[IC] Creative Short Stories

[Wick]

*Creative Shorts*

~I am working on improving my writing skills and so I have decided that I will write some short stories. Some will be only a scene and others will be several posts long. If you want to ask and join me in a story that would be fantastic. I intend to put my characters in some very out of the normal situations so that I can expand my horizons so to speak. Be warned that my characters will not always react like me at all and if one of them is cruel or racist or believes in weird and heinous things that this is NOT how I feel personally. ~

[Wick]

UNDERCOVER AGENTS

Angela was laughing softly at something Lara had said and she was leaning against the wall. Paige was carrying in more baby stuff into Angela's room to set up for the baby's impending arrival. Paige was as tickled about the baby as Angie was but she had to pretend that she was so so on the baby thing so as not to raise Francis' suspicions. She had just turned her head and looked at where Angie said to put the box of toys when she heard a sharp intake of breath. Paige turned her head started moving towards Angie as fast as she could. The heavily pregnant teenager was collapsing against the wall. "FRANCIS!" She screamed in panic. "Angie! Angie wake up honey what's wrong?"

Francis and Mary came running down the hall and Francis grabbed Angela up and Mary helped Lara up and they followed at a quick pace. Mary called one of the congregations' doctors while shouting orders to Ellen about clean sheets. Lara ignored her and ran into the room where Francis was laying Angie on a bed. He pulled her pants off and got her ready for inspection by the doctor who arrived within a moment or two.

Once the doctor had arrived Lara was allowed to stay up by Angie's head. She held her friend's hand as the doctor came in and checked on the baby's progress. While he was, Angie woke up groggily and shrieked in pain as the doctor was rough with her. "Doctor please be gentle with her." Lara begged while looking at Angie's tears. "What is wrong? Why did she collapse?" Paige was worried enough that she forgot that she shouldn't ask before Francis did. He glared at her for it and she backed down. "I'm sorry, I -I'm just so worried about her." She apologized to Francis.

The doctor proceeded to give Angela a shot and it hurried her labor. Within an hour or so Angela gave birth to an imperfect baby girl. It was obvious that there was something wrong with the baby. She was deformed. Her head was misshapen and her eyes were offset from each other and her arms were of different lengths at first glance. The doctor looked at the infant and listened to it's heartbeat. He wouldn't look at Angela only Francis. Paige was panicked at the baby's condition. She covered her mouth with her hand and she cried softly for Angie.

Angela heard the baby making an odd crying sound as if it were struggling somehow. "Well? How is my baby?" The doctor refused to acknowledge her and Francis said nothing as his face turned redder and redder in anger. Paige squeezed her hand and quietly and as calmly as she could told her, "Your little girl ....I'm so sorry to have to tell you but she is...not breathing right and....something is seriously wrong, maybe Down Syndrome." Paige's voice broke and Angie demanded. "You are lying! Give me my baby!" She yelled at the doctor.

Francis turned his face away and Lara took the baby from the doctor's hands gently and she handed the struggling infant to her mother. Lara watched Angie's expression as she saw the baby. Lara was surprised to see pain in her eyes, the love behind that didn't surprise her though. What did surprise Paige was what happened next.

Francis' anger was growing and within moments he had gone from a worried expectant father to a vicious and crazed maniac. He turned to Angela as she cuddled and kissed her unhealthy child. "YOU!" He screamed pointing at Angela. Angie held onto her baby tightly and protectively drawing her body around it.

"You have born me a disfigured and Impure child!"

Angie shrank back and cried out, "No! She is not impure. She is not!" Paige was on the other side of the bed from Francis and couldn't stop him when he struck Angela hard across the face. She jumped when he ripped the baby from her arms and Angela slid off of the bed screaming "NO! Give her back to me, please Francis I beg you."

Francis shoved Angie back against the bed and screamed at her while flinging the baby around by one arm. "Does THIS look like a perfect and PURE child to you?"

"Francis! No please, we can try again. I'll do anything just let me keep her." Angie pleaded desperately.

Francis dropped the baby carelessly on the chair behind him. It's squeals of pain at the cruel mistreatment loud and clear. Paige saw the baby and ran around the pair fighting and grabbed up the baby and wrapped it in a small blanket that had been brought in for the infant. She took the baby out of the room and through her tears she saw Mary glaring at her and the doctor, who refused to acknowledge the child as a human being as it was not Pure according to the laws they followed, in the hallway.

