In My Arms (12 page)

Soccer had always been my outlet.  Both Nick and I had played at the college level while Trevor focused on martial arts.  Now he seemed to focus mostly on Ava.  It was great to see him so happy.  He and Nick were like brothers to me. 

My parents had died my freshman year in college in a plane crash.  My dad had been piloting small planes for as long as I could remember.  He was good—always cautious. In the end it wasn’t enough.  You can’t control mechanical failures, you can only try to get through them.  I lost my whole family when that plane went down.  I was the only child of two only children.  Trevor and Nick were the only family I had now.

I dropped the bag of balls at the bench and started kicking them out to the team to pass around.  It was Friday, so I planned on giving them a lighter day, considering they won their game yesterday.

“Run drills, switching at the whistle.”  I shouted. 

The vibrations from my phone indicating an incoming call startled me.  “Hey Nick. What’s up?” 

“Are you coming to the club tonight with us?”  He inquired.

“I’m not sure.  Will it just be the five of us?”  Trevor and Ava had always included both Nick and I as well as her best friend Talia.  We had all become fast friends and I had a great time with them, but I was tired today.  I had half the mind to just go home and crash.

“Just four. Talia is working the ER tonight.”  He explained.  That pretty much solidified my decision.  I loved going to the clubs when Talia was there.  She was so witty and sarcastic and she put Nick in his place repeatedly.  I also loved dancing with her.  If she wasn’t going to be there, I would probably just go home and relax for the night.

“I think I might stay in tonight.  I spent the day teaching the female reproductive system to a bunch of fourteen and fifteen year olds. My mind is not functioning on adult levels right now.”  I chuckled.

“Nice!”  Nick laughed. “Alright, no wussing out tomorrow night though.  Go home and get some rest Sleeping Beauty.”  He hung up before I could respond.  Asshole!

After only an hour of practice I let the team go. The clouds had rolled in and it looked like it could downpour at any minute.

Sure enough, I’d barely made it to the car before it did just that.  Laughing, I shook the water off my head.  Traffic was light, but slow.  It never failed that when the roads were wet, people in Philly automatically slowed down a minimum of fifteen miles per hour. If I was going to have to go slow anyway, I might as well take the back roads.  I swerved onto the off ramp and turned onto the two lane highway, enjoying the scenery much more. The trees were in full bloom and everything almost glowed with the rain.

“Shit!” My arm knocked a bottle of soda over as I reached for the radio and it now was rapidly exploding on the passenger seat.  I grabbed a hold of it before it emptied its entire contents, shaking my head at the mess that was rapidly soaking into my grey cloth seats.

It was almost like slow motion.  The white utility van seemed to come out of nowhere.  I swerved to the right as it caught the back end of my car, sending me into an uncontrollable spin. The jolt and the impact of the airbag jarred my body to the core.  The sound of metal on metal, crunching and grinding echoed through the car.  Tires screeching so loud and then suddenly it was quiet and I felt weightless, floating. The next impact crushed my driver’s side door and the window shattered, sending small fragments throughout my car and all over me. Finally the car rolled to the side and came to rest.

The rain pounded me, sounding almost as loud as a train passing by.  Faint voices sounded so far away. “Sir?  Stay with me, help is on the way.” I closed my eyes.  The pain in the left side of my body was excruciating. I tried to shift myself to relieve some of the pressure, but found I couldn’t move. My thoughts felt fuzzy.  I couldn’t seem to focus on anything but the pain. Warm fluid dripped into my eyes. I found myself drifting in and out, catching voices and sounds but not quite putting them together.  The sirens and the yelling.  The loud motor and crunching of metal and then…nothing.