September 28th, 9:04 pm
"...I'm out...?"
...
Jordan never found himself making a habit out of getting high, especially on a school night. Smoking wasn't super uncommon regarding Jordan and his peers, so it's not really that big of a surprise that he does too. As for the 'not making a habit part,' Jordan only smoked if he was really bored or if he had it handed to him. The answer of 'which' becomes self-explanatory. Even then, to most, smoking isn't really a super big event. That just goes to show how boring the previous hours that came before right now were...
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Jordan's day consisted of him waking up at 6, taking a shower, driving himself to school, having breakfast, attending class, eating lunch, finishing the rest of his classes, and going home. Obviously there were other tangible events, but they didn't matter enough to be noted. After going home, he spent a few hours finishing up a project that would be due at the end of the week. It was rainy outside, so he was able to stay inside and relax while doing his work. He usually procrastinated, but he felt like now was a good time to finish it up. The project was for his History class and he needed to create a timeline that consisted of 10 U.S presidents, and he was to pick which ones he thought were most influential.
Jordan had fun filling out the information for Franklin Delano Roosevelt. To Jordan, he found him to be one of the most useful and influential, to a personal level. Opposite of that, near the bottom of the list, was Ronald Reagan. He was probably his least favorite president. If he had to pick a specific reason, he probably couldn't. He just believed he could have done better.
Anyway, he finished up the project at around 6 pm. It was really annoying, but he didn't have much else to do. After this, he had a math worksheet to finish up and a biology task where he needed to go research how gene pools worked, like through a search engine or something like it. That much would take one more hour at the least, but Jordan rarely found himself enacting the 'best case scenario.'
"...Haahh..."
A heavy sigh left Jordan's mouth.
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He ended up finishing somewhere in the middle. Each assignment took 1 hour each, since he kept getting distracted with his phone every time it got notified. After a short intermission on his phone, he would continue whatever it was he was working with. It wouldn't be a big deal if it was just a one-time occurrence, but apparently, there was a lot going on in Jordan's social life, and that turned the short distraction into a constant ritual of unlocking his phone, typing, turning it off, and then repeating it again a few minutes later.
It was still raining. It was pouring, even. It was really strange for texas weather, especially in the middle of September. The noise of water hitting the window panes around the house was a testament to exactly how heavy the downfall was. Jordan liked heavy rain, however, so he didn't mind. It helps him relax, and provided a kind of white noise, making it so he didn't feel like he had to worry about whatever was around him. If he was able to cancel out everything in the world and simply exist by himself in an infinite space while this kind of heavy rain was occurring, he probably wouldn't, but it's still nice to have. The rain was kind of an escape for Jordan, if it could be described in that way. Jordan didn't necessarily have much to escape from in the first place, but he still enjoyed the change of pace. Jordan loved this kind of rain. Especially today, it almost seemed like the rain was welcoming. The rain sounded gentle, as if it knew that it was bringing Jordan comfort, even if it was just a big storm.
Jordan prioritized his relaxing time only second to his work. He liked making sure that he didn't have much going on in his life, because if something major occurred it would get in the way of what he wanted to achieve as an end goal. The fact of the matter of his family's expectations also don't help the issue. Mostly his mother and his other aunts, whom she spoke with quite regularly, and seemed to mirror whatever hopes 'Mom' placed on her son. Whether this was their intention or not, it was definitely apparent. It was probably something to do with the whole 'I didn't get to go to college, so make sure you use this opportunity!' kind of expectations, at least in Jordan's eyes. Jordan wanted to go to college, so it wasn't like he was being told to go throw away his dreams, but that being said, if he for some reason didn't get to go to college, he probably wouldn't mind too much. He was aware that other options existed. His mother and her echoes, however, probably wouldn't be as carefree if his goal slipped from his hands. He didn't really dislike his family, so he didn't really want to disappoint them. Jordan himself, however, doesn't really like doing unnecessary things. That was just how he was.
Anyway, the important thing is that he got everything done. He was pretty much free for the day now he was able t-
"JOOORRRDAAAN!"
...
"...What is it, man. Stop screaming."
"COME HELP ME WITH MY MATH!"
"..."
"...Please?"
"Where was the screaming this time?"
Jordan's little brother has requested his assistance with his math problem. Jordan, as stated sometime earlier, was a straight-A student, so while asking for help may or may not bother him, it was definitely the correct path of choice, if you had to ask anyone. Especially being as Jordan was the only one at his house right now, Jordan's 13-year-old brother, Audrey, had decided to ask Jordan specifically. Jordan had a sweet spot for him, though, so...
