The One Who Survived

Music. Joyous laughter pierced the air. It was their farewell party, not that anyone really intended such an early farewell. It was just another excuse to celebrate. The last day of university was behind them. It was nearing midnight. The four friends gathered around the coffee table which now held four chilled beer bottles. They had finally turned down the music fearing complaining neighbors.

Reid uncorked the bottles, third time that evening, passed one onto his sister Monica and then his friends Drake and Skye. They had been friends since high school and had vowed to remain so forever. A promise which they had kept, till now.

                                                              

        “Its about to be one o’ clock. The highway should be empty by now. What say, Reid?” asked Monica. Reid put down him empty bottle, “sure, sure!”

“Hey, wait” – this was Skye – “I don’t think we should go on a joyride now. I mean, Reid… you’re tipsy!”

Reid burst out laughing. “Tipsy??” he laughed, “ We've done worse! By the way, I drive like this most of the time!” he winked at Drake as Monica sniggered. However, she sensed Skye’s hesitation and reassuringly put an arm around her.

“It’s just a long drive! And since when did you start worrying so much?” she said persuasively.

“Yeah, it’s gonna be fun. Just relax!” Drake said.

Seeing no way out and feeling the tiniest bit of thrill creeping into the pit of her stomach, Skye agreed.

        Speed. The wind blew her hair in all direction. The speed and the thrill felt good. But the presence of an unknown fear made the hair on her neck stand up. A fear which none of the other faces betrayed any signs of. Monica and Drake were laughing over jokes and Reid was whistling a tune. They took the empty stretch at 90km/hr. Skye thought they could compete with a train at this speed! Drake noticed the wary expression on Skye’s face.

“What’s wrong?” he asked. Reid, who was at the wheel, turned around to face Skye. He opened his mouth to say something when they were all thrown off guard with a violent jerk. They had hit a speed breaker at that neck-break speed!

       

The car turned tortoise and vaulted forward before coming to a stop well ahead of the speed breaker. The screeching noise of metal scraping over the mortar stopped as suddenly as it had started. Along with it stopped the screams. Quiet. Stunned silence prevailed. A low moaning continued before that stopped too. A faint dripping sound could be heard, oil from the engine or blood of those inside, no one could tell.

A light flickered. Many voices could be heard. Some male, some female, all mixed together. Someone seemed to be saying something to him but he didn't know what to make of those meaningless sounds. He parted his eyelid a little but the light hurt his eyes. He could only make out hazy activity all around him before he closed his eyes again. Then he tried to open them once more. This time, his vision was clearer. He saw a face familiar to him bent over his own. His mother. His attention was drawn towards a steady beeping sound. The heart monitor. He was at the hospital. This realization made him fully aware of the various aches all over his body. Not just aches, excruciating pain in his head and leg, which felt heavy under layers of bandages. He slowly remembered that night. He had been thrown out on the impact. He had seen the car come to a halt before the darkness outside descended on his eyes. He focused on his mother now. She crossed herself “Good Lord! I thought I’d lose you Drake!” she chocked, tears streaming down her face. Drake blinked, the only motion which spared him much pain.

“The others?” he whispered.

His mother stared back with a closed expression. Then slowly the blank face gave way to agony.

“The doctors tried but …” she stopped. She couldn't bring herself to say those words to her son. Finally, she allowed with a deep breath, “You are the one who survived.”