Read Online Broken Glass by Tabitha Freeman - Free Book Online Page A

road. I saw the car, turned over, with Pete struggling to get out. I looked up at the road, saw a limp figure in the tree. I ran up the hill, screaming, sobbing.
    “TYSON! TYSON! NO!”
    I stopped below the tree to look at him. His body was mangled, the limbs of the tree protruding through h is back. He was like a rag doll, tattered, torn, and lifeless. I began to climb up the tree. If only I could get to him. If only I could get to him, he wouldn’t die. I could save him, I could…
    I saw his face. Unlike the rest of him, it wasn’t bloody or broken. His eyes were open, unblinking, gray. They’d lost the bright blue. They were gray and dull. The defined jaw was set forever in his last breath. He was gone.
    He was gone.
    I reached out to close his eyes with my hand, but as soon as I’d touched him, I was lurched back into total darkness again.
     

7.
     
     
     
    I woke up two days later in a hospital bed. When I tried to open my eyes, I did so very slowly, as the brightness of it the solid white room washed over me…like I was being born again.
    There was a chair beside my bed, and in that chair sat a blonde girl in a pink blouse that seemed to match the pink puffiness of her eyes.
    “Ava!” she whispered, when she saw me looking at her. “Finally! Oh, honey, how are you feeling?”
    And then I remembered.
    “Tyson,” was the first thing uttered from my lips. And then Cassie began to cry.
    “Oh, Ava, I can’t believe all this is happening!” she sobbed, clutching my hand. I just stared at her.
    “Was I in a wreck?” I asked her, in an oddly calm voice. Cassie gave me a blank look.
    “No,” she replied, obviously surprised by my question. “Tyson was in a wreck, Ava…not you.”
    “Where is he?” I asked. I was deranged. Who’d have ever thought that it was possible to forg et the untimely death of the love of your life ?
    Cassie looked down and didn’t answer me. The door to the room opened then and a tall, redheaded boy stepped in.
    “Ava, you’re awake,” he said, smiling slightly. “How are you feeling?”
    “Tell me he’s not dead, Jake,” I whispered .
    “Jesus Christ,” Jake muttered, putting his head in his hand. “Ava…”
    “TELL ME HE’S NOT DEAD!!” I screeched, sitting up in the bed suddenly. A wave of dizziness hit me and I vomited unexpectedly all over myself.
    “Ava!” Cassie exclaimed, getting to her feet. “Oh, I’ll go get the nurse! ” She ran out of the room and Jake got a towel from the table beside the door.
    “Let’s clean this up,” he said, wiping the puke off of me with the towel. “It’s no big dea l, Ava. Just a little throw- up.”
    I grabbed hold of his wrist then.
    “He’s gone, isn’t he?” I whispered, my eyes filling with tears. Jake looked at me for a moment.
    “Yes, Ava, he is,” Jake told me quietly. “And you’ve tried to kill yourself twice because of it.”
    “Oh,” was my reply.
    “Ava, listen,” Jake said, leaning in closer to me. “You’re very sick. Do you understand that?”
    “Well, what do you expect me to be, Jake?” I asked him coldly, my eyes meeting his. “The love of my life is d ead. Did you expect me to be baking cookies with the girls?”
    Jake just shook his head and walked away. The nurse rushed in with Cassie then.
    “Oooo, we’re a mess, aren’t we?” The nurse said, coming over to me. I gave her a look.
    “Why don’t you talk to me like I’m four years old?” I said dryly. The nurse looked at me as if I’d slapped her hard in the face.
    “Uh, she sat up too quickly,” Jake said. “And she threw up.”
    “We’ll get you cleaned up,” the nurse said stiffly and came over to the bed. “Can you stand up?”
    “Yeah,” I replied. I threw my legs over the side of the bed and stood up slowly. Another wave of nausea hit me, but I managed to suppress it.
    “Now, I need you to take off that gown so I can put a clean one on you,” she said.
    “Now?” I asked her.
    “Yes, honey,” she