| January 13 It was a downpour. The rain plus the cold was not a great combination on this winter [CCE1]night. Jamie found herself drifting in and out of sleep in the backseat. One second everything was calm. The next second, as she drowsily opened her eyes, headlights flashed and glared, blinding her. The squeal of brakes and tires skidding, the terrible, sickening feeling of twirling, and the sound of metal tearing and glass breaking were the last things she remembered before everything went black. Chapter One Jamie’s head was throbbing. She must have overdone it last night. She didn’t even remember getting home and into the house. Sean must have had to carry her in. How embarrassing! She hoped she hadn’t been too heavy. She had planned on seducing him when they got home; now she couldn’t even remember coming home. She’d deal with how she had gotten home later. When she finally managed to open her eyes, she was surprised at the amount of light in the room. By degrees, she found herself tuning in to the voices around her. A few moments ago, it was all just buzzing in her ears. Why were all these people in her bedroom? She started to wiggle around on the bed and immediately felt pressure on her body, as if being held down. Her mouth wouldn’t work. “Knock her out. I’ve got to get this closed up quickly.” She felt sleep overtake her.. Jamie woke from a terrible dream. There were car headlights in her eyes, scratching metal in her ears, and lots of screaming. Hot tears were flowing out of her eyes, and she was unable to move her hand to wipe them away. She knew something was wrong. What was going on? She heard soft beeps and blips. She felt hands on her body. A soft, cool cloth gently dabbed her cheeks. “Jamie. Jamie, sweetheart. Please wake up. Open your eyes, sweetie. It’s Mom.” Jamie tried to say something, but her mouth was as dry as a desert. “Whaa…whaat…” she tried. Her mother’s hand felt warm on hers. “What did she say?” an unfamiliar voice asked. “Jamie…what is it, honey?” her mother asked. Carefully, Jamie separated three of her fingers into a W and strained to bring her fingers up to tap her lips. She heard a gasp from her mom. “She wants water!” her mother exclaimed. There were a few moments of shuffling around, and then a straw was pressed to her lips. “Go slowly…slowly…a little at a time. Keep reminding her, or she may get sick,” the unfamiliar voice insisted. “All right. Thank you,” Jamie heard her mother say softly. Her mom squeezed her hand, and she weakly squeezed back. She wanted her mom to know she was awake. She heard her mom sobbing softly. “Mom?” she squeaked out. “How did you know what she wanted?” the unfamiliar voice asked. “I taught her to sign when she was a baby to give us a better range of communication. “Jamie! Oh, thank goodness you’re awake.” “What are you doing here?” Jamie asked[CCE4] her mother as she looked around and noticed the nurse for the first time. “Sean’s mom called. I drove up this morning.” “Why? What happened? Where’s Sean?” Jamie whispered slowly. “Before we talk about that I want to know how you’re feeling,” her mother insisted. “What’s going on? My head hurts, and I feel foggy. I feel something terrible in my soul, Mom. What aren’t…you…telling me?” She struggled to sit up, her heart racing. The nurse noted the monitor’s acceleration. “She needs to calm down.” “Jamie,” said her mother, “I promise to tell you everything, but first you need to get some rest[CCE5].” Jamie woke up again (who knows how long it had been), and slowly opened her eyes. It was a little easier this time. She tried to keep as calm as she could while she took in everything around her. She turned her head slowly to the right and saw her mom sleeping in the rocking chair. “Mom?” she croaked out. Her mother startled and looked up at her. “You look horrible, Mom. You always look so put together. What happened? I haven’t seen you with eyes as red and puffy as this since dad’s funeral.” Jamie tried to sit up a little. Wrong choice. Her head started to spin, and pain shot up her side and right arm. “Holy freak!” she yelled in pain. “What the heck?” Her right arm was in a cast. With her left arm, she felt an Ace bandage around her middle. “Sit still, sweetie. You have a broken arm and a couple of bruised ribs. Try not to move too much, OK?” her mother said. “What do you mean, broken arm and bruised ribs? What happened? Why