I opened my eyes slowly. The heart monitor beeped. I was lying on a hospital bed. My bed was right next to the window and I looked out at the city below. The window was open and a cool breeze was on my face.

I could sense someone was in the room. It was a nurse.

“What happened?” I asked.

“You had a serious fall. All we know was that you were running and some janitor had left wax on the floor. You crashed through the window and fell two stories. It’s a miracle your alive.” She answered without looking at me.

“What!?” I shrieked, suddenly alert.

“You heard me.” She muttered.

She left the room, leaving me to my thoughts. It all came back to me. The girl, Alice, the fight, that bully chasing me. All I knew was that Alice must think I’m the weirdest dork ever. I sighed.

“You have a visitor.” The nurse said. I didn’t look.

“Hey, it’s me.” A familiar person whispered in my ear.

“Alice.” I whispered back.

“Are you okay? You scared me to death when you fell! I can’t believe that jerk treated you like that. He asked me out and guess what I told him! No way! He was all red in the face and everything!” she snorted.

“He had it coming.” I laughed.

“Hey I never got to know your name.” she realized.

“Alex.”

“That’s a cool name.”

“Well I’m not exactly the coolest dude around.”

“I know.”

“Really?”

“But you’re an awesome guy. You just need to work on a couple of things.”

“Yeah.”

“Where did you get the nerve to punch John?”

“I just kind of got tired of him. I’m going to be a new man now.”

“Well I got to get going but I have a surprise.” She whispered.

“What?”

Alice bent down and her gentle lips touched mine.

“Bye.” She smiled.

I was shocked.

“See ya.” I said, dazed.

She turned around and left.




It was six weeks later and Alice said she was going to stop by my house to pick me up. I was excited to spend some time with Alice. Over the weeks I was stuck in the hospital Alice and I had grown closer together.


Almost to the point where I was cool. I thought to myself.


Yeah. I know it was a bad thought. But spending time with Alice had started to make me less of a weirdo and more cool. Alice was going to introduce me to her friends and had what she called a surprise. Yeah I think I had a clue what it was. Alice had been talking about seeing a movie lately. Probably some love flick. Me, I love movies like Spiderman, Fantastic 4. Those are real movies. First though, we might swing by a party.


BEEP! BEEP! A car honked.


That would be Alice.


“Be right there!” I shouted.


“See you mom!” I shouted toward mom.


She was waiting outside the front, rushing me.


“Be right there! God you are so pushy.” I shouted.


“You know it.” She giggled.


She IS really pushy. I stood and thought about how awesome she was.


“GET IN THE CAR ALREADY!” she yelled.



“Okay, Okay!” I said, jumping in her new car.

The car was pretty sweet to be honest. I couldn’t afford one. Not yet anyway.


Alice started to drive and before I knew it we were in a different neighborhood. All the houses pretty much looked the same. Kind of freaky if you ask me. All of them were two stories. But one house stood out. It was huge, about the size of a mansion. Balloons decorated the front. I could hear loud music (the hottest tunes) blaring from the backyard. I breathed deeply. Alice looked at me and held my hand. I squeezed her hand.


“No need to be nervous. You’ll be fine. Trust me.” She reassured me. I did trust her. She meant the world to me.


“Yo! What up,” some football player yelled, “Alice! Who’d you bring?”


I got out of the car. The football player looked taken aback.


“ALEX? Dude! You’re the nerd who punched John. Man, you are almost famous! We have a new respect for you. Oh and by the way…John is here.” He whispered, looking around.


If you didn’t know yet (and I have mentioned this like a million times by the way to everyone) earlier in the year I punched John. He was a bully in my school. I got sick and tired of him and punched him. That didn’t go down well. I haven’t seen him yet since that but I wasn’t eager to see him today.


So Alice had to drag me, with the help of the football player (named Ben) to the house.


“Alice!”


“You’re here!”


“Who is the dude?”


“He’s Alex, you know the dude who beat up John.”


“He’s been in the hospital.”


This is what I heard walking in. Before I knew it, I had been dragged away. I was surrounded by cheerleaders who chattered away.


“Got a girlfriend, handsome?” someone asked.


“Alice, actually.” I answered.


“Figures.” They muttered. Still they winked as they walked away.


