The Lucy Chronicles
Crash
It was early September, my fifth day of my junior year, when I woke up feeling less than desirable. I hadn’t been feeling myself for quite some time, but really, I was just tired. My alarm was buzzing beside me on the end table, but there was not a single part of me willing to reach out and smack the thing to make it shut up. I just laid there until the noise faded into the background, and all I could think about was falling back to sleep. It wasn’t until my mum knocked on the door that I finally startled.
“Lucy, time to get ready for school, love,” my mother hurriedly informed me. I didn’t bother to answer her, never did, because I knew she was in just as big a rush as I was. She had to get to work, as did my father. Granted, they weren’t due in their offices until at least 9:30… for some reason it just took them much longer to prepare.
I sat up slowly, uttering a muffled groan as I stretched my stiff joints. They weren’t horrible, but they hurt. When I stretched I could feel a gentle tug in my elbows, and my knees pulled a little when I finally stood up. I didn’t know what it was, maybe I stood up too fast, but my body rocked unevenly and sent me plopping back down onto the mattress, holding my head and clenching my eyes shut. “Oh man,” I murmured, brushing my hair back behind my ears. I shook off the dizzy sensation and pressed myself up to my vanity to brush my hair and do my make-up. Then, I got dressed, nothing too nice, but I didn’t want to look like a total slob because I still had to see Chandler at school. I settled on a baggy sweater with jeans and moccasins; I didn’t feel well enough to look any better than that.
When I glanced at the clock, I noticed I was just about on schedule. My parents were due to be locked up in their bedroom, leaving me to run down stairs, grab breakfast, and swing out the door, where I would hop into the car my father insisted on buying me for my sixteenth birthday in February and drive off to the school. With my school bag in tote, I left my bedroom and rushed down the stairs, into the kitchen, where I grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit my mother always kept on the table (partly because it was an easy snack for us because she couldn’t cook and partly because a bowl of fruit made our mansion look a little more domestic even though she was a horrible housewife). I took a bite from the apple and realized I had left a book in my room, and I had little time to spare. I scurried back for the staircase and began to rush up to the second floor.
A few steps from the top, the walls began to spin around me, and I felt like I was floating. It took a few swipes for me to grasp the railing, and I slowly climbed to the top. I leaned against the wall as I stumbled back to my room. When I went to open the door, my vision had blurred so badly that my hand grasped at air instead of what I thought was the door knob. I fumbled blindly until I finally clutched it and pushed the door open. Taking a deep breath, I immediately sat on the bed and put my head between my legs, trying to make sense of everything.
Once the feeling passed, I swiped the book from my desk and headed for my car. My keys jangled when I lifted them from the set of rings stationed by the front door. I could hear my father now banging on Trav’s door, demanding that he get his “lazy ass” up before he was late for school again.
I started the car and off I went. Things were fine for awhile, until I stopped at a red light just three minutes before the entrance to the school parking lot… at least I tried to stop. The dizziness came back, but it was gradual and so bad that I barely even noticed it. I had no control over anything anymore, and I could barely see. There were now three traffic lights instead of one hanging above me. My foot moved to hit the brake, but it didn’t. It must have hit the gas instead, and my body slumped a little, so my foot hit the pedal hard. Cars honked all around me. The street twisted and turned ahead of me. My eyes sank to the dashboard, and I didn’t remember stopping, but the car abruptly stopped with quite a force. My head hit the top of the steering wheel, and I could hear my car alarm whirring.
When I lifted my head, a telephone stood tall and strong in front me, slowly melting into what looked like three, but the most visible one stood firm, splitting through the hood of my car. Chunks of metal sprawled around it. This wasn’t good. I fumbled through my school bag for my phone as sirens approached from both my front and from behind. I hit the first number on speed-dial and waited until my father picked up the phone. I didn’t wait for an answer and didn’t listen if he did. “Daddy,” I squeaked, barely coherent and trying to focus so I could speak as the police cars stopped and started opening my car doors. “Daddy, please don’t be mad,” I added before my vision began fading and the phone slipped out of my hands. The voices of officers all blended together in my head as they started pulling me out of the car.
After that, it was darkness for awhile, at least until I came to in an all too familiar hospital room. I was already hooked up to all the machines. I could hear faint beeping. Uncle Mumbles was seated on the orange sofa placed by the window, the one I usually saw him sitting at when things like this happened. “What happened?” I asked softly, blinking my eyes open until he came into focus properly, until it no longer looked like he had a twin.
“Crashed your car, Lucy,” he grumbled a little.
“Did I?” I turned my head to the ceiling a sighed a little, took a moment to close my eyes. “Where’s my mum and dad?”
“Outside.” Uncle Mumbles glanced to the windows, and through a crack in the blinds I could see my parents talking to my doctor. “Your dad’s ‘bout ready to pop a blood vessel.” I nodded a little.
“I thought he might get mad,” I murmured, tilting my head back to my uncle and turning on my side a little.
“Not at you, Lucy,” he explained. “Your doctor’s a right moron is all.” I averted my gaze just for a moment, looking at all the wires hooked up to me, looking at the IVs plugged into the catheter in my chest. When I peeked back through the blinds again, I saw the doctor solemnly exit down the hall as my father took my sobbing mother in his arms. I could only assume the worst. Still, my uncle tried to distract me. “Don’t worry,” he assured me. “Everythin’s gon be just fine.”