"...What kinda problem is it..."
Jordan was not naturally opposed to helping others in life, because he knows that he'll just be able to hold it against them sometime later. In other words, he would rather just not do it at all, but if he does, he might as well get something out of it. Jordan does, however, love his little brother, so he'll make something of an exception and try and help him out with his work. It's not like he had anything better to do anyway.
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"Ahhhh... ughh..."
It ended up taking both Jordan and his little brother an hour to finish up his math project. The fact that it was a project is why it took so long, and it was also something that wasn't mentioned to Jordan until he was a quarter in. it's been three, almost four years since Jordan has been doing the math that his brother was asking him to explain to him, but he did actually remember, so it wasn't as horrible as you might think. That being said it was still quite horrible. Audrey had close to no idea what to do regarding the algebra, which forced Jordan to try and explain it to him.
You can probably guess how well that went.
The project shifted to Jordan doing all of the actual difficult work, and Audrey doing whatever else. It wasn't hard work for Jordan, but it was a lot of work, and he definitely wasn't getting any reward out of it. He wanted to get up and go to bed and do something else, but if he left his brother here in the middle of it, he definitely wouldn't be able to finish up the rest of it by himself. As many times as the phrase 'just tell him it's a learning experience' floated through his mind, he couldn't bring himself to actually do something that cruel to his own brother. If it was anyone else, though, he's sure he wouldn't be as conservative.
Anyway, they did get it done, but it was now 9 am. Jordan went to sleep pretty late, so it's not like 1 hour dented into his life or anything, and the fact that he didn't really have anything else to do for the rest of the night dawned on him.
"...Eghh..."
So, Jordan decided he was going to get high and catch up on whatever show or album or whatever he wanted. He could probably do the same without being high, but he wanted to get high simply because he wanted to.
It was less of a question of 'I reeeeally want to smoke some weed right about now,' and more of an 'I could probably get away with smoking a little bit while relaxing tonight' kind of situation. It's not like he has any work, and he doesn't need to interact with the family in the house for the rest of the day so...
...
He was... Out.
Huh? Completely?
"wha...?"
Jordan shuffled up and down the drawer that he kept his supplies in but couldn't find the actual weed anywhere. His paper and his ashtray, and even a chocolate wrapper...? But none of the actual weed that he planned on seeing.
He grabbed the wrapper and threw it in the trash can.
Had he really used that much?
...
"...Bruh..."
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So, at 9:04 pm, Jordan Kurst was getting ready to call his dealer. He obviously wouldn't be smoking tonight, but when he wanted to, he wanted to be able to do so without any unforeseen hindrance.
He was in his bedroom, which had beige walls and was located upstairs relative to his house. It wasn't super big, but it definitely wasn't cramped wither. He had a desk to the side of his bed, faced in such a way that when he's sitting at it his back Is turned toward's his bed.
His dealer was a scruffy-ish white guy. If he had to guess his age, he'd probably think 28, but he never asked. It never really seemed like he had anything going on for him in his life because he never had a time limit regarding when or when not to call him. As funny as imagining him on his bed, watching his phone, waiting for it to ring would be, it probably wasn't the case. It makes you wonder how he went to sleep, and when he went to go talk to his parents or something, but that's not what Jordan was worried about right now.
*Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrt*
...
*Brrrrrr-
"...Yeeellow."
Not even two rings and he picked up. He must really just not have anything to do. But, once again, that wasn't for Jordan to worry about.
"Uhhhh... Is it too late to come buy some shit or..."
"Nah man, I should be good in a bit."
"Cool, so where do you wanna..."
"Yeah, man, just come over, I should have it."
What?
"...Come over, like to your house???"
Jordan has never heard of any kind of drug dealer that was comfortable with selling out of his own house. The risks associated with that were pretty self-explanatory. If that wasn't enough, it should also be stated that this guy always sold out of his car or a park or something. He's never heard of him doing so, either, so why...
"...Ohhh, right, sorry man."
"..."
Did he forget or...?
"Yeah, man, I'll text you a location or something in a bit, stay put."
"...A little as in...?"
Jordan was confused by how he worded himself.
"I don't know, man, like, 12."
"...Minutes?"
"No, man, the time. Like, 12 am, you know?"
"..."
That's almost 3 hours from now. Jordan didn't expect him to be all, 'yeah, come drive over in 10 minutes,' but waiting another 3 hours seemed a little extreme. At least it was somewhat reassuring to Jordan's previous curiosity that he might've had something to do with his life if something that simple needed 3 hours of downtime. Anyway...
