T.W.O

FREYA___02

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It hurt so much. 

Every small movement I made only intensified the pain. 

My head was being rhythmically pounded by a wicked hammer and I was helpless to stop it. 

A low groan escaped my mouth, my eyes flickering open to reality. 

I was not familiar with my surroundings, how did I get here?

I tried to sit up from the bed only to cry out at the sharp pain that sizzled through my head like continuous bolts of lightning. 

What in the world happened to me?

I heard the sound of a door being pushed open followed by a feminine voice. 

"Oh my god dear, you are awake!" 

The middle-aged woman approached me my eyes flickered with recognition. 

"Ethan brought you here last night, Young people these days are so reckless! How did the both of you drink so much?" She scowled.

"You both had jammed against a pole, you are both lucky to sustain only minor injuries, you could have easily lost your lives, my house was the closest place my son could bring you to!"

My brain was still fuzzy as I tried to grasp her words. 

Did we smash against a pole?  That wasn't true.

I remember we had hit a car, I wanted to correct her misunderstanding but was too weak to begin to explain everything.

 

I slowly lifted my hand to my head to touch the bandage present. 

Those last moments had been terrifying. 

 

We could have died! 

How could Ethan do that to me? 

Tears formed in my eyes and started to fall freely,  I trusted him and he'd tried to take advantage of me and then almost had us killed.

"Oh dear, are you in pain? I'll get you something to relieve you. I will also let your Ethan know that you're awake."  

Ethan's mom had been a professional doctor for years, she was on temporary leave and chose to spend it at home instead of going on vacation.  

My parents and Ethan's have always been quite close, it could be said that I've known his family all my life and that was how he and I became friends. 

I relaxed against the soft pillows, thankfully, I wasn't that injured, it could have been worse. From what she had said earlier, it seemed that Ethan was fine as well. 

Then, what about the other car? 

Was the other person fine as well?  I could only hope so. We would surely have a huge complaint filed against us but I would worry about that once this headache disappears. 

I was still deep in thoughts when the door pushed open and Ethan slowly walked inside. 

My heart pierced with outrage, he was lucky I couldn't move. 

"Hey Freya, how are you feeling now?" He walked closer, just enough to intensify my intuition to murder him. 

"I feel like I almost lost my life, all thanks to you!"

I tried to sit up but didn't expect my arms to be so weak, I ended up falling back on the bed, groaning out my frustrations. 

Ethan rushed towards me, grabbed a pillow, and started to position it beneath my shoulders when I thwarted his hands from touching me. 

"Just fucking get out of my sight! How could you?! I don't ever want to see you again." My voice cracked. I lost control of my emotions and broke out into sobs. 

He looked away wearing a regretful look 

At least, he had the grace to look ashamed. 

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? Last night was just___I never meant for it to happen like that, trust me. Maybe I drank a bit too much, I don't know why I did all of that, just know that I'm sorry." 

I didn't reply. 

There was no point. 

An apology wouldn't change anything. 

"I didn't inform your parents, I didn't think you would want them to know, I stayed here with you all night__"

"Am I supposed to be grateful to you or something? Do you know what I think? You didn't call my parents because your coward ass knows what you did was disgusting!" I snapped at him furiously. 

He exhaled aloud, looking away. 

"Fine, I will leave if that's what you want, but there is something important I need to tell you, Freya." 

I wasn't interested in hearing whatever he had to say, but what choice did I have? I couldn't block my hearing ability even if I wanted to. 

His tone was lowered, and his eyes filled with anxiety.

What was it with the secrecy? 

"Last night___ After you lost consciousness, the other car___" He stopped, his eyes were filled with an emotion I recognized all too well. 

Guilt.

"What about the other car? The person inside is fine, right?" 

My questions were met by his silence, the guilty look in his eyes intensified, and a coil tightened in my stomach. 

Was he not speaking because something terrible had happened?

"Why the hell aren't you saying anything? No one got hurt, right?" Panic and fear made my voice shaky. I was afraid to use the word die, couldn't even imagine it.  

