005: The accident

Adriana's POV 

The world exploded.

Metal crashed into metal with a sound like thunder. The dark sedan slammed into my side of the car, and suddenly I was flying sideways, my body thrown against the door like a rag doll.

Glass shattered everywhere. The window beside me burst into a million pieces, cutting into my skin like tiny knives. My head whipped to the side and cracked against something hard and pain shot through my skull.

"Vivienne!" Ethan's voice cut through the chaos sounding panicked and desperate. "Vivienne, are you okay?"

That was not my name. Ethan was not calling his wife's name. But Vivienne's.

I tried to speak and call out to him, but my voice came out as a weak gasp. Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. My stomach felt kind of strange and I began to feel very terrified.

The baby. Oh God, my baby.

"I'm okay," Vivienne's voice came from the front seat, shaky but clear. "I think I'm okay. My shoulder hurts, but I can move everything."

"Thank God." Relief poured through Ethan's words. "Don't move. Just stay still. I'm going to get you out of there."

I heard his door slam open and the clicking of his shoes as he ran around the car. 

I thought to myself that he was coming, that he was going to help me too. We were both going to be okay.

But his footsteps went around to the front of the car, not the back where I was trapped.

"Easy, easy," Ethan's voice was gentle and soothing. "I've got you. Put your arms around my neck."

Through the spider web of cracks in my vision, I could see him lifting Vivienne from the passenger seat. He held her against his chest as if she was made of glass, and his face twisted with worry and fear.

"Ethan," I whispered, but my voice was too weak. He couldn't hear me over the sound of sirens in the distance and people shouting.

I watched him carry Vivienne away from the wreckage, settling her carefully on the sidewalk away from the twisted metal. He knelt beside her and started to run his hands over her arms and legs, checking for injuries.

"Does this hurt?" he asked her with his voice so tender.

"No, I don't think anything's broken," Vivienne said. She looked up at him with big, frightened eyes. "Ethan, you saved me."

"Of course I did." He brushed her hair back from her face. "I couldn't let anything happen to you."

I couldn't let anything happen to you.

The words hit me harder than the crash had. He wasn't thinking about me at all. His wife. The woman carrying his child. I was still trapped in the back seat, bleeding and hurt, and he didn't even look back.

"Ethan!" I called out louder, putting all my strength into it. "Ethan, help me!"

This time he heard me. His head snapped up, and for a second he looked confused, as if he forgot I was even there.

"Adriana?" He stood up slowly, still keeping one hand on Vivienne's shoulder. "Are you hurt?"

"I can't move," I said with tears streaming down my face. "I think I'm trapped. Please, I need help."

Ethan took a step towards the car but Vivienne immediately held his arm asking him not to leave her. He looked between me and her, and I saw the moment he made his choice. He knelt back down beside her.

"I need to stay with Vivienne," he called back to me. "She might have internal injuries. The paramedics are coming. They'll get you out."

"But I'm hurt too!" I screamed with every strength left in me. "Ethan, please, I'm bleeding!"

"The paramedics will take care of you," he said, but he wasn't even looking at me anymore. All his attention was back on Vivienne, as he stroked her shoulder gently.

I stared at them through the broken glass as my heart broke into pieces. My husband was holding another woman while his wife sat trapped and bleeding. He made his choice, and it wasn't me.

I felt a sharp pain in my side that made me immediately press my hands to my belly in fear.

"No, no, no," I whispered, pressing my hands to my belly. "Please, no. Help!" I started screening, my voice breaking. "Somebody help me!"

I saw someone running towards the car as soon as he heard my voice. But Ethan still didn't come. He stayed with Vivienne, whispering soothing words to her while I suffered alone.

"Ma'am, we're going to get you out!" A voice called from outside my door. A paramedic in a blue uniform was trying to pry open the bent metal. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Adriana," I gasped. "Adriana Blake. I'm pregnant. I think something is wrong. I have some pain in my belly."

"How far along are you?" The paramedic's voice was calm and professional, obviously trying to calm me too.

"Six weeks. I just confirmed it a few days ago."

"We're going to take care of you," he promised. "Just hold on."

But even as he worked to free me, my eyes were still on Ethan. He was talking to another paramedic now, explaining Vivienne's condition. His voice was steady and strong, nothing like the broken, desperate tone he used when he first called her name.

"Make sure she's okay. I don't care about anything else." I heard him say.

I don't believe he was talking about me. Not his wife. Not the mother of his child.

Vivienne.

The paramedic finally got my door open, and rushed in. "There we go. Can you move your legs?"

I tried, but everything hurt. The blood on my dress was spreading and I didn't know where it was coming from.

"I'm scared about the baby," I whispered, the words tearing out of my throat. "I feel so much pain all over."

"We're going to get you checked out right away," the paramedic said, his voice gentle but focused. "Let's get you to the hospital."

As they lifted me onto a stretcher, I caught one last glimpse of Ethan. He was walking alongside Vivienne's stretcher, holding her hand and talking to her in low, comforting tones.

He didn't even look back at me.

The ambulance doors slammed shut, and we raced toward the hospital with sirens wailing. The paramedic worked over me, checking my blood pressure and starting an IV.

"Is my husband coming?" I asked weakly.

The paramedic glanced toward the back window. "He's riding with the other patient. Don't worry about that right now. Focus on staying calm."

Staying calm. While my marriage fell apart and my baby... 

My vision was starting to blur around the edges. Fear about the pregnancy mixed with the pain from the accident, and everything felt overwhelming.

"My baby," I whispered as I pressed my hand to my stomach where our child was supposed to be growing. The child that was supposed to fix everything. The child that was supposed to bring us back together.

"My baby."

Everything went black.