First Impressions

More months pass and it's April. With April, there come many rain-showers. A lot of them rain for days at a time, but some of them are beautiful. Everything is green and wonderful. Mom's flower shop has made its spot on the street and the only fights Brad and I have had are about the issue of what toothpaste tastes the best.

Sal and Trev broke up, got back together, broke up, and got back together again. Tash and Shelby aren't exactly going out. Yet.

But everything is good. Only a month and a half until summer, which means that I get to sleep in and relax away from the school work I've been having trouble on.

Today is Thursday and Brad has the day off, but since the shop is closing earlier, he says he's taking me out tonight. Mom and I close up and run through the rain to get to the car, already drenched in a matter of seconds.

"Wow. It's really bad today." She giggles, turning on the car and pulling out slowly into the traffic. We stop at a stoplight. I look out the window, barely being able to see passed the droplets of water. When the light turns green, Mom drives slower than usual, leaning forward to see better as the windshield wipers bat furiously against the rain.

"It is really bad." I state, looking over to her. She keeps concentrating on what's ahead of her. I look out the window again boredly. After a couple minutes, a big dark object is coming towards us. At first I think it's nothing because we are on a busy street and a car is probably just passing us.

But then it honks. Really loud.

I don't know what exactly happens because everything happens in a blur. I'm screaming at Mom to watch out and she swerves. There's a bang and I feel the impact as we collide with another car, and then another bang on my side that makes me scream loudly.

Everything spins around and around while my heart slows down from fear. The spinning suddenly stops. Something wet drips on my face. I crack my eyes open to see the dark, merciless sky pour tears down onto my face.

"M-mom?" I croak out, hesitantly moving before a shooting pain goes through me. "M-mom?"

"Autum." A whispering voice answers, almost impossible to hear from honking noises coming from the destroyed cars.

"Are you alright, M-mom?" I don't know if I'm crying from the pain yet, it's unbearable. I hear sirens and a slamming of doors, a lot of screaming. Too much noise.

"No."

My head gets really fuzzy as I lift it up to look at Mom, despite the pain. That's the last image I see of her, head resting on top of the steering wheel as something protrudes from the side of the car to her body, before everything goes black.

Totally black.

Many colors. So many. All of them are blurring together, making me giggle. A big yellow smiley face implores my vision, almost scaring me. Then there are voices.

"-alright?"

"-very critical condition. It will be a while until she is taken off the medication."

"How long is-"

And then the darkness takes over again. Behind my eyelids, little rainbows dance everywhere with the Easter Bunny as he throws little candies to kids. Then there's a flash of lightening and I see that image of Mom and all the blood.

So much blood that it makes me scream.

The darkness disappears as it turns to blinding fluorescent lights. I sit straight up with my eyes wide open and screaming, huffing because I'm suddenly hot. My brain is very numb, just like my whole body is, so it surprises me when my mouth starts shouting.

"No! No!" I screech. Something grabs my arms tightly. "NO! WHERE IS MY MOTHER!!!"

My sight turns to the ceiling as I'm pushed down onto the bed, but I don't feel anything even though my mouth is still moving and sound, a horrible sound, is escaping it.

"I WANT MY MOTHER!!!"

After a couple minutes, the white ceiling turns back into dancing rainbows. The Easter Bunny is gone, now replaced by flowers. Beautiful flowers. Roses, Dandelions, Orchids, Cherry Blossoms.

I run out to join them in square dancing, my partner being a lovely rose.

I smile at him as we dance perfectly.

We dance for a while, getting interrupted from that disturbing image and screaming a couple times, but I always get back to dancing with the same Rose.

Later, the dancing stops and the Rose and I just sit together. Then the Rose disappears. Everything else does too.

I'm left alone in the darkness.

I open my eyes when something warm touches my cheek, caressing it thoughtfully. A boy stares back at me. A boy with black hair and gray eyes. Very watery eyes.

"What's wrong?" I ask him in a croaky voice. He coughs a bit, trying to keep from sobbing.

"Autum."

The boy breaks down, laying his head beside me. I want to pet his hair, but something restrains me and I can't. I want to talk, but my throat is closing up. I want to keep watching him, but my eyelids become heavy and it's impossible to comfort this boy.

This boy who means so much to me.

Brad.

I'm alone again in the darkness.