Endings Are Hard.

“Dean, stop it!” Dayton squeals as she clicks her seat belt back on.

Dean laughs and leans over to kiss her shoulder, “Come on, babe, loosen up. We’re just having fun.”

Dayton glances in the rear view mirror at her younger sister Alli and her boyfriend Andy. She rolls her eyes when she notices that Alli isn’t wearing a seatbelt. They’re making out in the back as usual; occasionally one of them kicks her seat while messing around. All of them are really distracting but Dayton knows she can handle this. She thinks to her self, how many times have I drove on this road; it’d be impossible for me to wreck here. I’ll just tell them to settle down when we turn.

“Hey, I hate this song change it!” Alli complains but Dean only turns it up louder and dances in the seat next to her.

Alli leans over the middle of the front and starts messing with the radio, “Alli you need to sit down.” Dayton says after Alli elbows her and makes her swerve into the other lane.

That’s when everything seemed to slow down.

The first thing is the head lights; so bright and confusing, Dayton squints to see where she is on the road. All she can comprehend is the squeal of tires and the blinding lights.

The next thing is the awful crunching sound of metal on metal. She knows they’ve been hit, but it’s all happening so fast she can barely understand, but at the same time the world seems to be slowly turning. In an instant four lives are changed but to them it’s an eternity.

Dayton throws her arm out to try to hold on to her sister and keep her in the car but its no use. Alli is thrown through the windshield and because of the lights she becomes invisible. Alli’s screaming suddenly stops, how can she not be screaming? Dayton struggles to understand what this could mean.

Dayton starts screaming and crying because both of her legs are cut and broken under a mingled mess of metal. Her face hurts because she has hit the steering wheel and she knows there’s blood all over her.

Dean is slumped back in his seat and his head is bleeding, Dayton thanks God that he wore his seat belt with what little reasoning she can. She really can’t see anything else wrong besides his arm is in a bad position.

Andy is face down in the back seat held in mid air at his waist by his seat belt. The window by him has a whole in it and his is caught in some of the jagged glass.

The pain is getting unbearable, the next thing she knows there’s another car; they can’t stop in time and smash into the side of the car sending Dayton, Dean, and Andy rolling off the road causing more damage.

The car gets crunched more and Dayton can feel her ribs break, suddenly she can’t breathe. She can’t seem to handle anymore and passes out.

“These three are alive. . . One dead, apparent cause of death is being thrown from the vehicle. We need to cut through all this metal to get to them.” A paramedic says.

Eventually they pull Dean and Andy free and get them rushed to the hospital. The group of people finally manages to move enough metal to get Dayton free. They pull her from the vehicle and strap her to something.

A bright light is shined in her eyes; she tries to look away, “We have a response! Her heart is dropping fast lets go people I think we have a collapsed lung.”

She’s put in an ambulance and several needles are stabbed into her, some one is breathing for her which comes to a great relief because she can barely do it her self.

She tries to speak but the oxygen mask muffles it, “Where’s my sister?” Over and over she tries but still no one will tell her.

They get to the hospital and she is immediately taken to surgery.

XxXxXx

Everyone says dying is painless and you go into a bright light. Alli knows it is nothing like that. She knows first hand. Death for Alli was tearing pain, literally; she felt her face being ripped and cut by pavement. Felt muscle being torn from the bone. Felt her skin burning away from her body. Felt the blood flow onto the concrete of the road. She screams in pain for what seems like forever, but then it just stops. She can’t feel anything anymore just really cold and alone. Then there was just darkness. Then it was all over; just done. Gone.

Of course she also knew that her death wasn’t Dayton’s fault. They were all messing around. But naturally she felt resentment towards her sister for being the lucky one and living. Unlike herself. The last bit of life is gone with a tear rolling down her mangled face.

XxXxXxXx

Dean wakes up and the first thing he can think is how much his head hurts. The next thing he realizes is that there was a terrible crash.

“Oh god, where are they?! Where are my friends and my girlfriend?!” He starts screaming and trying to get up.

Three nurses come rushing in, “Sit back! You’re going to hurt your self. The other boy in the car is here, he’s alive. There’s a girl in surgery and the other one didn’t make it through the wreck. I’m sorry. . . Please sit down though; you’ll get hurt if you strain your self too much right now.”

“What?! Which girl made it, oh god.”

Tears are streaming down his face as he lies back down, he doesn’t want it to be Dayton that died but he doesn’t want it to be her little sister either. He can’t help but think that if they had been less distracting, Dayton could’ve been paying more attention and they’d be at the movies right now not in a hospital with one of us dead. He sits back and cries, Dean knows he’s never cried this hard before. It’s not just tears and sadness, he feels remorse, fear, hopeless and scared.

An hour later he’s still crying, praying some one will tell him what’s going on, when his parents walk in.

“Oh Dean!” His mom cries out as she rushes to his side.

“Do you guys know anything about the others?”

His dad answers this time, “Andy is in a coma, he hit his head pretty bad. Dayton is in surgery still, she has many broken bones that have to be attended to in there and a collapsed lung, she’s going to make it. Alli was thrown from the car, she died at the site. I’m so sorry, Dean.”