am I here? Where are Sean and the kids?” she asked her mother. “Don’t worry. The kids are being cared for by your visiting teachers. They are over playing with their friends right now.” It was clear to Jamie that her mom was having a hard time looking her in the eye. Then she noticed her mother’s tears. “Mom, why are you trying to avoid looking at me? You told me the kids are fine. Great. Now, what about my husband? Where is he? Why isn’t he either here with me or taking care of the kids himself?” Jamie’s mom slowly raised her eyes to meet her daughter’s. She wasn’t even trying to control the tears now. Jamie’s eyes widened, she took a slow, silent breath and exhaled, visibly wilting as she turned her head and vomited. The nurse helped her clean up. When she was clean, her mom asked the nurse to give them some time alone and to see if Dr. Stevenson was available. The nurse nodded and headed out the door. Her mother turned to her and sighed. “Jamie, something horrible has happened. You were in an accident on your way home last night. Do you remember anything at all?” she asked gently. “I remember dancing and being tired on the way home. I was falling asleep…” At that point she realized the dreams she had were real. “I remember a lot of lights, the car spinning out of control, and a crunching sound. I must have blacked out after that.” She looked at her mom and received a nod of agreement. “Oh, this is so hard, sweetheart. I don’t know how to tell you…” her mom’s words drifted off slowly. The hospital room door opened and Dr. Stevenson, her family doctor, walked in. He looked at Jamie and then at her mom and started toward the bed. “Hi, Dianna, I haven’t seen you in a while. How are you?” Dr. Stevenson put his hand on her mother’s shoulder. Dianna smiled up at him and said, “I’m holding up, I guess.” “Do you want me to do it?” he asked. She nodded. He had been Jamie’s doctor since she was little. He had become a good friend over the years, and he was like a second father. He walked over to Jamie and pulled up a chair by the side of the bed. “James (he was the only one allowed to call her that), you, Sean, Amanda, and Josh had a car accident last night. Josh somehow lost control of the car during that freaky downpour. Until the police report comes back, all we know is that the car most likely hydroplaned and turned enough to cross over the median and collide head-on with another vehicle.” He stopped for a moment to let that part sink in. Jamie knew the rest of the news was not good. She steadied herself as best she could. The only thing she couldn’t steady was her tears or her stomach. Tears were rolling from her eyes. She felt like throwing up again. She took a deep breath in and motioned for him to continue… “The passenger side of the car collided with the front end of the other driver. Sweetie, Amanda was killed instantly. Sean was brought here to the hospital, but he sustained so many traumatic injuries that he didn’t make it more than an hour after arriving.” Jamie let go the anguish that had overwhelmed her at his words. “No, no, no, no, no!” she screamed. She leaned over and emptied her stomach again. “No!” she yelled as her mother rushed over with a rag to wipe her off. “This is just a horrible nightmare! This can’t be true. It just can’t. I lost both of my best friends? No, no, I don’t believe it! I don’t understand! I was the only one to survive? Wait…what about Josh? You haven’t said anything about him.” “Josh sustained some slight injuries, broken ribs, a broken leg, that kind of thing. Fortunately for you and Josh, you were on the other side of the point of impact. This means you did not receive the brunt of the force.” She cringed as she realized that Sean and Amanda were the ones that had zero chance of survival from the crash. She had been in her husband’s arms dancing the night away and laughing with their best friends. Her husband had given her the most memorable anniversary ever. He was so alive and happy and healthy. And Amanda… Oh, Amanda, what was she going to do without her? What about the kids? She felt faint. Dr. Stevenson must’ve seen her face turn ashen because he was there like lightening to lay her head back and get her knees gently above her heart so she wouldn’t black out. She closed her eyes and took big comforting breaths. Continues... | 
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