"...Yeah, 12 should be fine."
"Great, man, great. Call you then."
...
He hung up.
"...Jesus..."
3 more hours? Jordan wanted the weed to kill time in the first place, but what was he going to do for 3 hours, while he's waiting for the guy to-
Wait, what was the guy doing for 3 hours anyway? It's not like Jordan offered him a big deal or anything, he was probably just going to buy 3 packs of gummies or something...
"Ughhh..."
Jordan's Monday night was progressively becoming duller and duller.
*Plompf*
With that exhausting epiphany met, Jordan fell back onto his bed, flipped himself over, belly-side down, and turned his phone on.
"3 hours..."
'Something to waste 3 hours,' is probably what Jordan was thinking. Either that, or he was still wondering why exactly his plug needed the 3 hours in the first place. He was going to open up his phone and catch up on the manga he's been following recently.
The specific manga he was reading had just gotten a new chapter today. It had 132 chapters; 133 now. Jordan was on chapter 66. He's only started it about a week and a half ago, but his friends said it was well worth it. from what he's read, they were somewhat right. It was about a young man who dropped out of high school because of a big fight he had. After that, he goes on to deal with a bunch of issues in his community, like some kind of vigilante. It definitely wasn't the most realistic, especially since the kid's around 17 the whole story, and should probably be working at a fast-food restaurant or something, but it was definitely good fun to read, at least Jordan thought so. With 3 extra hours, he'd be able to catch up if not just a little bit. If he really wanted to, he could read a good amount in school, during his breaks, but that just seemed in bad taste, in his opinion. With that said and done...
****************************************************************************************************
And Jordan woke up.
"...--!!"
Well, 'Jordan woke up' made it sound peaceful. Jordan jolted himself awake. He definitely didn't plan to sleep. After all...
"...-! Fuck...!"
12:14 am
His phone screen blared into his eyes as he checked the time. Under those bright white numbers, he sees a notification he's received...
"19 MINUTES AG-...?!"
All things considered, being 19 minutes due to sleeping is almost worthy of relief. If it had been another hour or even more, then...
"..."
Well, I doubt he would be reprimanded in any way, but it's still embarrassing.
"Uwwwuugh..."
Jordan lethargically lifted himself out of bed and hastily put on a pair of his jeans. Luckily, he put them on the right way.
He turned back around and grabbed his phone, which he'd somehow maneuvered to rest under his pillow in his slumber, and proceeded to open the message.
"1412 Jamestown st."
...
Wait... That address... Was it...?
"--! He still gave me his home address?!?!"
Unsurprisingly, the dealer sent Jordan the location to meet up. Said location seemed to be a residential address, leading Jordan to infer that the dealer disregarded the previous phonecall, and decided that he didn't care about the meeting; Either that or he forgot...
Jordan was dumbfounded at this notion, but- Well, Dumbfounded might be a bit of an exaggeration. As much as Jordan didn't expect it to happen, it definitely wasn't life-changingly difficult to deal with. With that in mind, he kept up his momentum and decided not to go as far as not to ask the dealer once again about the details of their meeting place. Part of this, was because he didn't want to seem like he cared. If he honestly acted like he had a concern any further than his curiosity, he, in the eyes of Jordan, would look like a loser. Jordan obviously doesn't particularly enjoy looking like a loser. Another part of why he refused to ask, was that he honestly couldn't care less. He was already late, and even if it was his house, it's not like Jordan genuinely cared about whatever etiquette drug dealers had regarding where and when they sell. If that was the case, he wouldn't have asked at 9 pm.
...
With that tangent fresh in his mind, Jordan grabbed his keys off his desk and proceeded to maneuver himself out of his house. It was...
He opened the lock screen of his phone.
12:18 am
"--!"
Time passed quicker than Jordan had thought. It was best if he got out of the house as quickly as possible to not cause any trouble later. The dealer, being the kind of person he was, he doubted that it would amount to much either way.
He got to the lower half of his two-story house, and everything seemed to be alright. His brother was probably (hopefully) asleep. He probably wasn't as tired as Jordan, since he definitely didn't pull his own weight on the project earlier today. It wouldn't really surprise him if he was still up. Audrey wasn't the kind to care if he caught Jordan sneaking out, anyway. His parents as well- Well, he lived with his mother, but she worked such hours where she was usually gone at this time of the night. She came back at around the same time Jordan arrives at school, and then she leaves at around 8 pm. His father worked pretty long hours, and they were divorced so it's not like he made the largest effort to be a part of Jordan's life.
...No, actually, that was unfair.