As we made our way to the backyard the music got louder and I heard splashing. The pool was open out the back and quickly I got changed. I was hanging out with some guys who were friends of Ben. Alice and some of her friends jumped in soaking us. We had diving competitions.


Alice dragged me under the water.


“Hey, stop!” I said, gasping for air.


“I love you.” She whispered tugging at my hair. I knocked her backwards under the water and she started to laugh.


“So what are your college plans?” Alice asked.


“Don’t know…Stanford, Penn State...” I replied pondering.


“Cool! I’m considering those too!” She giggled.


Perfect. After one year of college… or when we’re 22…I’ll ask her to marry… Whoa! I’m thinking way too ahead here! We’re in High School!


“Hello! Earth to genius?” Alice waved her hand in front of my face.


“Sorry.”


We were interrupted by a shadow falling over us.


“ALICE! What…what…nerd…what….ALICE!” the person yelled standing above us. It was a drunk. It was John.


“YOU!” he yelled pointing at me. “YOU!”


“You ruined everything! You’ll pay. Alice leaves…leave…leave...” he fell over as he yelled this.


“Get out. I don’t want a drunk. Who snuck in beer? Get out. Now! I don’t care if we’re seniors. We are not old enough to drink.” The guy running the party yelled. He was pretty angry.


Some guys started to leave.


John didn’t leave though. He wanted to kill me. I had ruined him and I was going to be punished. But I wasn’t alone. I had my friends to back me up.


“Whatever. It isn’t worth it.” He said, stumbling over. He couldn’t stand up. Alice stared at him, disgusted.


“Well that was interesting.” Ben joked. Everyone laughed.


Some of the girls wanted to go shopping and bring back some food. They asked Alice if she wanted to come. I told her she could. She ran off laughing. The next couple hours seemed to fly by. Then I heard the news that would change my life.


Someone came out of the house holding a cell phone, he looked pale. “The girls are in trouble. They crashed. They don’t know if anyone is dead. Some drunken guys…chased after them and rammed into them.”



Some girls that stayed behind started to cry. The guys were shocked. There was just silence.


“Alex.” Ben said, putting his hand on my shoulder. I shrugged it off.


I started to run. Ben was chasing me, shouting about driving me, but I wouldn’t listen. All that mattered was to see if Alice was safe. I ran and ran looking for a sign.
If only I could remember where they were… I pulled out my cell.


“Ben.” I stated.


“Alex! Where are you? Why didn’t you wait… why didn’t you-”


“Stop! What store were they going too?” I screamed.


“Target then J.C. Penny. They are right next to each other in a shopping complex. Where are you?”


“I don’t know.” I answered shyly.


“Hey, I see you!” he shouted.


“Get in!” He waved.


His car pulled up next to me. I got in. I was cold and it had started to rain. He drove off. We were approaching J.C. Penny.


“I see the store. Where are they?” I muttered.


“Look!” John pointed.


It was the scene of the crash. It was chaos.


I jumped out of the car, running up the hill to get closer, pulling my hoodie over my head. It was a scene of confusion. Ambulances were everywhere. Lights, sirens, shrieking, people crying. Police officers pushed me to the side. A girl I recognized from the party was being put in an ambulance on a stretcher. She screamed an unearthly sound. Her body was mutilated. Her skin was burned. She reached out. I saw the pain in her eyes. I shivered and pushed on. A woman looked at me sadly.


“Have you seen my baby?” she repeated, to anyone who passed her. I said no. I could see the scene of the crash. One car was on the road, flipped over. One was halfway in the forest. Suddenly a huge blast knocked me over. The car on the road was on fire and I heard another loud scream from inside. The other car started to fall into the forest.


“Help!” a voice cried from inside. It was Alice’s voice.


“NO!” I screamed clawing madly at two police officers holding me back.

“Stay here!” they ordered.

I broke free and ran.


I slipped on the wet forest floor, as I raced after the car, picking up speed on the decline. I tumbled and tumbled. Rain started to fall in a hard downpour. The wind picked up. It sounded like it was mocking me. I searched and searched and when I almost lost hope, I saw her.


She was lying on the ground. She was pale and one foot looked like it had been twisted awkwardly. A bone poked out of the skin in her arm. Blood oozed down from her face. I picked her up. Tears fell from my eyes as hard as the rain pouring down. I saw flashlights searching and the lit up on me.

I looked up, Alice hanging limply in my arms, and started to shout.