The fighting and screaming went on for what seemed like forever. Paige didn't trust anyone to keep the baby safe and she could hear the hitting and screaming as he beat Angie. Finally a loud crash that made her jump and then the room went quiet. Mary turned away with a sour look on her face and the doctor stepped toward Paige to take the baby from her. Paige backed up and shook her head. "No."

Mary looked at her and shook her head vehemently, almost desperate. "Do not cross Francis on this matter Lara." Mary took the baby from her and put it in the doctor's hands. Once he had the infant in his hands he put it into his medical bag and left with it.

Francis walked out into the hallway and wiped the sweat off of his brow. "Mary, I believe you have a class in ten minutes." Mary scurried off with a nod of her head. Paige stood there with tears still damp on her cheeks. He stepped forward and grabbed Lara into a long hug. Francis explained. "I understand you and Angie were friends and you will miss her but it couldn't be helped. She had to be sacrificed." Paige noticed that he had a crazed look in his eyes and she just tried to be obedient so he wouldn't kill her just as easily. She couldn't control the tears as they rolled down her face.

Paige barely uttered the next words louder than a whisper. "...and the baby?"

"Oh now Lara you saw it. It's impurity clearly visible. It has been donated for parts to the local hospital."

Paige felt numb and terrified of this man and she could only nod. "Do you understand why it had to happen they way it did?"

He looked at her suspiciously so she nodded and in control of herself once more she said, "I weep for your loss, for the child it should have been. I grieve for the pain this day has brought and I grieve for the loss of my friend's purity." Paige put her own feelings aside as much as she could. She had to get through this or he would have her killed.

Francis smiled, "Thank you for taking the impurity to the doctor for me." She couldn't believe it, he actually thought she had been helping him when she took the baby out of the room. She said nothing but gave a half smile. "You should go and pray and then go lay down and take a nap. I will join you in a little while." Paige gave a smile and nodded. She went to the church and prayed for fifteen minutes or so and then she walked back to her apartment in back and took her makeup into the bedroom and turned the tv on.

Paige got to her mascara again and whispered a message to Darric and Blaque. "More death today. I'm scared to death. Please get me out of here." She washed her face and put her makeup on and and when she went into the other room Francis was just coming in as if it were any other day and as if he hadn't just killed a girl and her baby that afternoon. He came up to her, kissed her and took her to his bed. Paige blocked everything out and did what she had to do to stay alive. Afterwards, she couldn't sleep. She was scared and had to push it down so he wouldn't see it. She could only pray that the team would get to her before she was sacrificed for some imagined mistake.

---

Subconsciously Paige felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She lay there quietly trying to gauge where Francis was. She heard him unzip her purse and start digging around. Her purse was in the other room and she couldn't hear him in the bedroom any longer. Raising her head and finding him not in her sight she slipped from the bed and dressed quickly. She shoved her feet into her sneakers and snuck through the apartment. She found him waiting for her in the living room. Paige gave him a quiet smile and calmly took in his appearance.

Francis' eyes were darker than normal, almost brooding. There was a muscle in his jaw that was stressed way too tightly for her liking. She noticed the small gun and her purse contents dumped out on the table. He was becoming angry about something. That could be dangerous for her so she slipped into a carefree tone of voice and smiled at him as she walked across the room to him. She wrapped her arm around his waist and kissed his cheek and pretended to only then notice her things.

"Why is my purse dumped out? Were you looking for something?" She reached down and grabbed a stick of gum from her things and put it in her mouth. She pouted at his expression knowing that he was focusing on her full lips.

"If you are curious about the gun. I've always carried one. My mother insisted when I moved to the city. She made me take lessons just to make sure I didn't shoot myself."

She cocked her head sideways and gave him a playful smile all the while praying he wouldn't make her use her other skills. "What is wrong Francis? I can see it in your eyes. Has something happened?"

Francis reached slowly for the gun and she kept her demeanor calm as he looked at it. Turning it in his hands he raised it in the air to look at it better. "What else don't I know about you?"

Paige turned deliberately allowing him to wonder what she was about to say. He caught the tension in the air and glared at her accusingly. "You don't like babies and yet the doctor said you were going to fight to save the impure child of your dead friend. You are meta and you carry a gun." He shoved her gun into his left pocket and took a step towards her grabbing her arm and bending it backwards.

