Chapter Seventeen
Annabelle
Darkness. I hit the ground with a sudden jolt. Everything was rushing by me. I couldn’t see what was going on. A car…it smashed into our car. Ryan…where was he?
“Ryan?” my words whimpered softly. It was still taking a while for my eyes to adjust. Everything felt like it was all just a blur.
“Annabelle?” he called back to me, sounding just as shocked and surprised as I felt.
“Are you ok? What happened?” My voice was quavering and my hands were shaking.
I felt arms wrap around me and I opened my eyes cautiously. “You’re ok,” she heard Ryan whisper to himself. When I looked up to him expecting an answer, he explained that a car was going to hit us. He threw me out of the car. It was still moving but he protected me.
“Annabelle?” he asked.
“What?” I looked up at him startled.
“Did you hear me? Are you ok?” I nodded my head, but he didn’t believe me. There was a haunted look in his eyes as he avoided looking at me and unwrapped his arms from me.
“Look at me, I’m right here. I’m not hurt, Ryan. You saved my life.” He nodded his head, but stood up and walked away from me. He’s so damn guarded, I thought, but I didn’t say anything more as I got up and followed him.
“You should call the police,” Ryan suggested. Quickly, I dialed my uncle’s phone number and he answered.
Once I explained to him what was going on, he freaked out like any guardian would, and rushed over to the crime scene. I truly did feel bad to disturb him during his work hours.
There was an uncomfortable silence between Ryan and me until my uncle showed up. He still said nothing, but once he went over and talked to my uncle, he just faded into the background of everything, leaving the police to take care of it.
“I knew he would somehow be involved in this,” my uncle muttered more to himself than me.
“He saved my life, Uncle.” Those five words shut him up.
My uncle flagged Ryan over, “It looks to me like they are going to clear the scene. They won’t let me in on anything because they see me as more of a guardian and less of a police officer.” He smoothed out his moustache and then continued, talking more directly to Ryan now. “Thank you for saving my niece’s life.” He was short about it, but I knew that Ryan didn’t want the praise.
“Are you alright Annabelle?” my uncle asked me, but I felt light headed. This is what happened to Emmett…except he didn’t make it out alive.
“It’s just…Emmett. He didn’t make it out alive. How did I get so lucky?” She knew the answer to her question. It was the person standing next to her.
“Don’t Annabelle. Not right now.” Her uncle said shortly before going over to the other police officers to find out what was going to happen.
“Who’s Emmett?” Ryan asked. I wasn’t sure if he just didn’t see how upset I was over the topic or if he just didn’t care, because he asked anyways.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I managed, but he pressed on anyways.
“Who is Emmett?”
His question fell upon deaf ears. “I’m going to go see if we can leave yet.” As I walked away, I could feel the anger and frustration radiating off of Ryan.
The scene was cleared and we were allowed to take the car because there wasn’t too much damage done to it. Ryan offered to drive again, although I knew that it was because he thought that he hurt me.
As we drove on, Ryan pressed his questions further. “Annabelle, I’m serious, who is Emmett?” I felt bad for being the cause of his seething, but I wouldn’t let this one up easily.
“Why do you need to know?” I refuted, getting defensive and crossing my arms across my chest.
“Because I’m your boyfriend and you at least deserve to tell me if you are cheating on me!” Ryan exclaimed, making me flinch at his anger.
“I’m not cheating on you,” I said softly, “but I’m not ready to talk about this Ryan and you have to respect that. No amount of arguing is going to change my mind.”
Ryan, miffed that I wouldn’t tell him, remained silent the rest of the ride. When there was no trace of him saying goodbye, I just walked in the house and tried not to cry.
Ryan
If she’s not cheating, then what is it? I thought to myself. I walked into an empty house, already feeling the loneliness envelope me.
Was he just a friend? I was pissed that it bothered me this much. Why wouldn’t she tell me?
Deep down inside, I knew that I should just break up with her. She was way too good for me. Here I am, sitting in an empty house and I’m already wondering which drugs I want to use.
Sighing, I went upstairs, surprisingly disgusted by the drugs. If Annabelle was here, I knew what she would want me to do. I picked up all of them, throwing each one into the trash. It felt like a part of my heart was going with them.
It felt like doing this would fix things, but I knew that it wouldn’t. I had to actually walk away from the trash can and let the drugs be disposed of. Would I really be able to manage that?
Annabelle
Every high school student hates getting up early and I was no exception to this. Going to school was just another hassle. After what happened yesterday, school was the last place I wanted to be. Everyone would know that I got into an accident. Giving some gossip to a small town spreads like rapid fire.
I didn’t really bother much that morning. My hair was tied up in a loose pony tail and I was wearing sweat pants and a baggy t-shirt. No makeup covered my face and the dark circles under my eyes stood out more than ever before.
Downstairs, I smelled pancakes cooking. Chocolate chip pancakes to be exact. “Good morning,” my uncle said as he was reading the paper. “I hope you’re hungry. I made your favorite.”
The sweet aroma of chocolate distracted me from reality. “Did you hear me?” my uncle asked.
“What?” I answered with my mouth full of pancakes.
My uncle smoothed out his moustache before speaking again. “I need you to come to my work with me today.” It was then that I was brought back to reality. He didn’t wait for me to answer, though, as he continued. “You know that I wouldn’t take you out of school unless I absolutely had to, but I found something…something you will want to see.”
When I finished up my pancakes, my uncle ushered me into the car. We started driving to the station with an awkward silence that led me to believe that something was wrong. What else could possibly go wrong?
We both walked into the station, my uncle greeting people and explaining that he was taking me to his office. It was surprisingly easy for me to get in there.
Once we got into his office, he went straight over to his computer and started typing and clicking on things. I just stood there, wringing my hands and feeling my stomach churn with uncertainty.
“What is this about, Uncle?” That was the first time that he looked up at me.
“Emmett.” That was enough to shut me up. I needed to know about this. This wasn’t just some scheme to make me hate Ryan. This was serious.
He raised his hand from the computer and flagged me over. On the screen was a small article. The actual write up of what happened to Emmett. I read:
Emmett Laxon died at the age of seventeen years old. The scene of his death is on Transit Street where it was proven that he was texting while driving, although that wasn’t his only distraction. After reexamining the scene, there were skid marks on the road from where the car stopped abruptly. Texting was not the only reason that this seventeen year old boy died. He was trying to avoid hitting a pedestrian who we assume was walking in the street. A witness to this accident identified the person that Emmett swerved to avoid hitting.
My hands shook violently and tears were streaming down my face when I read the name that was identified. I fell to my knees and wept, barely feeling my uncle sooth me. I was numb. My heart had been broken too many times.
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What do you guys think? Did you like it? Any guesses as to who Emmett was swerving to avoid? Best comment gets a dedication for next chapter!
Oh and this chapter is dedicated to @ThisJournal for being such a dedicated fan of my story and the comment on my last chapter made me smile.