“When she gets out of surgery who’s going to tell her that her sister died? She’ll be a mess. She needs me.”

“Her parents are coming they were right behind us.”

He starts crying harder, “This can’t be happening. Mom please tell me it was a dream, please.”

His mom holds him while he cries, knowing nothing will ever be the same again.

XxXxXxXx

Andy’s parents are in his room holding their son’s hands. He has stitches on his face and bandages wrapped around his head, he’s in a coma but it looks like he’s only taking a nap and he’ll be up any minute.

“How do we tell him that. . . About Alli?” His mom asks.

His dad shakes his head, “Right now, we need to focus on him waking up.”

XxXxXxX

Dayton wakes up hour after surgery in a confused state. There are two people and a doctor standing around her.

“You’re awake!” The women cries out and rushes over to her.

Dayton cringes away from the women when she tries to kiss her head. She looks shocked and confused.

“Dayton, baby, it’s me, mom.”

Dayton shakes her head, “No, you can’t be my mom. I’ve never seen you before.”

“Temporary memory loss is not uncommon in trauma patients. Her brain isn’t ready to deal with what has happened. Her body is protecting it’s self from more pain, if you will.” The doctor says.

“No, I do remember. My name is Dayton, I live in a shitty little town, and my boyfriend’s name is Dean.”

The man looks at the doctor, “Why does she remember him and not us?”

“Who knows, the brain is a very complex thing. Do you know why you’re here?”

“No.”

The doctor explains the situation to her and by the end she’s crying. Even though he has tried to tell her as gentle as possible and with out actually saying it she knows what he is saying.

“I killed my sister, hurt my boyfriend, and put my friend in a coma. Why do I deserve to forget everything? Make it all come back!”

“Calm down. As soon as he’s able Dean will visit you, but getting all worked up and stressed won’t bring back your memory.”

The doctor leaves and the women and man sit down on either side of her, “No, get out right now. I don’t know you. I want to be alone!” Dayton cries out.

They look hurt but give in. As she sits there alone in the hospital bed Dayton can’t help but try to strain to remember. All that keeps coming to her is flashes of lights, a crunching sound, agonizing pain and screaming that seems to go on forever but then it just stops. Deep in her heart she knows the screaming was her sister.

“Please let me remember. Please. Alli I’m so sorry.” Tears stream down her face. Her sister is dead, her boyfriend is hurt, and her friend is in a coma. Why does she get to forget everything? She knows she remembers it all or else why would she feel that heavy burden of a broken heart?

“Hey.” Dean stands at the doorway timidly.

Tears immediately spring to Dayton’s eyes, “Hey, I don’t remember the crash. I know you and Alli and Andy, I know where we live, and I know my name. Everything else is blank.”

He walks over to her side and takes her hand, “I know baby, give it time. Don’t stress your self now. It could do more damage. I’ll fill you in on whatever you want. I wont leave your side. I love you.”

XxXxXxX

-Three days later-

Andy didn’t pull through like every one thought he would, they didn’t know how serious his brain had suffered through hitting his head. Andy and Alli’s parents have decided to bury them in graves next to each other. Alli is going to be a closed casket because her injuries were gruesome.

Dean and Dayton haven’t left each other’s side since he walked in to her room. She is slowly remembering her life and as soon as she can get out of the hospital and come home she will start physical therapy to gain back strength. When her legs heal she’ll start learning to walk again. Dayton’s leaving the hospital long enough to attend her sister and Andy’s funerals.

At the funeral everyone bawls their eyes out and Dayton wants to make a speech for Alli and Andy.

“Hi, all of you know me and these two that we all loved so much. They died because a car crash. I was driving. Every day since I woke up I have wondered why my little sister had to be the one to go, I’d trade her places in a heart beat. She was so young and beautiful. A full life a head of her, one she intended to spend with Andy who was one my best friends. He died too young also. We weren’t drinking or doing drugs when we crashed. We were on the way to see a movie, a double date. We are teenagers, we make mistakes and because I made the mistake of letting them mess around in the back seat, of not making Alli wear a seat belt, of not making Dean quit messing with me, I swerved into the other lane and right into a car. The other people lived and they are at home right now I’m sure. Their lives are forever touched as well. They will always go through life knowing their car hit ours and two of us died. After they hit us another car did the same only the second flipped us off the road. I want everyone to remember that when you are in the driver’s seat, you are in charge of that car and responsible for all of the lives in there. Please make sure everyone is buckled. Please don’t let anyone distract you. You have all the time in the world to goof off but in the car is not the place to do so.” Dayton has to stop and take a deep shaky breath, “I can’t even remember exactly what happened, I know as much as I have told you. The accident took something from me physically, I can’t walk anymore. I’m sure I’ll learn again but right now I can’t even take a shower, go to the bathroom, or get dressed by my self. If you remember anything I say today please just remember one mistake can cost so much. You never know what can happen and you are not invincible.”

Dean pushes her back to her parents and the coffins are lowered into the ground.