Paige went into survival mode and she turned flipping him over her shoulder and onto his back. She slammed her fist into his face and she felt the butt of a gun hitting the back of her head just before she landed on the ground. She hadn't looked throughout the entire apartment to know there was someone else there. She saw a man with dark hair and eyes as her mind slipped into the blackness.

Darric parked the beast around the corner a block away and he eased out of the leather jacket and put on a denim one and made himself look a little more common. He walked up to the church and he opened the door and went inside. The Cathedral was huge inside and there was a woman in one of the side rooms who appeared to be teaching a class. She was ordinary looking, nothing special about her that he could tell. She came out of the room and came up to him with a smile.

"Good day! And how does the lord find you this day?" She inquired. She offered him a seat near where they were standing. "Have you recently moved here? I've never seen you before." Mary asked.

Darric knew he had to make her understand that he was part of the cult as well. "I and my family are new to the area but not to the "church". We were part of the group at the Harrison chapter." He gave her a knowing look and she smiled genuinely.

Darric paid all of his attention to Mary and he took in every detail around him as he answered her questions about his made up family. She kept him on the first floor and took him up in the cathedral showing him all about the history of this particular building. She wanted to have Francis check him out before giving him access to the rest of the activities going on on the premises. Darric was watching people, mostly men coming out of different doors. Finally Darric asked Mary, "Are you Father Francis' wife?"

"Yes, he has three wives but I am the first wife. Why?" She responded with pride at being the first wife.

"I figured you were. Only one so knowledgeable could be his first wife." He complimented her. One of the others came out of the room and called her over.

"Please excuse me for a moment." He nodded and walked away appearing to meander into the more historical section of building while her attention was held elsewhere.

A few moments later she didn't see him and assumed he had left and would come back later when Francis was available.

Darric had slipped into a side of the church that she had avoided taking him to and he went into an old hallway. The walls were made of stone and the flooring was more of a cobblestone. It was cold in there and dark. The lighting was sparse and dim. The voices he heard appeared to be coming from the depths of the cave-like dungeon. Darric felt a wave of fear when he heard Paige's voice waft towards him. He began to move faster. He pulled out the knife he had used earlier on the Caretaker and he approached the room that he heard voices coming from. Darric took no prisoners as he attacked the men hurting the others. He would leave a trail of bodies if he had to, he would kill anyone between him and Paige.

Paige had woken up in great pain. Her head was pounding like it might explode. She remembered hitting Francis and someone bashing her over the head. After that it was broken in flashes. She remembered someone ripping her clothes off of her, leaving her in her bra and underwear. Then they had tied her hands together. Once she was lifted onto the hook she blacked out again. She was beginning to become aware of her surroundings and realized that she had a black eye and someone had hit her while she was out cold. What cowards she thought to herself.

Just as she came out of her sleep state she realized that there was a wad of material in her mouth keeping her gagged so her voice would be muffled. Her eyes opened and Paige began to realize where she was, the torture room where you tried to redeem yourself through pain. She screamed as loud as she could in fear of what was coming next. It was at that moment that the knotted rope hit her delicate yet firm back and buttocks. The fire that ripped through her instantly made her eyes weep and her body spasmed in agony. When the second swing hit home she gritted her teeth and shrieked but managed to get the rope with her foot and whipped it around her leg and yanked the abuser off balance. She could hear more screams, some louder and surprised ones coming towards her. Paige stood on tiptoe to reach her arms up high enough to get off of the hook.

Unfortunately, she couldn't just lift off. They had raised it so there was no chance of an easy escape. She looked at the man and the other woman that they had already beaten and realized that they were dead. Her torn muscles in her back kept her from pulling herself up to lift off of the hook and she forced herself to try again. She gritted her teeth as she pulled her body up. Exhausted she could only hold herself up for a mere second or two. Her adrenaline rush held as she managed just barely to slip the ropes over the hook. At that moment her energy physically depleted she blacked out from the pain and fell to the floor.

Darric was a bloody mess. When he rounded the corner he had startled two of the congregation who were abusing children at the moment. After he killed the men he set the children free and they followed him. The next room Darric passed was the sacrificial room. The executioner was in there and there was at least seven or eight men in there with him. He shushed the kids and they slipped passed that closed door and went further down the hallway. The instant he saw her back and her lifting the ropes off of the hook he ran to her and caught her head just before she would have slammed it onto the ground in her unconscious state.

Darric held Paige and the little girl grabbed a blanket from the corner and she gave it to Darric to cover her with. "Baby, wake up, it's time to go home." Paige thought she was dreaming for a second. There was no way...

