Patrick
“You could have fucking waited... you just didn't want to...” I stared at Pete in shock. Did he really not believe we tried waiting? Did he think we wanted to hurt him like this? Did he act-
My thoughts were cut off as a soaring pain shot through my cheek. The force caused me to slam into the wall. My head went light and my vision faded to black for a second. I couldn't keep my balance anymore and collapsed to the floor. I felt the blood pooling up in my palm as I held my eye in a pure daze.
Did Pete just punch me?
I couldn't understand everything that happened within the last twenty minutes. My life just turned to hell within that time and it's hard to grasp everything that lead to this moment where I'm doubled over on the floor with an already swollen eye. I had bit my tongue at the sudden force of Pete's fist and the coppery taste of blood invaded my whole palette. I couldn't speak, but managed out a small groan to tell them I wasn't knocked out.
“I'm so sorry...” I could barely hear Pete over the ringing in my ears but could make out every single thud of his foot against the tiled floor as he ran away.
“Dude, are you okay?!” Andy and Joe both came over to help me up.
“Yeah, I'm fine...” I turned around, searching for Pete to see if he was here at all. “We need to get Pete.” They both nodded without hesitation and they started running down the hallway, me lagging behind slightly. As we were running, my eye swelled to the point that I couldn't see anything.
“Pete!?” Andy desperately screamed through the hallways of the hospital. I was going to join him, but all the nurses and doctors we passed on our speedy exit shot us dirty looks and I felt bad, besides, visiting hours are over and everyone is trying to sleep. Plus, I am out of breath from the constant running; the only break I had was the few second long elevator ride a while back. We came around a corner and I noticed two people sitting at a desk.
“Did a man run through here a minute ago??” I looked at each of them. Before one nodded and pointed towards the exit. “Thanks!” Andy was already out the door screaming Pete's name as loud as he can. Joe and I raced to get with him just as he started going again.
“I see him guys! PETE!” I struggled with running through the parking lot because half of my already bad vision was gone and I kept running into the corners and mirrors of cars. The only thing I really had going was my hearing; I was blindly following Andy's yells. I ran, too out of breathe to scream with Andy, until I saw Pete start to drive. I changed course. Luckily, my car was just one row behind me and I reached it in no time. I jumped in, quickly throwing on my seat belt, and started the car. Joe was already pulling out of his parking space, as was Andy, and Pete had already drove off leaving me as the slowest of all of us.
I pulled my phone from my pocket as I followed their cars out onto the fairly empty streets and dialed Pete's number. “Pick up Pete!” His answering recording lady made a grunt of frustration come out of me. “Pete, PICK UP THE PHONE!” I was practically screaming into the phone and realized that probably made it worse so I redialed. When the lady finished speaking, I spoke. “Pete, sorry for yelling... We don't hate you man! We know you're upset and we just want to be here, so stop the car please!” I hung up and messaged him repeatedly before looking up and seeing where we were heading.
Not the interstate...
I put my phone on the console and focused on where I was going. Andy and Joe were in front of me, a semi was in the next lane, and I couldn't see Pete through their cars. I looked around; there was barely anybody on the road tonight.
Good.
I switched lanes so I was out from behind Joe and drove up to be side by side with him. We were still a ways away from Pete but we were keeping pace with him so we didn't fall even more behind. I finally was able to make out Pete's car after driving a minute or two and noticed the horrible swerving that was happening.
Jesus Christ Pete, fucking be careful!
I drove up to I was beside Andy and grabbed my phone.
“Pete stop please!”
“Pete, we're behind you please just pull over!”
It was useless; I knew he doesn't look at his phone during times like this. I dropped my phone and looked through the passenger window and into Andy's car; he was texting Pete nonstop so me stopping wouldn't mean much. We were all three a little ways away from Pete and the semi, probably five cars away. I realized I was crying and breathing heavily so I turned on the radio to try and calm myself down. Of course, one of the saddest songs came on; “The Light Behind Your Eyes” played through every speaker in the car and caused me to tear up worse. I flipped it off. I sped up so I could pull in front of Andy and be behind Pete when my phone beeped. I looked at it, confused as to who'd be texting me at this time of day, and picked it up.
“One New Message from: Pete”
I almost dropped my phone trying to put in my unlock code from how frantic I was.
“I'm sorry this all happened... I'm gonna miss you”
Oh shit.
I pulled the phone close and messaged him repeatedly.
“Pete we're behind, just pull over!”
“We know you're hurt please let us help!”
“Don't do something stupid, please! I need you!”
