’s death could wander off in this town. Her mind wandered off into the future, calculating condolences via Facebook statuses, Tweets and any other social-wise sites and then, perhaps, a little tribute via video and such; definitely not what she want, at all.

In a snap, her point of view altered from the hot summer heat of Beverly Hills Street into a white tiled floor hallway. Sitting down on a plastic chained chair, Selena pulled her head up for the first time in the last hour and trembled. She swallowed the lump at the back of her shoulder and there she went, heavily let her heart-shattering tears down her face.

“ … nothing from the doc, yet, Mrs. Watson.” David Henrie wandered off to the corner of the hallway, away from his friends, as he talked to Bradley’s parent. “Kelly is here and she um… well… hanging on… I really don’t know what really happened back there. It was fast, I didn’t see much… Ok. I’ll try to call them. Ok… Ok, see you later.” Once that was cleared, David rejoined his friends and went back into that harsh reality of his good friend has become a victim of a hit and run.

Kelly went to him and murmured, “Is my mum coming?” He nodded. “Good. Thanks for calling them for me.”

“Are you ok?” he asked all of a sudden. She shrugged. But eventually, she shook her head and stared down away from him.

The sky outside was now growing into somewhat tangerine colored and the sun descending by the minutes. It has been approximately 6 hours after the accident. The doctor in charge of Bradley’s well-being has made his way out of the ward and informs the patient’s visitors that the newbie needed a rest. Well, that’s great news. He’s alive. But – like the Doctor dramatically uttered – Bradley suffered broken limbs on his left arm which required him to sport a heavy cast on his side. “Family members can visit him now, the others, perhaps tomorrow. Goodnight.” Uttered the doctor for the last time before he went off. The Wizards’ cast said their farewell, leaving Kelly and her mother behind. However, Selena on the other hand decided to stay.

A nurse who was assigned to the newbie’s aid did ask her to leave but the Watson insisted she should stay. The word ‘family’ on this case does not look on it by blood relation. Bond defined more on that note.

Taking a seat at a two seaters couch by the wall opposite the hospital bed, where Bradley stiffly lied, she let out a relieved sigh and just stared at the ceiling. She still couldn’t believe thing like this could ever happen. As far as she knows, her best friend was just as normal as other would be. He doesn’t have any bad blood with anyone, from what she knows. For most of it, she practically knows all the hustle and bustle of his life. He got nothing to hide from her. Same goes on her part with him.

Hour went by, with Kelly departed to bring news to the others in the Watson household; Selena now sat by the bed and just wonder when he could wake up. Trailing his gaze on his shut face, she noticed few cuts on his jaw line, perhaps from the road itself as he fell. She reached for his bared right hand, gently pushed his palm to her and started absent-mindedly drawing lines on it.

Mrs. Watson stood up from her side, wrapped her scarf and slowly whispered to the young Latina, “Selena, honey—“ The girl looked up. “I’m gonna get some drinks, would you like one?” The girl nodded and the older Watson smiled to her with motherly warmth before exiting the ward. Now, it’s just them. Finally, just the two of them in a world of their own. Sadly, one of them couldn’t enjoy these little moments of theirs.

“I should say you’re an idiot, Brad.” She started. “But I shouldn’t. Somebody gonna scold me if they hear it. Can you imagine them? ‘Oh, you’re such a spoiled bitch. He’s dying and you’re just whining on how he’s an idiot. Get the hell out of here you’re ungrateful--”

“I wouldn’t call you an ungrateful gal, Selly.” She froze. Her grip around his tightened, just between her fingers she could feel him squeezing her modest figure. Her gaze flew up to his now slightly heavenly expression. Bradley let out a deep sigh and lazily pulled his eyes down to his side until he reaches those brown ones of the Latina. “Or, as you put it, a bitch.”

Selena gasped.  “Hey love.” He smirked lazily, trying to get up from the pillow. However, as he painfully realized his limit, he cringed and cursed under breath before giving the white flag to the pillow behind him. “What’d I miss? Did someone get dumped today on the ENews? Or was it just another one of those short lived marriage thin—“ He couldn’t bear to carry on one of his ‘sick’ joke. Well, at this moment, they’re considered to be sick. A matter of getting dumped or short-lived marriage were something useless compared to him nearly facing death. He’d know better not to mess with fact as cruel as that. What happened next, he really expected it.

Off the chair, she went, carefully examining his dull yet forceful cheekiness grin and slowly slid her aching arms between the gaps around his neck. She leaned herself in and just stayed there in silence. There was a pact made between them back then and it called the ‘Tear Pack’. Over a silly childish handshake with spit involved, a pack was made where they vowed to let themselves go over things that could make any one of them down emotionally which mostly focused on shedding tears. Ten years later, here they were, standing strong on that pack for the sake of it.

He could hear her praying under her breath, thanking God for his safety. He could feel her embrace tightened as she heightened her utterance. What he can do at this point was lifting his right hand and gently placed it on her small, rubbing her for the feel of comfort. Settling his chin on her shoulder, he nuzzled closer to her neck and just let this moment seep in. “Selly…” he whispered.

“Yeah?” he heard her.

He sighed. “You can cry if you want—“

“No!” she urgently replied, shaking her head on his shoulder. “I’m not gonna.”

“Ok.”

“But I’m gonna hold you.” She replied. “So, don’t you dare try to let go, alright?”

“I got chu, love.” He replied. 

Author's note:

I would like to apologize for the week delay. New semester just started and so far, it was hectic. So, readers, bear with me, yeah? Really hope I could post on regular basis like I always do. ^_^ Okay! Next chapter will be posted in 3 or 4 days. It depends. See yeh!