"Darric?" she murmured. He held her tight a moment thankful that she was still alive.

"Yeah, it's me. Can you walk? I need to be able to fight our way out of here."

Paige nodded as she came awake. "I'll find a way. Let's get out of here." Paige showed him the way out that would cost them the least amount of time and energy. She knew that they would be found out soon if they didn't hurry. Francis would come back to check on her. The kids held onto her and kept her on her feet while they let Darric fight the way out. There were several times that Paige cried out in pain and had to stop a moment because of the damage to her back. Once they were outside Darric picked her up and told the kids to keep up as he ran her to the car. By the time he got her inside the car she was passed out again and the children were there and so were some of the more violent of the men. Darric pulled his AK out and shot them down in the street as his own body took several bullets. He got into the driver's seat and told the kids "Put your seat belts on and stay down!"

Darric didn't stop until he got them back to the bar. He called his friend Mike who was a doctor that wouldn't ask him any questions and he came right away.

---

Paige had passed out in the backseat of the car. Darric had laid her on her stomach so as not to aggravate her wounds further. The children he put in the front seat. When he got back to the bar he parked around back and took them all inside the back entrance which went down into the main part of the headquarters for the group. He carried Paige to the room used for medical care. The children looked around and followed him. It was at that moment that an older man came running down the stairs.

Darric had laid Paige on the table carefully face down. A sheet was covering her from the end of the wounds down and on the sides of her. Darric put the kids in a waiting area and went to speak with Mike as he started to examine Paige's wounds.

"Well?" Darric asked as he looked at the bloody lashes that were gouged into Paige's soft skin. He gritted his jaw and reached for her hand.

Mike glanced up at him and with a grim expression. "Well, we have two problems here. The first is that her back was hit by knotted ropes with glass knotted into them so it did considerably more damage than it needed to. That we can repair to a certain point. It may take a while before she is in action again. The second is....more delicate."

Paige was starting to come to and tears started flowing from the pain in her back. Her shock came at the next words Mike uttered.

Darric searched Mike's eyes for an answer. "What?" Mike hesitated for a second. "She is about 6 weeks pregnant." Darric closed his eyes and took a deep breath before answering.

Paige laid unmoving as she began crying aloud. "Get it out! Get it out of me! I don't want that devil's spawn inside of me!"

Darric knelt down to her and pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead. "Okay baby, we'll get it out. You just go back to sleep. I'll be here with you." He wiped her tears and she closed her eyes and passed out again.

"Knock her out and get her back medicated then get the abortion done. I don't want her to have to worry about that anymore than she is right now." Mike nodded as he gave her medication through an IV he was hooking up. He worked on Paige's back for over two hours getting the glass shards out of her open wounds. After her bandages were on he took a break before starting the other procedure. While he was doing that Darric stayed beside her and held her hand, kissing it every so often as he spoke softly to her.

It was several hours later that Paige started to come to. Her head felt fuzzy and the pain...THE PAIN was so atrocious that tears were running down her face before she could find the strength to open her eyes. She heard Darric's voice. "She is waking up and in pain." She heard the rustling of paper and her eyes opened just in time to see Mike injecting pain medicine into her IV.

Paige looked at Darric and she could see the terrible strain he was under seeing her like this. "I'm not doing this again. I'm not...I can't ...it's too hard on both of us. I'm not going so deep undercover any longer. No more sex with anyone else no matter what." She reached for his hand and pulled him to her so she could hug him. She spoke to him her voice cracking with emotion. "I'm so sorry baby. I'm so sorry."

Darric held onto her and they spoke quietly and lovingly until Paige fell asleep again.

[Wick]

* Fear*

Her feet barely touched the ground as the adrenaline and cortisol raced through her body. Barely missing a low hanging tree branch as she turned to look behind her she swerved at the last second. She could hear him getting closer and closer. She was terrified and it spurred her on to keep moving and not give him an inch to catch up to her with, but she was getting to the point of exhaustion. She had to find a safe place.

Her heartbeat had never been louder in all of her life and it seemed to be blocking out the sounds around her in some kind of delusion of sorts. Thump thump thump it went louder and harder, almost painfully in her chest. It suddenly seemed like she was running in slow motion as she ducked behind the building that popped out of the trees like an oasis.

Trying to catch her breath she knew she must be loud because her ears were picking up every sound. Every second that she didn't hear him she felt the panic rising up. Hysteria caused the screams she emitted when a large gloved hand came through the glass window next to her head and grabbed her by the hair and pulled her through the glass.