His father asks Jordan to come along for a bunch of stuff. He often asks him if he wants to check out his workshop where he deals with cars all day. Jordan didn't particularly like cars, but it was still a decent place to be. He got to see a bunch of stuff he wouldn't see if he just sat at home doing what he would've been doing while he was here, but without anything new once in a while. Jordan's dad didn't seem to be the best at striking conversations, so most of the time when he invited him, he was just doing his work as usual, and Jordan relaxed in the back. Jordan was also quite bad at being the initiator regarding conversations, so it was the same situation vice versa. They definitely loved each other and appreciated the effort, but it just seems like they're just incompatible...
So, in short, neither of his parents were actually home at the moment. This made it quite easy to go to and fro, especially late at night, like right now. He paused for one more moment before actually opening the front door and walking to the driveway.
"..."
Coast was as clear as it could be.
He walked out the front door onto the cold concrete tiles; Not that he could feel exactly cold they were, as he was wearing shoes. He could feel the cold chill in the air, though. It was excessively, shockingly cold. The second he stepped out, he could see his breath fog up before his eyes, as if it had been a stereotypical Christmas morning. He was wearing a black hoodie with a zipper, and the aforementioned jeans, so he wasn't completely helpless against the current icy atmosphere, but it definitely wasn't sufficient.
"Goddamn..."
The current state of the temperature was not lost upon Jordan, and so he exclaimed. The cold air stung his wet eyes, causing him to blink much more frequently than he had been doing so. He hugged his shoulders and broke out into a jog towards his silver sedan.
"Ahhh..."
As he entered his car, he felt just a little more comfortable than he did while outside. The car was also outside, so it was still relatively cold, but it was much better than the frigid world outside.
He inserted his keys into the ignition, and the purring engine reverberated through the chassis. Naturally, the first thing Jordan did was turn the heat up to something manageable. Since he lived in Texas, he wasn't at all used to such abnormal drops in temperature, and it was probably so uncommon that he didn't even think to wonder what could incur such an environment to present itself.
*Brrrr-*
"Yeah, man, what's up?"
Not even one ring this time.
"Yo, sorry I'm a little late, but are we still good for it?"
Not calling to confirm a location was one thing. No matter what, he would still be able to make the purchase itself, and it's not like the location was going to change too much about the deal itself. Calling to confirm whether or not the deal was still on was different. If he flat out wasn't going to be able to go purchase his weed in the first place, then the minimal effort Jordan put in would be all for naught.
"Ahh, yeah, man, of course, I'm still here."
Relief released the mild tension in Jordan's shoulders.
"Aight, good shit bruh, see you in, like..."
He quickly put the address into the GPS app on his phone. It spat out the distance and time needed for the trip.
"...20."
"Yeah, man, see you..."
...
Jordan hung up.
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"...Damn..."
Jordan drew a sidelong glance at the center console and proceeded to exclaim upon seeing a certain number. He wasn't doing anything but driving, and night driving was pretty easy for Jordan, as long as he wasn't playing any music.
Jordan was pretty Lucky in those regards. He hasn't experienced so much as a fender bender in any car he's been in. Any time he needs to put in any guesswork into parking, or even unknown routes, he usually picks the right option and gets through quickly.
He hasn't been driving for too long, though, since he's still only 16, about to be 17. The same rules seemed to apply when he walks around, too. he can confidently say that when it came to navigation, he rarely gets himself into any kind of issue. He's never left his hometown, so he hasn't really had the pleasure of showing his skills off in a big city, but he's sure he could get through unscathed if given the opportunity.
The point is, Jordan is very good at driving, navigating, and whatever else, so he wasn't exactly worried when he wanted to look somewhere other than the road for a bit. This sometimes extended to his phone, or to something he caught in the corner of his eye. In this case, it was focused on the center console, which didn't particularly display any information immediately useful for his current driving situation. What it did display were parcels of information that were no more than 'interesting' to any driver that looked over at them.
The first thing that caught Jordan's eye was the time displayed in an almost mint green text at the very top of his center console.
00:30.
Jordan's car displayed its time in 24-hour time. The reason for this was nothing special. Jordan just thought it was quirky and different. Maybe he just thought it looked cooler actually... Anyway, Jordan himself set the time to 24-hour time, back when he got the car. No real reason. The time also just so happened to be 2 minutes behind. This happened because when Jordan decided to change his time to 24-hour time, he started to change the settings, and shortly after promptly got lost in the navigation. It took him around 2 minutes to re-orientate himself, and then he put in the time he remembered from before he messed up; hence the permanent 2-minute delay on his display.
