9: Everything was black

I winced in pain as I heard more honks of the cars ahead of us and light drops of the rain sounding from the roof. My head and eyes felt heavy, and my neck was stiff. I slowly opened my eyes, and tried sitting straight up on my seat. But my neck hurt even more that my right hand instantly reached for my neck and made me just lean against the car door. My eyes were completely opened, and I thought I would have to adjust to the brightness, but I didn't. The weather was still the same. It looked like nighttime inside the car. Dark.

As I tried to make my neck feel better, my eyes caught Chase who was actually laying on my lap. I guess we both fell asleep.

Wait, what?

I fell asleep?

Worry flashed over my face as I remembered what situation I currently am, and then my heart began beating fast.

Mom. With that one word, my body felt different in a blink of an eye. The moment I woke up, I seemed normal. But then, I felt energy suddenly rising up in me and my body became all tensed up. It wasn't because of excitement, or whatsoever. I know it was because of worry, terror, and extreme paranoia. I gritted my teeth, and balled my fists. I am certainly mad at myself for falling asleep for a time like this. I feel like I don't even care about those people close to me getting caught on an accident.

How long was I asleep? What happened? Are we there yet? I felt Chase move from my lap, and my neck snapped to his direction. I saw him yawn and stretch his petite black-furred body, then slowly stepped back and sat comfortably just inches away from me like nothing really serious was happening.

I closed my eyes as I bit my lip, shaking my head. He really had no clue of what was happening.

Beep-beeeeeep! Beeeeeep!

Again, the honks of the cars ahead us astounded over me, one after another. I even heard the lady driver complaining in a quiet voice when she obviously got annoyed 'cause of the traffic, and beeped five times in a row.

I moved closer to the center to see the traffic, leaning over as my brows furrowed in frustration. It was one hell of a traffic. The cars ahead of us were too many that I won't even be able to count them all because of the distance. "For how long were we stuck in this traffic?" I asked the lady, my eyes never leaving the cars. I wish I could just burn them all up with my eyes.

She rubbed her right palm to her cheek and sighed exasperatedly. "Forty-five minutes, kiddo. We're not even moving." I snapped my head to face her.

"Literally stuck." She added, clicking her tongue and slightly shaking her head in a boyish manner. All I did for almost a minute was gape at her. I couldn't even believe it. We're stuck in this traffic for forty-five minutes?

Only three words managed to leave my mouth. "Are you serious?" And the driver nodded and glared at me, as if she thought that I was some kind of a weirdo with the way she's looking at me. "Of course, I am."

I stared straight into her eyes, looking for some evidence that she was only joking. True. She's serious.

I plumped back to my seat, my palms rubbing my face and running through my hair, making it even messier. Am I ever going to make it in time? I thought to myself desperately. I'm already on the verge of crying. No, you're not. The screeches and crashing I heard last time repeated in my head again. I mentally grumbled. Why can't I just forget those?

And then I turned my face to look at Chase who was just staring out of the window, paws against the lower edge of the window. I don't know what he's looking at, they were only cars beside us, or maybe he was looking at the tiny drops of rain sliding down it. The rain calmed down a bit, and I can only hear rumbles coming from the sky. I let out a loud groan, getting the attention of the driver and my cat.

"What's happening over there? What's with this traffic?" I asked, annoyance and worry obvious with my tone. I looked down, brows furrowed while hoping that it wasn't some kind of an accident. A silly part of me even wished that Russel and Robin were just playing pranks, that what I heard before at the park are just recorded sound effects. I really hope it's just like that.

I saw Chase remove his gaze from outside at the corner of my eye and began licking his paws, like he was giving me his 'I don't care' expression. Then the lady shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe an accident. A huge one. Such a traffic like this won't happen if it was just something small."

I froze.

That caught me off-guard, leaving me all speechless for a whole minute as the thought developed in my mind. My chest tightened, so tight I do not even know if I'm even breathing. I can't even blink.

A huge accident.

I think I've forgotten how to speak. I can't even say a word when the lady asked me what was wrong when I suddenly went stiff.

And then finally, I felt myself breathing. Only that it was rushed, too mush shock consumed me. I slapped my hand to the the head rest of the driver's seat and leaned forward, I did the same to the passenger's seat. My fingers digging into the leather covers that I might even leave a scratch mark. I bit my lip as a tear fell down my left eyes. Don't cry, don't cry. I tightened my jaw, I should not go wailing like a baby in here while we're stuck in the traffic, so I forced myself not to cry. But I can't just avoid the fact that my breathing is actually starting to get shaky, I couldn't prevent it.

I breathed out, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall down my cheeks. "Are we already near to that... new bank?" My voice broke. She turned to look at me, and she seemed surprised by the way I am looking at her. I know I look like a murderer with my tightened jaw, firm hands, heavy breathing and my glaring eyes, but its not actually like that, I was just forcing myself not to cry. I didn't mean to look at her like that.

There was another pause before she answered me, "Yeah." She faced the front, gesturing towards the cars, or probably the road. "W-we'll just have to go down the road and you will already see the bank."

And then I went back down my seat, letting a shaky breath out for the hundredth time while staring at those vehicles ahead us. I pressed my lips in a tight line, I've decided, it's better than just getting stuck here doing nothing. "I... I can go there from here." I mumbled, just enough for her to hear. I then grabbed my wallet. Well she had my word, and I'm not that type who lies just to have what she really wanted. "Here, take it. I'm going." I told her as I reached for the lock of the door, unlocking it. But when I heard the 'click', at the same time, I heard Chase hiss at me and the driver ask if I was really sure about it. I only nodded since I was sure she was looking at me through the rear view mirror.

