A shattered glass window. A pale hand covered in blood. A black car. A pair of Silver eyes.
Mom. Dad.
I shrieked out loud, my body convulsing as I forced my eyes open only to squeeze them shut again. There was a light source directly above my head and my eyes burned heavily probably from disuse. "Oh god, is she finally awake?", asked a vaguely familiar voice, the pitch a little higher than usual. Michelle.
"Michelle, is that- is that you?", I asked and tried to raise my arm up to my head only to end up groaning. Was there something attached to my hand? I couldn't move it.
"Hey, hey, just stop moving and breathe slowly. I'm right here and so is Lilian," at that I felt a little relief wash over me so I sank right back into the mattress that had been moulded to my body by now. "How are you feeling?"
"Thirsty," I croaked out with difficulty. I kept my eyes closed but there was a little movement around that I heard. She must have left to go get water, I assumed. My body felt heavy like it had been thrown off from somewhere and I ached everywhere I could feel. I squeezed both my hands softly, the left one made me wince. I was in a hospital, the smell was definitely antiseptics and when I squeezed my right one into a fist, there was someone else's hand in mine and they squeezed back.
"Oh- Hey, Ariella? Are you feeling better?"
Lilian? Michelle said he was here, why did his voice sound so incredibly scratchy?
"Y-yeah, could you please switch this thing on my head off?", I requested with a groan. He laughed a little, probably out of relief and mumbled something along the lines of 'sure thing'.
"It's called a light by the way, oh- water's here, do you think you can get up?", I licked my lips and tasted copper on my tongue before I replied with a nod.
"Okay, Lilian, just pull this up and I'll help her settle against the headboard," I opened my eyes once I sensed that the light had been switched off.
The room was white. White tiles, white walls, white curtains, even the bed was white. It made me wince for a moment.
Michelle grabbed me gently by the shoulders and half hugged me so I was propped against the headboard with a cushion behind me. "Thank-you," I mumbled softly. "What happened?"
It was probably a question they dreaded giving the answer to but I needed to hear it from a sane person in order to trust myself and not feel like I had imagined the whole thing.
"Your family passed away in a road rage accident and you got injured because I rolled us onto the concrete before the car could crash into us."
Oh god.
It was not a nightmare. IT WAS REAL.
All of it, the screams, the blood, the pain, the terror in my family's eyes, every single thing was real and all I could do was be a part of it. I could not save them. The thought was too heavy to bear and I squeezed my eyes shut. How could I just let them die like that?
"Do not blame yourself," Michelle was the one to speak again. "It was not your fault Ariella. I can see the regret in your eyes and on your face but please, let yourself know that you could not have saved them even if you had jumped in front of that car."
By logic and by simple understanding, I knew I could not have saved them but my mind failed to register these facts into my psyche. Pain, pain, pain and so much more pain that I could feel at the moment. My chest was aching like I did not have enough air to breathe in and my body felt immobile with grief. What a sad way to be, I can not even get my parents justice. I can not even find out who did that to them.
"Was it," I cleared my throat with a pause. "Could it have had been intentional?"
"Huh?", Both michelle and Lillian spoke at the same time and you know, what? I understood their confusion with everything. "Intentional as in? Do you mean to say someone did this on purpose? A successful attempt at murder?"
Is that what I thought this was? More than just murder, this was completely strategised.
Both of them knew something was coming. There was something my parents knew and something they wanted me to know as well. That must be why they had called me. Right when I was about to explain my thoughts to the other two in the room, the door to the hospital ward pushed open and someone's head popped in.
The man was clearly a cop but I had a gut feeling he could not be trusted. "Are you ready to give a statement Ms. Hill?"