Lori and Brian went to the movies to see “The Matrix.” As they walked inside, Lori got a horrible feeling in her gut.

“Bri, give me your cell phone, mine’s really low.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. I just have a weird feeling.”

She dialed Angie’s cell phone number. No one picked up. “Damnit! We gotta go.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, but I have this feeling that Angie and Danica are in trouble.”

“How do you know?”

“I don’t know how, I just do.”

They ran out of the theater and hailed a cab.

“6248 Jensen Drive, and please hurry.”

They took off towards Sandra’s house, Lori and Brian prying nothing was wrong.

Danica’s eyes fluttered open. She looked around and realized that she wasn’t in the car. She’d been thrown out of the backseat. She pulled herself off the ground, slowly. Her head was spinning and it felt like a 20-man construction crew was working in her head. She turned to look at the cab to see what kind of condition it was in. The driver’s side was almost completely caved in. She looked to where Angie had been sitting. Her friend was still inside, unconscious. Danica ran to the passenger side and threw the door open. Angie was entirely covered in blood and she was very pale. Her leg was twisted in a strange position. Angie’s cell phone rang somewhere, but Dani couldn’t find it anywhere.

She pulled her own cell phone out and called 911. The operator wasn’t very nice and she briefly considered telling her what to do with her high-pitched nasal voice, but decided it would be better to let the ambulances get there first.

She took another glance at Angie. She did not look god. She was very pale and she was losing a lot of blood.

Danica waited for about five minutes for the ambulances to arrive. She searched for Angie’s phone, but couldn’t find it anywhere. Whoever was calling her was very insistent that she pick up the phone. The ambulances arrived while Dani searched for the phone. One of the paramedics approached her.

“Excuse me, miss?” he said, “Could you please come to the ambulance with me?”

“I’m fine. Help Angie please.”

“She’s stuck in the car at the moment. We’re working to get her and the driver out right now.”

“What about the other car?”

“They’ll be fine.”

“Somehow, I don’t believe you. Help them, not me. I’m fine.”

“You’re bleeding. Let me patch you up and then you can worry about your friend.”

She reluctantly went back to the ambulance with him. The man patched her up as best as he could without stitches. She had a few cuts on her arms, legs, her stomach, and a gash across her forehead. From what the medic could tell, her thumb and index finger on her left hand were broken. But he couldn’t be completely sure without an x-ray.

When he was done, Danica walked over to the cab to check the progress of the medical team sent to get Angie and the driver out of the car.

One of the policemen tried to stop Danica, but she just shrugged him off.

“I was in the wreck,” she told him flatly.

“I’m sorry, miss. I didn’t know. But we need to get a statement from you, if you’re up to it right now.”

“I didn’t see anything. Angie and I were in the back of the car. When we looked in front of us, the green car was headed right for us. All I keep hearing is Angie and me screaming. And the sound of that crunching metal and glass.”

She felt tears start to well up in her eyes, but she blinked them back.

“I’ve got to be strong for Angie.” She thought.

“You’ll be okay,” the officer said, trying to soothe her.

“May I ask about the other car?”

“Sure.”

“Who was in it? Are they gonna be okay?”

“The driver is a female, approximately 25 years of age. The passenger is a male, approximately 20-25 years of age.”

“Are they going to make it?”

The driver is, like you, just fine. She has a few nasty scrapes, and she’ll have a bad headache in the morning, but she’ll be fine. The passenger is a little worse. He was taken to the hospital already. But he’ll be fine.”

“Thank you.”

“If you need anything, I’ll be right over there, “ he said, pointing, “Just ask for James.”

“Thank you, James.”

As James walked away, the medical team pulled Angie out of the car. Seeing Angie so pale and hurt made Danica very queasy. She ran to the side of the road and vomited.

------MEANWHILE-------

Lori asked the driver to hurry again, knowing that something terrible had happened. Angie still hadn’t answered her cell phone.

The driver turned onto another street and stopped. Traffic was backed up for almost a mile.

“What the hell?” Lori said, “Rush hour’s not for another two hours!”

“It looks like an accident. It happens all the time.”

“We’ll walk from here.”

“But-“ the driver began.

“We’ll walk.”

Lori paid the driver and pushed Brian out of the car. They ran to the accident scene and saw Dani as she spoke with the officer. Lori tried to yell for her, but Dani didn’t hear. The officer walked away and Lori shouted for him. He walked over to her.

“I know that girl,” she said, pointing to her friend, “Her name’s Danica LaCaze. I really need to get to her. She needs me right now.”

The officer considered for a second and allowed Lori to cross the barrier the police had put up. As Lori walked toward Danica, they pulled Angie out of the cab. Danica ran to the other side of the street and threw up. Lori rushed over to her and put her hand on her back, trying to show her that she was there for her. Danica looked up at Lori and passed out.

Lori freaked out, “MEDIC! SOMEONE HELP MY FRIEND!”

Two paramedics rushed to Dani’s side with a stretcher. Lori got into the ambulance with Danica and Brian went with Angie. On the way, Lori called Sandra to explain what had happened. Before she could call Kevin, they reached the hospital. One of the paramedics told Lori and Brian that they’d have to sit in a waiting room Lori handed Brian his phone, “You call Kevin. I can’t do it.”

Brian took the phone from Lori and said a short prayer while he dialed.

Chapter 13