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Authors: Stuart Meczes
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dressed in matching blue tracksuits.
How the hell did I get here?
I tried to remember what happened the night before, but my brain wouldn't play ball. It only made my headache worse. I stopped trying to think too much. Instead I concluded I must have sleepwalked. It was the only possible explanation for my makeshift bed. Looking down at my trembling body, the theory faltered.
I was wearing someone else’s clothes. A simple pair of grey jogging bottoms and white vest, but definitely not mine.
All I cared about now was getting home.
I staggered forward, only managing a few steps before collapsing.
Gritting my teeth, I stood up again. I wobbled like a drunk on my bare feet, taking baby steps so that I could remain upright. The aching worsened, aggravated by my stubborn movements.
I felt broken. Every part of me smashed beyond repair. But I carried on, step by step, until after an eternity, I’d made it through the gated exit and onto the pavement which followed the main road through town. I noticed a phone box across the road. It stood proud, offering it's salvation to those who could reach its graffitied glass doors.
I dug for change in the jogging bottoms. No luck. Reverse the charges , managed to squeeze through the dagger stabs in my brain. My head lolled from side to side as I vaguely checked for traffic. Meanwhile the throbbing in my body grew into a roaring crescendo of agony. With each boom in my temples, bright flashes of yellow burst into my eyesight. It felt like I could pass out at any moment. So focusing my squinting eyes on the telephone box, I stumbled into the road, arms outstretched like a toddler reaching for its mother.
Straight into the path of a speeding car.
I heard the sound of tyres locking, mixed with a bloodcurdling scream which sliced through my ears like a blade. My head turned in time to see a silver hatchback trying to veer around me just a little too late. Its back end skidded out and swung at me like a sledgehammer. There was no time to move. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.
The morning calm was pierced by the inhuman smash and screech of twisting metal, followed by the tinkle of thousands of cubes of glass pattering onto the road like hailstones. Then the angry hiss of a dying engine. The kind of sounds you only hear when something very bad has just happened. All I could feel was something cold wrapped around my lower body.
Am I dead? I wondered, eyes still squeezed shut. If I was, this wasn’t how I had expected it to be. There were no snapshots of my life, no white light to enter into.
My skin goose bumped from the frosty embrace of the unknown object. Whatever it was, it was holding on for dear life. I inched my eyelids apart. What I saw defied all logic.
The car was a steaming wreck, wrapped around my body.
At the impact point just behind the driver's door, it had caved around me, into a rough V shape. Steam poured in dark clouds from the exposed engine. The rear wheels had buckled and folded in on themselves, causing the car to sink down at the back. All the windows were smashed from the force of the impact.
It was the sort of result you would expect from a head on collision with a solid wall, not a seventeen year old kid. I looked down at my body, fearing the worst.
I didn’t have a scratch on me.
Straining, I prised myself free of the car’s steely grip. The metal groaned in protest.
I turned and stared at the wreckage, my mouth a wide O. The look was mirrored by the young, fair haired woman who crawled across the driver’s seat and flopped out of the passenger side. She staggered around and slumped against the twisted chassis next to me.
“Oh my god!’ she breathed. “Are-are you okay?” She glanced at me and then back at her destroyed vehicle. “How... how did you...how are you...? I was going fast. Oh no...maybe too fast... I didn't see you in time, you...”
Her words dissolved into a hysterical panic attack and she slid down onto the ground,
How the hell did I get here?
I tried to remember what happened the night before, but my brain wouldn't play ball. It only made my headache worse. I stopped trying to think too much. Instead I concluded I must have sleepwalked. It was the only possible explanation for my makeshift bed. Looking down at my trembling body, the theory faltered.
I was wearing someone else’s clothes. A simple pair of grey jogging bottoms and white vest, but definitely not mine.
All I cared about now was getting home.
I staggered forward, only managing a few steps before collapsing.
Gritting my teeth, I stood up again. I wobbled like a drunk on my bare feet, taking baby steps so that I could remain upright. The aching worsened, aggravated by my stubborn movements.
I felt broken. Every part of me smashed beyond repair. But I carried on, step by step, until after an eternity, I’d made it through the gated exit and onto the pavement which followed the main road through town. I noticed a phone box across the road. It stood proud, offering it's salvation to those who could reach its graffitied glass doors.
I dug for change in the jogging bottoms. No luck. Reverse the charges , managed to squeeze through the dagger stabs in my brain. My head lolled from side to side as I vaguely checked for traffic. Meanwhile the throbbing in my body grew into a roaring crescendo of agony. With each boom in my temples, bright flashes of yellow burst into my eyesight. It felt like I could pass out at any moment. So focusing my squinting eyes on the telephone box, I stumbled into the road, arms outstretched like a toddler reaching for its mother.
Straight into the path of a speeding car.
I heard the sound of tyres locking, mixed with a bloodcurdling scream which sliced through my ears like a blade. My head turned in time to see a silver hatchback trying to veer around me just a little too late. Its back end skidded out and swung at me like a sledgehammer. There was no time to move. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact.
The morning calm was pierced by the inhuman smash and screech of twisting metal, followed by the tinkle of thousands of cubes of glass pattering onto the road like hailstones. Then the angry hiss of a dying engine. The kind of sounds you only hear when something very bad has just happened. All I could feel was something cold wrapped around my lower body.
Am I dead? I wondered, eyes still squeezed shut. If I was, this wasn’t how I had expected it to be. There were no snapshots of my life, no white light to enter into.
My skin goose bumped from the frosty embrace of the unknown object. Whatever it was, it was holding on for dear life. I inched my eyelids apart. What I saw defied all logic.
The car was a steaming wreck, wrapped around my body.
At the impact point just behind the driver's door, it had caved around me, into a rough V shape. Steam poured in dark clouds from the exposed engine. The rear wheels had buckled and folded in on themselves, causing the car to sink down at the back. All the windows were smashed from the force of the impact.
It was the sort of result you would expect from a head on collision with a solid wall, not a seventeen year old kid. I looked down at my body, fearing the worst.
I didn’t have a scratch on me.
Straining, I prised myself free of the car’s steely grip. The metal groaned in protest.
I turned and stared at the wreckage, my mouth a wide O. The look was mirrored by the young, fair haired woman who crawled across the driver’s seat and flopped out of the passenger side. She staggered around and slumped against the twisted chassis next to me.
“Oh my god!’ she breathed. “Are-are you okay?” She glanced at me and then back at her destroyed vehicle. “How... how did you...how are you...? I was going fast. Oh no...maybe too fast... I didn't see you in time, you...”
Her words dissolved into a hysterical panic attack and she slid down onto the ground,
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