I looked up from my phone and saw his car speeding forward, gaining distance very quickly. I panicked, dropping my phone, and started speeding up to try and reach him, but he was going too fast for my crappy car to catch up very quickly. I looked in my side view mirror and saw Joe pulling up around to the side of Andy and I before looking back up to where Pete was before. We were all speeding way over what we should but Pete was going faster than any of us could ever go. I focused on the road and the song that was playing.
“If I could be with you tonight...”
I saw Pete do something I never thought I'd see him do; he took a hard left and stopped right in the path of the semi ahead of us.
“I would sing you to sleep...”
I pushed the gas.
“Never let them take the light behind you eyes...”
I heard the driver of the truck blaring his horn at the now stationary vehicle.
“I failed and lost this fight...”
I pulled up right beside the end of the semi just as it collided with Pete's car, sending the driver to swerve. I jerked the steering wheel to the right to dodge the trailer just before it hit me and ran off the road. I slammed on the breaks and skidded across the grass. I looked up after recovering from being jerked around and saw Andy had faced the same fate I had while Joe was crashed against the median.
I unbuckled my seat belt and quickly got out of the car, traipsing through the muddy earth beneath me. Nothing mattered right now but getting to Pete. I glanced over into Andy's car while passing it and saw he was okay and faced forward to keep going. I ran as fast as I could through the sticky mud and reached the road with no breath. I leaned up against the trailer of the truck to catch my breath when I heard a car door close behind me; Andy was now making his way over. All of a sudden, I almost fell over as my support started moving. I caught myself from almost falling and looked up to see the truck driving off.
“FUCKING BITCH!” Andy yelled towards the driver and flipped him off as he came by my side.
“Go check Joe, I'll get Pete.” He nodded in agreement and ran off towards Joe's car, mud trailing behind him. I turned my attention to the now visible wreck of a car; the whole vehicle had been thrown into the middle barrier like Joe's had but the whole driver's side was crushed inwards, the hood had been knocked off, and it was not a good sight. I ran over to the now pile of metal and had to switch to the passenger's side when there was no way to see in from the driver's side.
I looked in and saw something not even my nightmares would ever dare show me; Pete was lying over the middle console and into the passenger's seat, covered in broken glass, shreds of metal, and blood. My head went light and I held on to the car to keep myself upright. I felt sick to my stomach and retched as the smell of gas seeped into my nose. I covered my nose with my shirt and reached for the door handle with a shaky hand. I pulled it as hard as I could to yank the door open and faced the full scene of my best friend lying there. I looked him over; his legs were hidden by the crushed metal, his torso faced up and was stretched out and bent in ways that would cause anybody that wasn't in his predicament to yell in pain, and his arm was extended out to his size. I followed his arm, wincing at all the cuts and bruises that covered them, and found myself looking at a picture of Christa.
“Joe, call 9-1-1!” Andy called out behind me. I turned, tears streaking my eyes, to see Joe on the phone and Andy a few steps away.
“Help me get him out!” I turned towards Pete again and grabbed a firm hold of his limp shoulders. His whole body was like a sandbag, unmoving and heavy. “Okay pull on three, got it?” I looked back to Andy and away again when I got a nod in response. “1... 2... 3!” I tightened my grip and tugged as hard as I could on Pete, Andy doing the same to my torso. He wasn't moving.
“Again!” We pulled again; same outcome. “Again!” I was choking on sobs as I yelled it out. My sudden breathes racked my body, causing my hands to finally slide off of his shoulders from the accumulated sweat, and I tumbled backwards onto Andy.
“Patrick!” I sat up and groaned, rubbing my head where it collided with the floor. I looked to Andy and saw him lying on his back and covering his eyes, moans escaping him with every subtle movement he made. I looked to Joe who was holding his cell phone up to his ear still. “The woman says to check his pulse, they're paramedics are already on their way!” He turned around and continued half yelling into the phone.
I tried getting up, but my ankle screamed in agony when I put weight on it. “Fuck!” I held it tight for a second to try controlling the throbbing that started, debating what I should do. Finally, after a second of thinking and inner yelling, I crawled over to the open car door and hoisted myself to my knees so I could lean over the car seat. I stretched a shaky arm towards Pete's neck and pressed my fingers into his now cold neck.
No...
I moved them to the side a bit more.
NO...
I moved my fingers to the other side of his neck.
“NO!” I fell backwards onto my knees. Joe ran over and looked down at me with his puffy eyes. “Guys...” I heard Andy move from behind me and I punched the seat. “He has no pulse...” Joe dropped his cell phone.
“Pete's gone?” Andy's voice cracked as he quietly asked this.
“Yes, Pete's gone...”