One and Only (LAMS)

Dinner with the Schuylers

John sat in the middle of the back seat, between Alex and Peggy, with Angelica and Eliza against the left wall.
"Where are we going?" John asked as he strapped on his seatbelt.
"Gabriel Kreuther," Angelica replied as she clicked her seatbelt into place too. Alex shared an excited glance with John before turning back to the rest of the group. The car had just begun to move and Eliza turned on the radio.

"Strawberry champagne on ice," pumped from the speakers.
"Lucky for you that's what I like, that's what I like!" The rest of the group sang along, laughing at each other's ridiculous dance moves. John met Alex's gaze, his eyes shining with excitement.

Suddenly that excitement transformed into an expression of surprise as they were flung forward in their seats. The car jumped as everyone was swung in mid-air, the horrific screech of metal-on-metal screaming in everyone's ears.

Everyone screamed in a flurry of fear and horror as they were suspended for a moment of stillness, before being slammed backwards as the car speedily accelerated. A massive THUD echoed through the car as Alex, John and Peggy crashed against the back of the van and Angelica & Eliza were whipped to the side but held in place by their seat belts. Alex's arm swung out and pushed against John's chest as a second seatbelt as the van skidded to a stop. The car didn't flip. It didn't burst into flames. It just stopped.

The van was silent for a moment before shouting began outside. Alex's head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton balls, his neck especially sore. Peggy unclasped her seatbelt and held her bleeding head with a groan, leaning forward. Both Peggy and Alex were praising the headrest behind their heads. Eliza sat to catch her breath, clutching her seatbelt tightly, she had a slash along her neck from where the seatbelt had dug into her skin when she was whipped to the side. Angelica was already up and by Peggy's side, checking her head and not caring for the slash along her own neck.

Alex breathed for a moment and turned to John, who sat slumped in the seat under his seatbelt and Alex's arm, eyes closed and blood dripping down his neck from the back of his head. John was in the middle and didn't have a headrest, his head had just slammed straight into the back window.

"John?" Alex muttered, grabbing his arm. No response. "John, can you hear me?" Alex began to panic, his voice cracking and rising. He was still breathing, Alex's heart lifted a little at that. The car door was slid open and the driver popped into the back.
"Philip, call 911," the driver yelled worriedly, inspecting the young adults. His eyes widened when he saw John unconscious with Alex desperately trying to get a response out of him.

"John please! John!" Alex yelled, on the verge of tears he shook John's hand. The driver lead Angelica, Peggy and Eliza out of the car, sitting on the curb with Philip surrounded by bystanders and other victims of the crash.

The driver came back in to assist Alex.
"What's your name?" The driver asked quickly.
"Alex," He croaked, his eyes still on John's face.
"Alex, I'm Ben, what is his name?" Ben asked again.
"John," Alex whispered, a tear slipping down his cheek now.
"Okay, are you fit to help me get John out of the car?" Ben asked, reaching forward and holding John upright in his seat. Alex nodded, wiping away his tear quickly.
"Wait!" A feminine voice cried from outside the car. Eliza popped into the van hurriedly. "We don't know if he's suffered a spinal injury, let's just wait until the professionals get here, we don't want to make things any worse," she explained. Ben nodded and Alex continued to panic. John was still unconscious.

He's gonna be fine. He's gonna be fine. He'll wake up and everything will be fine.
Alex held onto John's hand tightly, brushing his curly flyaways out of his eyes.
He's dying. He's dying. He's going to die and there's nothing you can do about it.

"Alex you need to let go," Eliza warned, trying to pry his hands away from John's.
"N-no, please," Alex begged but Eliza continued to pull him away.
"The ambulance is here, we need to get everyone to the hospital." She begged. A paramedic appeared at the van door and Alex finally tore his gaze away from John's peaceful face to meet Eliza's worried eyes.

"You can see him really soon, but you need to let go," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the shouts and sirens outside. Alex nodded with a defeated sigh and let his fingers slip away from John's hand. He tried desperately to hold back tears as Eliza lead him out of the van. As soon as he was out paramedics flooded in, a stretcher being tugged beside the van. Two ambulances were parked on the road and Alex really took in what had just happened.

The front of the van was crumpled against a four wheel drive and the back was smashed into itself with an absolutely obliterated taxi behind it. Paramedics from one ambulance treated the taxi driver and passenger on the street, while the others cautiously moved John onto a stretcher.

Alex watched as John was rushed into the back of one of the ambulances. His eyes were pried away when Angelica and Eliza began pulling him towards a new van. Peggy was leant against Philip, who walked with a slight limp. She had a towel wrapped tight around her head, trying to stop the bleeding.

Over in John's ambulance paramedics were hooking him up with oxygen and checking his blood pressure. One paramedic jumped with shock as John jolted in the stretcher. His eyes shot open and darted around the ambulance.

"Alex?" John croaked, still looking around with fearful eyes.
"Sir please remain calm, you will be able to see your family and friends whe-" the paramedic began to comfort him, but nothing was helping.
"Alex? Are you there?" John repeated, panic rising in his voice as if he hadn't heard a single thing the paramedic had said.

"Sir, you need to calm down, look at me-" the paramedic ordered, trying to catch eye-contact with John, but his eyes still darted around blindly. He gradually began to hyperventilate, trying to reach his hands up to his face but being stopped by the straps that held him to the stretcher. "Sir look at me-"

"I-I can't! I can't! Where am I? Alex where's Alex?" John began to yell, tears welling up in his eyes and slipping down his cheeks. "Alex? Peggy?"
"Sir, you can see Alex at the hospital, you're in an ambulance, you need to calm down, you're going to be okay." The paramedic tried to negotiate, but John was quick to interject.
"Is Alex okay?"

"As far as I know everyone else from your vehicle is fine." The paramedic assured him, holding his hand. John continued to cry nonetheless. "Sir look at me,"
"I said I can't!" John yelled helplessly, his voice cracking more with each tear that slipped from his eyes.
"What do you mean you can't?" The paramedic pushed, inspecting John's eyes for any kind of recognition or reaction.
"I can't see!"