“Lucy, time to get ready for school, love,” my mother hurriedly informed me. I didn’t bother to answer her, never did, because I knew she was in just as big a rush as I was. She had to get to work, as did my father. Granted, they weren’t due in their offices until at least 9:30… for some reason it just took them much longer to prepare.
I sat up slowly, uttering a muffled groan as I stretched my stiff joints. They weren’t horrible, but they hurt. When I stretched I could feel a gentle tug in my elbows, and my knees pulled a little when I finally stood up. I didn’t know what it was, maybe I stood up too fast, but my body rocked unevenly and sent me plopping back down onto the mattress, holding my head and clenching my eyes shut. “Oh man,” I murmured, brushing my hair back behind my ears. I shook off the dizzy sensation and pressed myself up to my vanity to brush my hair and do my make-up. Then, I got dressed, nothing too nice, but I didn’t want to look like a total slob because I still had to see Chandler at school. I settled on a baggy sweater with jeans and moccasins; I didn’t feel well enough to look any better than that.
When I glanced at the clock, I noticed I was just about on schedule. My parents were due to be locked up in their bedroom, leaving me to run down stairs, grab breakfast, and swing out the door, where I would hop into the car my father insisted on buying me for my sixteenth birthday in February and drive off to the school. With my school bag in tote, I left my bedroom and rushed down the stairs, into the kitchen, where I grabbed an apple from a bowl of fruit my mother always kept on the table (partly because it was an easy snack for us because she couldn’t cook and partly because a bowl of fruit made our mansion look a little more domestic even though she was a horrible housewife). I took a bite from the apple and realized I had left a book in my room, and I had little time to spare. I scurried back for the staircase and began to rush up to the second floor.
A few steps from the top, the walls began to spin around me, and I felt like I was floating. It took a few swipes for me to grasp the railing, and I slowly climbed to the top. I leaned against the wall as I stumbled back to my room. When I went to open the door, my vision had blurred so badly that my hand grasped at air instead of what I thought was the door knob. I fumbled blindly until I finally clutched it and pushed the door open. Taking a deep breath, I immediately sat on the bed and put my head between my legs, trying to make sense of everything.
Once the feeling passed, I swiped the book from my desk and headed for my car. My keys jangled when I lifted them from the set of rings stationed by the front door. I could hear my father now banging on Trav’s door, demanding that he get his “lazy ass” up before he was late for school again.
I started the car and off I went. Things were fine for awhile, until I stopped at a red light just three minutes before the entrance to the school parking lot… at least I tried to stop. The dizziness came back, but it was gradual and so bad that I barely even noticed it. I had no control over anything anymore, and I could barely see. There were now three traffic lights instead of one hanging above me. My foot moved to hit the brake, but it didn’t. It must have hit the gas instead, and my body slumped a little, so my foot hit the pedal hard. Cars honked all around me. The street twisted and turned ahead of me. My eyes sank to the dashboard, and I didn’t remember stopping, but the car abruptly stopped with quite a force. My head hit the top of the steering wheel, and I could hear my car alarm whirring.
When I lifted my head, a telephone stood tall and strong in front me, slowly melting into what looked like three, but the most visible one stood firm, splitting through the hood of my car. Chunks of metal sprawled around it. This wasn’t good. I fumbled through my school bag for my phone as sirens approached from both my front and from behind. I hit the first number on speed-dial and waited until my father picked up the phone. I didn’t wait for an answer and didn’t listen if he did. “Daddy,” I squeaked, barely coherent and trying to focus so I could speak as the police cars stopped and started opening my car doors. “Daddy, please don’t be mad,” I added before my vision began fading and the phone slipped out of my hands. The voices of officers all blended together in my head as they started pulling me out of the car.
After that, it was darkness for awhile, at least until I came to in an all too familiar hospital room. I was already hooked up to all the machines. I could hear faint beeping. Uncle Mumbles was seated on the orange sofa placed by the window, the one I usually saw him sitting at when things like this happened. “What happened?” I asked softly, blinking my eyes open until he came into focus properly, until it no longer looked like he had a twin.
“Crashed your car, Lucy,” he grumbled a little.
“Did I?” I turned my head to the ceiling a sighed a little, took a moment to close my eyes. “Where’s my mum and dad?”
“Outside.” Uncle Mumbles glanced to the windows, and through a crack in the blinds I could see my parents talking to my doctor. “Your dad’s ‘bout ready to pop a blood vessel.” I nodded a little.
“I thought he might get mad,” I murmured, tilting my head back to my uncle and turning on my side a little.
“Not at you, Lucy,” he explained. “Your doctor’s a right moron is all.” I averted my gaze just for a moment, looking at all the wires hooked up to me, looking at the IVs plugged into the catheter in my chest. When I peeked back through the blinds again, I saw the doctor solemnly exit down the hall as my father took my sobbing mother in his arms. I could only assume the worst. Still, my uncle tried to distract me. “Don’t worry,” he assured me. “Everythin’s gon be just fine.”