So, with all of that in mind, the actual time at that moment is 00:32, or 12:32 am.
This means that it's been 10 minutes since Jordan has left his house, and that It would take an estimated 10 more to get to the location, or at least according to what his GPS has been indicating.
Right below the current time on the console, Jordan would have seen the details of whatever has been playing on the radio. As stated previously, Jordan doesn't listen to music during night drives, so nothing of importance was displayed. If he did want to listen to something, it would be something from 2018 he hand-picked from his own playlist. He liked that era of rap better than anything else.
Under the blank space in the middle of the console, there was a row of 3 separate items being displayed. The one farthest to the right and the one in the middle were probably just as trivial as the rest of the information that was displayed, but what was displayed on the left most of the trio caught his eye so quickly, he didn't bother looking at the others. This is what caused Jordan to make the previous exclamation in the first place.
This was because what was displayed was the temperature.
The temperature of this time of night, as stated quite a bit earlier, was abnormally cold, even by the testimonies of Jordan's would-be classmates. Even Jordan caught a small taste of the crisp winds in his short intermission between his front door and his car. The gist is that it is truly, utterly, and abnormally cold for a Monday night (or Tuesday morning technically) during the far end of September, in Dallas, Texas.
The exact temperature that it read was...
"19°..."
Jordan read the measurement loud and clear. 19°F. To call this number low would be a huge understatement.
"...Pretty cold..."
...Jordan didn't seem to digest the severity of this temperature.
"Hm."
With that, Jordan's short analysis ceased and he returned his eyes to the road ahead of him, bathed in his car's headlights.
Jordan was currently in a pretty wooded area, or at least he thought so. In his currently limited field of view, he could see trees. Better put, he was able to see the leaves of said trees. Their trunks were unknown to Jordan at this time. It was uncommon for there to be such dense vegetation, especially in this area of the world, but Jordan didn't put it past himself and continued to drive further.
Now that he thought about it, he's never been on this specific stretch of road. It wasn't even that he was 'unfamiliar' with it, but he's never needed to go on this route whatsoever, even in someone else's car. That being said, it wasn't some kind of hellish labyrinth that was impossible to get through. It was a pretty standard road itself. The only thing Jordan had a 'problem' with, was that he was following an unknown road at night with his GPS, rather than looking at whatever signs it could have been displaying. The fact that it was at night definitely didn't bring him any reassurance. Jordan then proclaimed an audible...
"ehh..."
He didn't feel like letting it bother him, especially since he's already made it 10 minutes without much trouble. '10 more minutes shouldn't be an issue,' Jordan thought, as he defused his mild discomfort.
"|IN FIVE MILES, TURN RIGHT|"
His phone voiced this instruction to him.
Ahead of Jordan was a long, continuous 5-mile stretch of road before a turn would come up. Jordan licked his dry lips produced from the arid yet warm space within his car and proceeded.
...
...
The silence was very heavy at the moment, but Jordan figured if he really wanted, he could turn the radio on anyway, and he'd feel fine, so he might as well keep the radio off if it would only act as a placebo to his unease. In response to what seemed like a good psychological analysis to him, Jordan somehow calmed himself down.
The road was excessively smooth. It was almost like nobody has ever driven on it before. As he drove over the asphalt he felt no more than a slight decline in elevation over time.
Jordan had a bad habit of twirling objects in his hand when he was bored, but he obviously couldn't really do this while he was in a car, so he compromised with tapping his fingers on his steering wheel to the rhythm of something like an 'MF Doom' song he'd heard the day prior while working on his work. Especially in the silence of his car, he was pretty on-beat. This was about the only noise in the car, other than the engine, and the occasional crunch of the tires going over a patch of gravel or something.
Jordan pushed his cheek against the glass to his left. He was always struck with a violently cold chill. It didn't feel as bad as if it was his whole bo-
"|IN ONE-HALF MILE, TURN RIGHT|"
...
Jordan hasn't moved his right hand in a bit. He lifted his right arm and extended it, as to crack his elbow joint. He succeeded. He placed his right arm back on his steering wheel and prepared to turn in a couple of seconds.
...
...
The silence that oc-
"|TURN RIGHT|"
"--!"
Jordan turned his arm to the right. He wasn't prepared to actually turn, but he managed to catch it at the last second. As he turned his steering wheel, he heard the engine pick up by a small amount, and with that the car...
...
...Kept going forward?
"--! Wuh- GUAHHKKH..!"