Feeling the panic and the adrenaline rushing through her veins she took a deep breath and sat bolt upright. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes wide. Looking around she felt for her light and turned it on. She breathed a sigh of relief thankful that it was just a nightmare. Getting up to use the bathroom she chuckled at herself for her paranoia.

She was washing her hands and when she looked up she saw the face from her dream. She froze in horror and she stopped breathing as her heart started pounding harder than ever before. She couldn't even scream as the large blade was slid into her soft skin and he jerked the blade up slicing into her in a sawing motion. Her body jerked and involuntary cries escaped her throat as she lay dying. The light in her eyes died, leaving them glassy and empty before he closed the door.

[Mistiel]

The Heist

Emilio Valdez pressed his back flat against the mansion's wall, low lamplight spilling from the open window next to him. The building, made of pink stucco with dark grayish-brown shingles, blended in well in the darkness of the Cuban night. Even as he watched, the lamplight winked out, leaving the surrounding buildings and the tiny ledge Emilio was on in total darkness. Emilio tried not to think about the thirty foot drop to cobblestones should he slip.

Now for the hard part, Emilio thought, as he slowly reached out with his left hand to grab onto the right window shutter that was hanging out over the precipice. His goal was to slide the big shutter over to his side and lay it flat against the wall so he could slip on by. In actuality, his hands were shaking so much that he ended up pushing the shutter closer into the window itself. Thankfully the governor's servants kept the window latches oiled, so this one was no exception as it swung noiselessly inward.

Emilio bit back a curse. Now the shutter hung inward at about a forty-five degree angle, still between him and the windowsill. Change of plans then, he would nearly shut that windowsill and try to slip in through the other open side, though it looked to be a very tight fit.

He froze as a guard down below shown a lantern all along the street just below him. Waiting until the light source and its owner had gone around the building, Emilio eased himself along the ledge, gently using his left hand to keep pushing the rebellious shutter further closed as he went. The moment of truth arrived far too quickly. Emilio pushed the shutter flush with its sill, then pivoted ever so slowly onto one foot, the other appendage hanging out over what seemed like a black abyss. He turned sideways, carefully fitting both feet on the tiny ledge beneath him. For a nanosecond, he felt like he was about to slip off and fall, but he managed to hop onto the windowsill with both feet at once. Unfortunately, while his landing was silent, he brushed against the shutter, closing it fully in his passing.

The resulting click made Emilio freeze for a full second. Idioso! he thought. If anyone looks at the window, they'll see me. With that in mind, he rolled off the windowsill into the room beyond....OOF! The drop was only about four feet but it did a number on the young teen's right shoulder. Something sharp bit into it upon landing and Emilio really did bite his lip this time, chomping back a cry of pain. In the darkness, he could just barely make out the offending item: a high-heeled stiletto, overturned casually like someone had taken it off and thrown it willy-nilly. Puta rica! he thought, viciously, holding his shoulder. His hand came away dry so the stiletto hadn't caused more than just a simple flesh wound. It shouldn't affect his mission any.

Slowly, after listening for signs that someone had been alerted to his unauthorized entry, Emilio worked his way to his feet, avoiding the vague hazy moonlight coming from the half open window. He had done it! Not thirty feet away to his right was a giant four-poster canopy bed, two forms draped over each other, barely visible: the governor and his puta wife who Emilio guessed had been her stiletto that now had his shoulder aching.

He made his way across the room, crouched low, to the strongbox parked next to an armoire made of fine dark wood. Producing a set of lockpicks from his pants pocket, Emilio looked behind him at the sleeping couple. Three failed attempts later and two sweat and anxiety filled minutes later, Emilio almost crowed his exultation as the fourth pick fit the lock. He deftly found the right tension and raking angles and had the box lid open in no time. He rested back against the wall, making sure it couldn't fall back, or forward, under its own weight (for the box was quite heavy even without the massive load of gold and jewels it contained therein).

As quickly as possible, Emilio lined his pockets with as much of the jewelry and gold nuggets he could fit in them. There were several gold bars underneath that Emilio didn't dare filch. The Cuban government had long since started stamping gold bars during the smelting process so that they were easily traceable.