Then I looked at Chase over my shoulder. He was giving me that threatening side of his, just like what he did to the driver before. His back arched up, hissing, and so on.

"Come on, Chase. I know you hate the rain but this is an emergency, Mom and the others are--" My chest suddenly tightened again, and I bit my lip. I just can't say it myself. Because it feels like that time when my gramma died, it was also an accident. Is it really happening again? I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked down. The tears are forming again. These tears are just unstoppable, every time that memory comes to my mind, I feel those feelings again and again, they're just so painful that they could make me cry so easily.

I then blinked the tears away for the second time and quickly opened the door, wiping the tears on my cheeks with the back of my hand as my boots touched the wet ground. I already feel the raindrops falling on my head, and hear the small splashing noises when the others dropped on my leather jacket. I stood on my own two feet and turned around, I even nearly stumbled because of my protesting legs and knees.

When Chase came to my view, he was still giving out those hisses. It felt like he was scolding me because of my actions. But, should I still care if I'm in a situation like this? No. He just really didn't know anything. "Chase." Then I glared at him. This cat's a smart one, sometimes even smarter than me, that's why I'm sure he knew what I was trying to say.

"Chase." Again.

This cat-- fine. I let out a frustrated sigh as I pushed the door to close it, but my heart almost jumped out of my chest when I saw Chase suddenly jumping out of the car. God, I nearly got him half.

I stared at him in disbelief and surprise with my lips parted while he swiftly landed on all fours on the ground.

"Mreeooww!" Then he hissed at me again, maybe because of me trying to leave him alone or because I nearly chopped him into two, and went back giving me that threatening expression. I wanted to say sorry, but now isn't the time for that. I have to get moving.

So, I just ignored him, turned on my heel and began walking quickly, but I just can't ignore Chase completely. I slightly turned my head sideways to look at him behind me.

My brows furrowed. He wasn't there.

I stopped walking when I passed by the first car after the taxi I rode to turn around again and look for him. But when I was just about to do that, that cat I was talking about popped out from under the car on my left that I just passed by and went under the next one again.

Of course he'll do that. He hates the rain.

I began moving again. I walked fast enough to catch up on Chase, but soon I realized I was already running and already passed by so many cars, vans, trucks, motors and more until I already saw it, the bank beside D's Supermarket.

Then I faced my front again.

I stopped breathing.

It was true, indeed. There was an accident. A huge one. I see the fire trucks over there, the crowd, the police, the cars that are trying to pass by the accident area that was already surrounded by yellow tapes, the reporters, the ambulance... and those cars and the truck that were turned upside down with horrible damage, some crashed with each other.

Then just like in a melodramatic movie, a thunder struck, making me jolt and come back to my senses, then rain started pouring down hard on me again.

I started running towards the accident area. And though the cars are moving, I still went in front of some while changing to another lane to use a better way with enough space for me to run faster. I almost got hit by a car one time, but got cars beeping at me for a couple of times for being careless.

I gulped as I came closer to the crowd that were taking pictures of the accident. They were blocking my view, but maybe it was a good thing because I really don't know what lies ahead. What I will see, and more.

I... am so scared. I really am.

I walked closer and closer, until I am just a meter away from the yellow tape with texts saying 'KEEP OUT'.

Then the people blocking my view parted a bit and I caught glimpse of a hand laying limp on the floor. Not just a hand, it had a very familiar watch around its wrist. I just realized that my right hand was on my mouth, trying to keep my mouth shut to stop the cries from coming out. But I can't, even if my hand was blocking them. More tears streamed down my cheeks continuously. They were non-stop. My view was blurred because of that. My chest hurts. It really hurts.

And when I saw them, the pain went hundred times worse.

I let go of my lips and my cries went louder and sounded like they really wanted to be released for a very long time. I want to scream, but I can't, more tears just went down my cheeks and my knees are turning to jelly that I almost fell down. But instead, without thinking I pushed away the people who are blocking my way, bent down and passed by the yellow tape. I don't care if it's restricted or not, I just want to go to my mother's side.

And so I ran again towards their bodies, but I stumbled and landed on my knees.

I just let myself kneel in front of her limp body while I buried my face in my palms and cried out loud. The tightening in my chest, I couldn't breathe. I really couldn't. My chest hurts. And it was not just hers, there were also some lying on the ground, some parts of their body covered with blood. But another body caught my eyes, my dad's body was also laying limp.

My last moments with them came to my mind, their smiling faces at my graduation party as they watched me, their encouragements when my mom was putting on my make up, them being worried, Robin, my dad, always trying to remove the frown on my face. To think of it, this is actually my first time to call him my dad. My own father.

Then I felt someone touch my shoulder. "Miss, please go back there. You are not allowed to go in here, it's a restricted area, ma'am."

Probably it was a police officer. But... I just couldn't hear him. All I could hear was my cries, Robin and the my mother's soothing voice. I won't hear their voices ever again. I can't do anything but cry. I don't have much strength left inside me. I was not moving, I was still on the same spot as I cried non-stop.

"Ma'am, excuse me? I understand that you lost someone today, but you really have to stay out of this." Huh? What is he saying? I don't understand. Everything is muffled.

"Please ma'am, you have to go or else we will have to drag you out of here."

"Excuse me?"

I really don't understand a thing. Why is everything I hear muffled?

Then I felt strong hands bringing me up to my feet. Of course, I quickly tried get away from its grasp. But it grabbed me by the shoulders again and I just realized that I was already being dragged by this person. I thrashed to get away, but he or she was strong.

And when I escaped its grasp, I turned around to face that person.

Then I just felt my right fist smashing hard into something.

And again.

What happened next?

Everything was black.