The tires on his car turned right, but the car itself kept moving forward. There was a metal barrier embracing both sides of the 2-lane road. As the car flew straight, the barrier that meandered around the turn of the road pressed against the side of the car, punching in the left side of the car, and cracking the windshield. Jordan's shoulder was crunched against his neck, as it didn't have any space to go after his chassis was crushed.
"WUAAAHH..!"
The meandering metal barrier led the car to start facing right. The momentum of the car didn't stop, however. While the car was barreling forwards, its front was being guided to face the right, via the metal barrier.
This meant that from an outside perspective, the car took a 90° twist, and now the left side of the car was being propelled through the barrier.
The barrier wasn't as weak as to let the car go through without any resistance, for better or for worse. The car began to flip upside down, as its lower half was being stopped by the barrier, yet its top half didn't have anything to halt its momentum.
As the entire sedan's mass was being concentrated to the left side, certain areas of the chassis began to warp from the force.
Jordan found his neck harshly shoved to the right of where he was sitting from the roof of his car collapsed down on him. He felt soft vibrations as multiple of his ribs crunched from the immense pressure. Along with the previous compression of his shoulder, it almost looked like his entire left side was being squashed by a vice.
"...--!"
Jordan tried to breathe in to compensate for his sudden shock, only to be met by nausea-inducing pain. Jordan had never so much as tripped on the sidewalk. The most pain he's probably had was when he got his flu shot. What was happening to him here was something that any normal human being would have a bad time over. For Jordan, the new sensation of bones breaking and his body being contorted and slowly pressed in like an accordion was something that couldn't be put into words.
As he tried to scream, no air came out, and a hoarse squeak was all that could be heard. It seems like his right lung had either collapsed or has been punctured by one of his ribs.
But I've seemed to focus too much on one thing. Let me redirect you to the immediate issue.
As stated before, the car was being flipped upside down, and over the barrier, all while Jordan is stuck inside experiencing the worst pain he's ever felt in his 16 years of living.
When people see metal barriers on roads, they always wonder if it's to keep the car from going into that area or to stop the car itself. It seems pretty harsh if it's to stop the car from going into the area, right? If there's someone inside of the car, they'd probably die or something equally as gruesome, while someone was trying to protect something as trivial as property. At least, that's how it is in my hypothetical. If the metal barrier was to be used to stop the car, then it would be equally as cruel. What would be the point of stopping a car if the person inside is just going to be caught in whiplash at least, and at most a devastating crash. Truly, whoever came up with those metal barriers is either kind of stupid, or a sadist.
But.
Whoever decided to place the barriers in this specific area probably had a working head on their shoulders. In this specific area, the barriers were clearly set up not to protect any property, or to stop a car, but to keep the car from going deeper into whatever peril it was already going through. If the metal barriers weren't here or, god forbid, something managed to get past the barrier, then what awaited them was something much worse than if they had simply crashed into a barrier or something. For that, you'd be grateful for these barriers being present.
This was because the space beyond the barriers was a sharp, sharp decline. A steep cliff is what the barrier was meant to negate. If something managed past the barrier, it would be met with a long decline. If a car was to go past this barrier, something horrible would happen to whatever happened to be inside of it.
What happened to be inside of a car that happened to get up and over that barrier by some unknown happening that caused it to happen to go straight, instead of happening to go right, as his steering wheel commanded, was Jordan Kurst.
That means that It just so happens that Jordan Kurst was about to go rolling down a long cliff.
Jordan was too busy agonizing over his injuries to be worried about where his car was going at the time, though. That meant that as the car was flung off of the cliff, Jordan was none the wiser.
As Jordan's car was suspended in midair for about 3 seconds, Jordan was none the wiser.
...
"...-UUAAAHK-"
And finally, as Jordan's car hit the bottom of the cliff, compressing the front of his car, causing the weight of the back to completely collapse the interior of the car, and causing Jordan's skull to be pulled from its crunched neck, and slamming against the dashboard, robbing Jordan of whatever conscience he still had.
****************************************************************************************************
And then Jordan woke up.
"...--?....---!!!!!!"
He didn't feel any pain coming from his shoulder like he remembered as he woke. As he tried to move his neck to look at the state of what he remembered being a pretty big issue before he passed out, he was met with pain unlike any other. The previous 'nausea inducing' pain had nothing on the pain he was feeling here. He immediately vomited.
"..."
The vomit trickled into his nose and some got into his eyes before he shut them instinctively.
"...-kacht...-HRKT..."