"I don't know! I didn't report the case! I never found out what happened to the other person!" His fingers through his hair crazily as he caught my stare.

"I mean, you were injured___the other car caught fire, I__I panicked, I didn't know what to do, I drove off, I was a coward__ I know it was wrong of me__"

"C__caught fire?" I stammered. 

"The other car caught fire!" I screamed this time, my headache was gone, replaced by a numb feeling that slowly spread, icing up my bones. 

"You didn't call for help or report the c_case? Is that what you're trying to say? Do you know how much trouble we are in? That's a very huge crime! The police might as well be looking for us right now! Damn it!" I was shouting at the top of my lungs and didn't care. 

"Listen, Freya,  I panicked, I didn't get enough time to think, we were both drunk, we could have gotten in trouble if caught, and we could even be jailed for life if the person died!" 

Horror spread through my veins. 

The car caught fire!  They had been no cars around at that time, what were the odds of the person surviving? 

My stomach rolled with nausea, I was going to be sick! 

"And you think we can't be arrested and jailed now? Are you fucking stupid? What kind of human being are you?" I suddenly wondered how we had managed to become friends. 

"The police haven't come for us until now, but there's one thing I don't understand, how__"

"Us?" I interrupted. 

"You were the one driving! You were the one who assaulted me! You couldn't control yourself and your ego after I stopped you from harassing me and now you're making me an accomplice to your crimes?"

"Fine! I'm to be blamed for everything but listen to me Freya, there's something off about this whole situation.  My car is missing! It disappeared from the mechanic's place this morning! I also went there, everything was gone! It's very strange. " He grasped my shoulders and I shrugged it off. 

"What are you trying to say?" 

"What I'm saying is that ___"

"What is going on here? What are you arguing about?" His mom walked inside the room.

"It's nothing!" Ethan hurried to say. I opened my mouth to argue, wanting to scream out the whole truth to her. The situation was sounding too complicated for both of us to handle.  

"Here are your medicines Freya, you'll feel better after taking them, the telephone is downstairs,  you can call your parents if you want." 

For some reason, I just couldn't bring myself to tell her and that was probably the very first mistake I made. 

*

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"__miss, what are you talking about?" The two officers shared a puzzled look. 

"I'm telling you that there was an accident! I just want to know who the person is, did they sustain any injuries"

After leaving Ethan's place, I just couldn't return home. 

I just had to find out. It had been a difficult step to turn myself in but I had to know if we had claimed an innocent life last night. 

If so, we deserved to be punished.

The two officers were staring at me as though I had lost my mind somewhere. 

"Are you trying to say you're reporting yourself for a supposed accident that happened not too far away from here?" One spoke and I nodded. 

'Supposed?' Why did he make use of that word as though I was lying? 

"As you said, you were slightly drunk and can't even remember what the car looked like, are you sure you were not hallucinating, miss? I can assure you that no car accident happened even ten miles away from here." The other officer spoke and they both chuckled. 

How could they joke about something so serious? 

What baffled me was that they weren't even bothered to charge me with a ticket for drunk driving. 

Even more shocking was how they said that there had been no accident. 

"How can that be possible? I know what I'm talking about, around 10 pm_" I started when one of the officers interrupted. 

"We have other important cases to attend to, so if you don't mind? I'll advise you not to drink and drive next time, have a nice day!"

I stared at them in disbelief, how could they dismiss my claims like that? 

I remembered clearly that the other car's window had shattered. Ethan also said that the other car had caught fire, so how was it possible that there was no accident? 

Was it possible that there wasn't even a piece of a broken window on the floor?

Why was Ethan's car missing? Was it connected to last night's accident?

What exactly was going on? 

Everything pointed to make it seem as though last night's incident hadn't happened, only I knew very well that it did. 

I walked out of the station feeling more confused than I'd ever been in my entire life. 

The scary feeling rooted itself in my heart, Something disastrous was going to happen. I could feel it.