Forty minutes later, Emilio crawled out of the governor's doggy door on the mansion's first floor, slipping behind a finely sculpted hedge just as a guard patrol came by. After the guard's lantern was out-of-sight, Emilio slipped out and was free to roam the city as he pleased....though quietly, lest his rival gang, Los Sureños, hear the jingling in his pockets and get the wrong idea.

He walked up to the northern side of Trinidad, the poorer side, and twenty minutes later was knocking on the door of his secondary home and gang headquarters. Faustina, the girl who opened the door for him, gave him a wide grin. "Emilio! You're late! We thought you'd surely never come back!" She slipped a hand around behind him as he crossed the threshold, cupping his butt and giving it a friendly squeeze. His cheeks reddened as he hurried through the door all the faster. She laughed but made no other remark as Emilio led her and two other members through the little flat to the main room where a large metal table took up the center of the room. It was to this table that Emilio marched, emptying all of his ill-gotten gains with a triumphant expression. The sound of all those jewels and gold bangles hitting the metal was like the sweetest rain they'd ever heard. It was clearly enough to feed their families for the next six months, a year even, if properly apportioned.

Faustina's overprotective brother, and gang leader, Pedro ran a hand over the assortment, lingering on several earrings. Picking one ruby-studded piece up, he inserted into a preexisting hole in his ear and let the piece dangle crookedly before giving Emilio an equally crooked grin. "You've made me a very rich man, Emilio! Gracias!" Not us, not "the gang", but "me." Emilio sighed inwardly. Of course his efforts wouldn't be praised by this one. Pedro was almost as much of a stuck-up puta as the governor's wife seemed to be. It was no wonder he'd named their little band of thieves Buscadores de Oro (Gold Diggers).

[Wick]

The Accident

Cyrus slowly came back to consciousness. The pounding in his head was like a car alarm that wouldn't shut off. Raising his arm he realized it felt like it weighed a ton. He felt something wet running down his arm and face and he put his hand against his face and realized by the sharpness that he was covered in glass. Brushing it away as quickly as he could he moved his head and realized that his neck was sore. The extreme pains in his cervical region made him wonder if he had burst a disc or two. The sharp pains were nothing compared to the fear.

Cyrus turned his neck slightly to the side to check on his passenger. "Abby? You ok?" Cyrus choked out. The blood was pouring out of a cut on his forehead and he could barely see. He was afraid to push glass into his eyes so he was avoiding touching them if he could. He moved his arm and put it out to touch the girl's hand. "Abs?" With no response Cyrus began to panic. He could hear the sirens in the distance. Help was on it's way.

It seemed like forever that he sat there waiting for help. In reality it was only two or three minutes. Cyrus kept calling to Abby. He wasn't sure when the first responders got there but he heard a voice from the other car and they were screaming in terror. The fire department burst on the scene dousing a flame as it ignited on the other car. They congregated around both cars assessing the situation and they tried prying the doors open with no luck. A moment or two later they covered Cyrus and Abby up and used the jaws of life to pry open the doors. It only took a moment or two after that to remove Cyrus and then Abby. There were two ambulances on the scene. Cyrus was out first and he was put into an ambulance and he was the second passenger. The first passenger from the other car had apparently died only seconds before.

Cyrus barely remembered anything. He heard the sirens but not the ride to the hospital or the questions he mumbled out in confusion about Abby's condition. He was scared when they took him to the O.R. He hadn't really been too aware of his own condition. Had he looked down below where the airbag had been sitting he would have seen the ruler in the cupholder had become weaponized, when it hit him with the force of the impact and with the airbag behind it it had impaled itself into his stomach. He had been in shock and not felt it.

As the oxygen mask put him under all he could think of was Abby. They had been singing to the radio. His cell went off and he handed it to her and she read the text to him and answered his mom with his reply. She had put the cell on her seat under her leg so it wouldn't slide around. Cyrus remembered looking at her and then back at the road just in time to see a car come racing over the median line and into their lane. Instinctively he put a hand out to protect Abby but it was too late. The sedan had hit the smaller car head on and the sound of shattering glass and crunching metal and plastic burst over the quiet of the evening.

His subconscious mind then went further back and he remembered two years ago when they had first started dating. Later they would tell him that he cried tears while under anesthesia. His mind played the happy time back like it was a movie. He had an engagement ring in his pocket. He had hoped to ask her tonight. Cyrus' mind went blank as the anesthesia plummeted his subconscious into the depths of darkness.

To be continued....