He exhaled sharply to expel the bile from his nose, and the mix of stomach acid and blood caused him to cough pretty hard. 'Coughing pretty hard' wouldn't be an issue under normal circumstances, but as his lungs were currently 'pretty' mangled within what remained in his ribcage, the pain reverberated back to his brain, as his lungs voiced their displeasure.
Now, many things have been happening in this short incident. Jordan's vomit trickled into his nose, right? That's usually the opposite of where vomit that comes from your mouth is supposed to go, right? In that case, it's safe to assume Jordan is upside down in the car. The pain that came with him moving his neck was probably due to some kind of injury, right? Seeing as his face slammed into the dashboard from being previously being scrunched to the back of his seat, his neck and spine were probably broken in a few places. Moving your neck while it's broken is a bad idea, obviously, but the pain most likely came from him pinching several nerves all at once in his neck.
Now that we have those aspects cemented, here's what Jordan knows.
'Don't move my neck, my vomit went into my nose.'
Jordan was in a clear state of confusion, so even acknowledging these facts in his condition is commendable enough.
Jordan brought up his right hand and wiped the vomit from his eyes.
...It seemed like his right arm worked.
He opened his eyes and moved them (his eyes, not his neck this time) to his left.
"....wwuuuuhh..."
...
It seems like Jordan's jaw was also in pretty bad shape from being smashed against, as when he tried to mutter the phrase, 'what,' what came from his mouth was a hoarse, infantile moan. What prompted him to attempt the phrase in the first place, was what he saw.
As he looked at where his arm should have been, right where it would've met with his torso, there was a convergence between the roof of the car and some metal that was probably part of the door, blocking his vision from seeing anything past it. He also couldn't feel the arm itself.
He didn't have to imagine much about what lies past the bundle of scrap using the context clues he already had, as well as the steady trickle of blood coming from his shoulder, going down his chest.
He looked to his right, in hope of finding some kind of hope.
"...mmmuh..."
To his right, he saw his right hand, which, while broken at the ring finger and pinky finger, was still visible and intact.
"...-GUAH-"
He attempted to take a deep breath of relief, but once again forgot about the condition of his lungs, and had his head assaulted with pain once again.
Now that he thought about it, he felt really, really stuffed up. If he was claustrophobic, he probably would've hyperventilated by now. He realized that he didn't really feel anything below his broken ribs, along with his arm.
He, upon thinking deeper about this, looked down (or up, according to gravity) at his torso area and...
"...--! UUUWWAAAHHHAAAHAA!"
What Jordan saw was disgusting.
Utterly disgusting.
Unnatural in every way.
No human body should be doing what Jordan's body was doing right now.
...
...
"...hmmeh.."
Jordan couldn't help but sob.
After seeing the state he was in, he had no question whether it was too late or not. He guaranteed that it was too late.
...More on that later.
Through his shirt, Jordan was able to see exactly how distorted his chest was. It didn't even look like a chest. The ribs that helped shape his chest were strewn about, in a way that made his chest look like a deflated balloon around some kind of bulbous object. But it definitely didn't look like a chest. Taking small breaths was enough to move any 'lose parts' around the inside of his chest, and it was definitely a cause for concern for Jordan.
But.
It was what was below that, that deteriorated Jordan's hope more than anything else.
When he looked at his stomach, he saw something sticking out of it, almost about to pop out of his body. This object was right near his diaphragm and every time he inhaled or exhaled through his tormented lungs, he could see it squirm inside of his own body. His skin was a sickly dark burgundy, and his stomach was bloated with what he could only imagine was some sort of internal bleeding.
It hurt.
It hurt more than anything else on his body right now.
Whatever was happening inside of his abdominal cavity was worse than anything he could even imagine, and it hurt.
It felt like someone was slowly pouring molten mercury into his throat, and it was settling in the pit of his stomach, burning infinitely through his organs and spreading pain as it went deeper and deeper, until it got so deep that everything in his stomach area burned like hell.
Hell was one way to describe this pain.
But the reason for this pain was worse than hell for Jordan.
Jordan looked even lower toward's his legs.
That's...
The last straw of any sane reasoning from Jordan.
What Jordan saw was that he lacked a femur in his left leg.
No, what Jordan saw was that his femur was nowhere near where it should be.
He looked at his thigh and it was crumpled like an accordion, and his foot dangled forward, collapsing in on what should have been his kneecap.
He could still feel his foot gently bump against his stomach if he moved a little bit.
What had happened was, as the car finally lost its velocity by hitting the bottom of the trench, Jordan's knee was almost perfectly aligned with the path of where the car was going. This meant that the second the front of the car crumpled and got pushed farther and further back, the scrap pushed against his knee in a perfectly straight fashion.
