We spent the rest of the evening relaxing together. We didn’t mention my loss of memory again because it always turned things tense between us. I hoped he would get past the oddness of it, or I would remember already because I didn’t want anything causing friction between us.
I spent the next couple days – supervised – with Noah and then it was time to go to my grandparents’. I wasn’t sad that I wouldn’t see him, although I’d miss him because we were keeping in touch and, as he’d said, we had our whole lives ahead of us so what was four little days? I seriously loved him.
Scarlett
I WAITED, IMPATIENTLY, in the car with Jeremy as our parents had yet another conversation after they’d said bye. We’d had a great weekend and I was sad to leave but could we not just go already!
“Seriously, we shouldn’t even get off the sofa until they’re in the car,” I said, pressing my forehead against the window.
Mum and her parents could talk solidly until the end of time. Getting together again had always been a huge deal as far back as I could remember – which was actually only twelve years.
“Yep,” Jeremy agreed, and I looked over at him. He didn’t even glance up from his phone, which had been glued to his hand the entire weekend. “It was really annoying when you were a whiney baby and I had to try amusing you while they were still talkin’.”
“Still texting Amie? You so lurve her.”
“How’s Noah?”
“Touché, big bro.” I looked back out of the window and expected him to make another comment but he was too engrossed in reading her new text. Well, at least she was still talking to him; I hadn’t heard anything from Noah all day.
Mum and Dad finally got in the car and Mum wound down her window, ready to talk more. “You two ready?” she asked over her shoulder.
Jeremy looked up then. “You for real? We’ve been sitting in here for fifteen-bloody-minutes.”
“Language, Jeremy,” Dad scolded, frowning at him in the mirror.
“Can we just go please, Jonathan?” Mum said to Dad and waved out of the window. “See you soon. Bye! Love you!”
“You kids wanna stop off at McDonalds for lunch?” Dad asked. “We won’t be home until after two.”
“KFC and you’ve got a deal,” Jeremy replied.
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t think they’re trying to make a deal, idiot.”
Mum sighed. “Jon, just stop at whichever one you see in an hour.”
This was going to be a long drive. I pressed the home button on my phone, again, to check if I’d missed a text from Noah, again. Nothing. I was being stupid. It was only one day that I hadn’t heard from him, but I was used to waking up with a text and then shooting messages back and forth all day.
I loved that we could talk so much and never get tired. We never ran out of things to say but if we weren’t talking we’d just enjoy the un-awkward silence together. We’d not even been together for two months but I already felt so much more for him than I did for my ex, Jack, in the eight months we were going out.
Slipping my phone in my pocket, I reasoned with myself. I did not need to text him every waking minute of the day – it was nice – but I didn’t need to. We were seeing each other when I got home so I’d message him later to confirm that we were still on and ask if he were okay.
Feeling better about my decision not to go stalker on him, I lay back against the seat and closed my eyes. I was settled, the steady hum and movement of the car threatening to send me to sleep any second. I welcomed it. Easter was amazing but exhausting.
“No!” Dad snapped, suddenly tugging on the steering wheel. The car jolted to the left. My eyes flew open and I gasped as I was thrown against Jeremy’s side. A scream ripped its way up my throat.
“Jonathan,” Mum shouted at the same time Jeremy and Dad swore.
I heard loud horns beeping from several cars as Dad tried to steady the car. He slammed the breaks on as a minibus swerved in front of us.
I screamed again as we’re hit from behind. My body flew forward before it was caught by the seatbelt locking on. The sound of crunching steel and smashing glass pierced through my ears. My heart raced and I gripped Jeremy’s hand as someone else smashed into us from the side, making our car hurtle towards the hard shoulder on the motorway – a ditch. Trees!
Oh, God. I squeezed my eyes closed and everything moved in slow motion. We hit a large tree trunk but I was out before the car stopped.
Scarlett
I TRIED TO open my eyes but they felt like they’d been glued shut. My mind was in overdrive trying to piece everything together. We were in the car. There was screaming and we must have crashed but I couldn’t remember.
Did we hit something or did something hit us? Was everyone okay?
Glass. I remember smashing glass and a big grey building. But we couldn’t have been in a building. Did we hit a building? No, a tree. Where was the building then? My head throbbed and I wasn’t sure if it was because I’d hit it or because I was trying too hard to remember. And then I was drifting, or more like being pulled.