[Wick]

The Drunk Driver P1

Haley heard voices and noises all around her but her eyes were too heavy to open. Within seconds she was gone again. Fire and rescue handed her off to the medics as soon as she was free and they loaded her into the ambulance quickly. She felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness several times on the way to the hospital. The voices kept shouting things but her mind was too foggy to make them out.

The surgeons rolled her into the OR and she barely remembered a bunch of people with medical masks over their faces. The mask over her own face made darkness overtake her quickly. Several hours later still feeling as if her eyelids each weighed a thousand pounds she fluttered them open. Her mind still felt muddled but the thought ...MOM!... kept flashing in her mind. There was a nurse in the room by her bed marking something on her chart.

Haley opened her mouth to speak and realized that something was in her throat. She started choking and the nurse undid the tubing and took it out so she could speak. "Well hello there Haley. It looks like you made it out of surgery well enough and without complications."

FIRE! her throat was raw. Probably from the tube she thought. Her eyes watered as the pain across her chest and hip set in. She forced her voice to speak even thought it hurt like hell. "What happened?"

The nurse handed her a cup of water. "All I know is that you were in a car accident. You were hit head on by a drunk driver."

Flashes started zipping through her brain. She remembered the car coming across the divider at them. In an instant her body had been jerked hard against the seat belt, the airbag had gone off and hit her in the face but her head had hit the door window. She vaguely remembered seeing her mother's body lying partway in the car on top of the steering wheel. One of her shoes was on the driver's seat and she had seen her mother's face. Eyes open but vacant and her neck was tilted at an angle that could not sustain life. As these memories and more appeared she was handed a box of tissue by the nurse. The nurse was sympathetic as she stayed with her for several moments before leaving to check on the next patient in recovery.

Haley cried until her meds made her drift sniffling back to sleep.

[Wick]

P2

Haley was sent to live with her father after the accident. His new wife Megan had the wonderful job of taking Haley on the hour long trip to the hospital three times a week for physical therapy. Megan had worked hard for her position in her company and she was not happy about having to take time off three days a week for her stepdaughter's medical appointments.

Haley had broken one of her hips in the accident and the therapy was difficult. That coupled with the fact that Haley didn't want to do it at all just made it more difficult for Megan.

After an hour ride with a sour and unhappy teenager Megan let Haley go up on her own. She decided to read a book in the car.

As soon as she got into the building one of the waiting physical therapists walked up behind her wheelchair and started pushing it. "So Haley are you working on the exercises like I said?" Haley had known it was him before he even said a word to her.

"Yeah but it hurts. Shouldn't I wait for it to heal more?" She asked hopefully.

"No ma'am, you need to do these to help it heal. Come on let's get to work." Haley sighed and got on with her therapy giving Jarod looks that would slay a dragon.

After eight weeks of therapy it was dropped to once a week. Her entire summer had been ruined. The accident took the life she had known away. Now she had to start a new school.

[Wick]

Warhammer High School P3

Eric Marks had volunteered to show the new girl Haley Kain around school so he was waiting in the main office for her to arrive. When she arrived he knew who she was immediately. She had a distinctive limp and she looked a little bit lost. He saw her hair was tied back in a loose pony tail that curled around the nape of her neck and her bangs hung above the largest blue eyes he had ever seen. It surprised him that she was pretty. Later he wouldn't be able to pinpoint the reason why that would seem weird to him.

"Eric come here." Mrs. Kohl called out to him. "Eric is your assigned guide for the week. He will meet you outside of your classes ten minutes before the bell rings until the doctor says you are released from your rehabilitation on your hip." Haley nodded and when she turned to him and she laid her eyes on him he smiled just a little. "Come on I'll show you where your locker is." Eric reached over and plucked her backpack from the floor by her feet.

"I can carry that." She protested hotly.

"I know you could. I want to carry it." At that Haley didn't know what to say so she followed the guy. He held the door for her and once in the hallway he seemed to part the crowds of strangers like Moses parted the red sea. After the halls cleared out a little bit he walked next to her telling her where everything was at. It gave her a chance to notice the glances and waves aimed at him and she realized this was not a nerd on newbie duty. It made her a little suspicious.

Like clockwork Eric was at the door after every class ten minutes before the bell every class. After one of her last classes for the day she was limping worse than earlier in the day. He noticed and slowed down so she wouldn't try to go too fast. He could tell she was in pain.

After the last class of the day he wasn't supposed to meet her at her class but he did. He knew how far the bus was. "Hey, I could give you a lift home. I have a car so it's no big deal but the bus is kind of far from here. Come on, I'll give you a lift home."