His femur was in a straight position, and it was being pushed as such. His femur was shot through his pelvis, shattering it, and embedded into his stomach until it poked out. The amount of internal damage it caused was something that could only be described as disgusting.
His intestines were useless at this point, and that was probably leading to most of the internal bleeding. His stomach was promptly ripped apart as the bone entered a part of the body it should definitely not be within. His liver was stabbed at the very end of the bone. The fragments of his pelvis and rib were strewn about his abdomen, causing what seemed like hundreds of individual splintering pains. His spine was probably broken in at least 5 places, yet miraculously he kept conscience.
The only thing keeping Jordan alive right now was probably his heart and his right lung.
His right leg hadn't done anything as dramatic as his left, but it was still mangled beyond repair. He couldn't even make out where his knee was supposed to be. It crumpled in on itself like a greasy paper bag, and bits of bone were visible through certain areas.
That was the state that Jordan's physical body was in.
...
Now, death was not something that Jordan thought about a lot. He was 16 after all. Whenever he thought about death, he's always imagined it would be at least during his 40's, and most likely later when he's 100 or something. He's always imagined he would die in some kind of 'normal' way, like a house fire, or cancer. He never thought about going on a safari and getting eaten by lions or anything like that. Death was not something Jordan thought about enough to care about.
But.
One thing Jordan knew for certain, is that suffering is worse than death.
If Jordan had to spend the rest of his life suffering, in any way that couldn't be dealt with in a timely manner, he would rather die on the spot.
If he found that he became useless, and was unable to do anything other than existing, he wouldn't be content with himself, and would probably fall into a deep sadness that comes with the realization of uselessness.
Jordan hated being useless.
For Jordan, being useless is suffering.
...
He's thought about situations like the one before him a few times.
He's thought that if he was in some kind of terrible accident, and his quality of life was going to be taken away from him to the extent where he wouldn't be able to live by himself, he'd simply kill himself.
He doesn't want to live in a world where he has to rely on something other than himself to be able to get to where he wants to be.
That's just how Jordan was.
So.
"..."
Jordan's hoarse breaths could be heard as he scraped the roof of the car during the dark and cold night. He was searching for something he could use. His lone right arm, with its mangled appendages, feeling around for something he could use.
Looking for something he needed more than anything at this moment.
He didn't need help.
He didn't need comfort.
He needed...
"...haagh..."
Jordan let out a small sigh as he fingered the triangular slab of glass in his hand.
He needed a way out.
Jordan didn't think he would die today, and he definitely didn't feel good about it. The state of his being was one that he couldn't accept under any circumstances. It wasn't his fault.
It wasn't his fault that his leg was in his stomach.
It wasn't his fault that his ribs were pretty much all broken.
It wasn't his fault that his arm was crushed between two hunks of metal.
It wasn't his fault that the earlier downpour resulted in a small patch of black ice right at the turn that he was about to take while going to buy some weed from some guy who seemed like he couldn't care less, just to go home and consume media for his own empty pleasure until he has to wake up and go to school another day, and another, and another, until eventually he graduates and gets to go to college and do what he truly wants to do, unless that doesn't work out and his life truly did amount to nothing.
But it happened.
Everything that could go wrong went wrong.
And Jordan wasn't having it.
It wasn't Jordan's fault. Why should he have to endure this suffering?
With that, Jordan sobbed, thinking both about all of the things he's missed in life by dying like this, thinking about all the things he's leaving behind by dying like this, thinking about the life he's leaving behind by dying like this.
...
In his shaking hands, Jordan brought the shard of glass up to his throat.
It probably wasn't sharp enough to cut like a knife, but it was pointed enough to puncture. Jordan knew it wouldn't be a pretty suicide at all.
"...guuhh..."
Jordan let out one more cry, as he closed his eyes, and tightened his grip around the glass in his hand.
...
Jordan Shoved the glass into his throat and twisted it around to open up his wound.
It hurt.
He felt his flesh tear apart like an old shirt.
"....."
Jordan's vocal cords couldn't mutter any kind of sound. The only audible noise was the sound of heavy gurgling and the trickle of blood falling down his face onto the roof of the car.
He began to feel the warm blood leave his body.
It was really warm.
Warm...
No.
Cold.
His body was cold...
The cold air made one last impression on him.
The chill of losing his warm blood made him feel like he was freezing.
He felt the tips of his fingers turn numb as his life continued to pour out of him.
Knowing what was coming, Jordan didn't feel much at all.
All he felt was...
Cold.
....
..
.