Haley nodded and didn't say much of anything. He took her bag and when they got to the parking lot he left her at the sidewalk and ran to get his car before the bell rang and the parking lot was full of teenagers. He pulled up in front of her just as the bell rang out. Haley got in and shut the door. She closed her eyes for a moment and wiped the tears that threatened to run down her face away.

Haley gave him directions to her house and she noticed the looks they got leaving the parking lot. Wondering why he was taking her home instead of letting her miss the bus and find her own way home. Haley looked at him as they pulled up to her house. Feeling a little awkward, she didn't know what to say when he opened her door and grabbed out her backpack. She got out of the car and almost fell. She caught herself on the car door as he caught her around the waist. "Are you okay?"

Embarrassed, she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground. Nodding "Uh huh, I think so." She didn't really think so but as long as she didn't fall on her face she was good. She felt her face turning pink when he didn't let go of her right away. She figured he didn't want her to fall and make a scene or something so she let him help her up the stairs to her house.

Once there he watched her open the door and he put the bag inside the door and smiled at her. "You okay to get in on your own?" He seemed to genuinely care that she not take a header down the stairs and she nodded and smiled.

"Yes, I'll manage." She stepped up into the door stoop and turned around to look at him. "Eric, thanks. I don't know if I would have made it today without you."

Eric smiled and nodded. "What time shall I pick you up in the morning?"

Haley was surprised and smiled unexpectedly. "You want to take me to school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, I mean you'll have the same walk to the bus stop and the bus itself otherwise. That's a crappy way to start the day. You are on my way home so it's no big deal."

[Wick]

ProgressionP4

Haley and Eric kept the same schedule that week and every week after that. They grew closer and friendlier with each other over the next month or two. One day Eric walked up to her after class and he blushed a little and asked her straight out. "Will you go to Homecoming with me?"

Haley nodded happily and let him take her books like he had been doing. She had been making a lot of progress with her hip and she was feeling good with where things were with her and Eric. She had noticed people that had been overly friendly to her in the beginning now looked at her a little less than happily. She wondered why until one day in gym class. She had restrictions because of her hip but she still participated as much as she could. While playing dodge ball she got nailed hard in the side of the head. Haley landed on her knees and her hip took a rough jolt of pain. The tears threatened but they didn't fall. Instead she got pissed off. Getting to her feet she turned to the girl responsible who was laughing with her friends about her "accidental hit" on the knew girl.

One of Haley's friends saw her expression and walked over and took her by the elbow and walked her away rather quickly. Haley argued with her the entire way. "What the hell Lisa?" Haley said trying not to explode at her.

"Gretchen isn't worth it. She is just trying to rile you up." Lisa told her.

Wiping the blood off of the side of her face with her hand she looked up at Lisa. "Ya think? Question...WHY is she trying to rile me up?"

"Probably because Eric asked you to Homecoming and not her. They used to date before you came to this school."

Haley stopped and turned to look at Gretchen. turning back to Lisa she smiled a little. "Well how was I supposed to know that? I didn't steal her boyfriend if that is what she thinks."

Lisa shook her head. "No, he broke up with her before you got here but she is obviously jealous. Don't get yourself banned from going to the dance because of her, if you do then she wins."

"So true! We wouldn't want that right? Come on let's go!" Haley ran back to the next game and grabbed a ball and nailed Gretchen so hard she fell backwards and landed on her back out of breath.

[Wick]

P5 The Dance

A couple of weeks later Haley smiled at herself in her bedroom mirror. She loved what her stepmother had done to her hair. For once her hair was behaving itself and not sticking up in every direction that it could possibly go. Haley hugged the redhead and thanked her. She walked carefully down the stairs to answer the door. Her father beat her there and he hugged her and kissed her forehead. "You look beautiful sweetheart."

He opened the door and Eric promptly offered her father his hand and introduced himself. "Hello Mr. Kain, I'm Eric Marks." After her her father went over the usual rules for dating he had Eric's promise that he would have her back by midnight. Eric enveloped her hand in his and he led her to his car and opened the door for her. Before she could get into the car Eric put a little pressure on her hand and she turned to him and smiled. "Haley, you look gorgeous in that dress." He leaned forward and he kissed her on the cheek. He made a show of helping her into the car also quite aware that her father was likely peering out of a window at them. Haley couldn't help but smile with excitement as the car roared to life and they headed towards the dance.