Chapter 40 – Caught Off Guard

Harmoni

I sent a text out to Emily to tell her we would be on our way and should be there within the quarter. Jessie had asked her to the formal in the middle of the cafeteria, and even if Emily kept saying it was so embarrassing, I knew she had secretly loved it, and so did Jessie. I’ll admit I had my doubts about him when we first met, but Jessie had a way of growing on you. Plus, he had been nothing but a gentleman with Emily, which is honestly all that I asked for.

I was really excited about this formal. It would be the last one I would attend before graduation day in a few months. My school had a formal in March which we were attending now and didn’t have a prom. They thought it was a distraction to have an event like this so close to graduation, which let’s be honest was absolute bullshit. The seniors had petitioned against it every year, but the principal was dead set on keeping the formal/prom in March. I wasn’t even sure if it was legal.

Regardless of when this formal was in the year, I was determined to make the most out of it and enjoy every second of it. Emily and Amelia would both be meeting me there, and I had William and Jessie by our sides as well. Out of all the dances I had been to, I had a feeling this one was going to be the one to remember.

The car ride to the formal was tenser than I had expected. William had taken a seat next to me while Jason was driving the car, and Benjamin and Logan were in a car behind us.

Each of the guards was on high alert, their bodies were tense, and their eyes darted left and right, looking past the trees and into the woods. Other than William’s hand on my thigh, which was drawing soothing circles, the entire atmosphere in the car seemed off. Either they were seriously overreacting to going to a high school formal dance, or something was up.

I was about to ask William what they were so worried about when he broke the silence.

“Spikes,” I heard William scream to Jason, but it was too late. The car was going too fast to avoid the pointy shards which had just been released on the road ahead of us.

Everything after this happened in slow motion. Our tires screamed across the pavement as the spikes on the road pierced holes into them. Jason lost control of the car, and soon enough, the car was flipping around. I lost count of the number of times the car turned on itself, but it must have been a lot. I tried to hold on, but I lost consciousness when the car finally seemed to still.

Feeling someone tug at my arm, my eyes opened up painfully. ‘What was going on?’ I remember thinking to myself. My entire body was in pain. “William?” I called out, but I think my voice was barely above a whisper. As my eyes sharpened, I noticed the amount of glass laying around; it felt like a tornado had ravaged the inside of the car. I had a few deep cuts on my legs and arms. Some of them would probably need stitches, which explained the pain I was feeling.

I barely had time to gather my thoughts when the car door was forcefully opened, and the hand holding onto me yanked me out of the car, making me scream out in pain. “What the fuck?” I asked, still confused and disoriented. I crashed to the floor, unable to support the weight of my body on my trembling legs.

From my position out of the SUV, the accident finally came back to me. The crash, the spinning, and the silence. Both SUVs were laying in front of me, the one from Logan and Benjamin was upside down, while ours managed to land back on its feet.

The alarming part was that other than me, no one seemed to be regaining their senses, no one was moving to get out of the car or to simply open their eyes.

Looking at the unresponsive bodies around me, all my senses went blank. The only thing I could think about was that we needed to help them. We needed to make sure that they were okay. I tried standing up and walking towards them but forgot about the man holding me.

“You can’t do this! Let go of me,” I screamed while trying to shake the iron grip he had on my arm. “WILLIAM!” I continued to yell, but nothing happened. His body didn’t move an inch; he continued to lay there, his head resting on the window with blood dripping down the side of his face. “WILLIAM!” I screamed again, desperate for him to open his eyes and show me he was okay, show me he was still breathing and alive.

I thrashed and kicked when the man started to pull me away. I managed to get out of his hold for a few seconds, but my limping body didn’t make it more than a meter towards the car. I needed to wake them up. I needed to wake them all up. My brain had turned to survival mode.

“You have to call an ambulance, you have to help them,” I kept shouting as they pulled me away. I didn’t have the physical or the mental strength to fight. Everything was overwhelming.

“Please,” I cried. “I’ll come with you, I won’t make a sound. Just please call an ambulance,” I pleaded, hoping they would be merciful. The man looked down at me and rolled his eyes before throwing a phone at one of his partners.

“When we’re out of sight, call an ambulance and then ditch the phone and get the hell out,” he ordered. I recognized the tattoos he had on his arms and hands from pictures William had shown me before. These men were no doubt from the Diamond Crew. What in the world did they want from me this time?

I was roughly pushed towards the waiting car and nearly fell to the floor. I stumbled my way to the parked vehicle. I thought about resisting, about making it as hard as possible for them, but I knew the odds weren’t favorable.

I would much rather not start a fight I couldn’t win in my state and instead have them send help for my friends. I realized that there was no guarantee the man would actually call for help, but he was my only chance. He was their only hope.

Sitting down in the car, my hands and feet were quickly grabbed together and zip-tied. My head fell in my hands as the events of the night hit me hard. William’s unmoving body.

There was so much blood, I kept thinking. There was blood on his face, on his legs, on his torso. So much blood.

And Benjamin and Logan were upside down in the car in unnatural positions. I couldn’t help but wonder if any of them were still alive.

At this point, the sobs racked through my entire body. I couldn’t hold them back, and I couldn’t stop them. Maybe this was it.

“Will you shut the bitch up already?” the irritated voice of the driver rang through the car. I guess he had had enough of my cries.

I looked up from my hands in time to see the man sitting next to me raising his gun.

Realization of what he was about to do struck me just as the gun slammed hard against my head. Everything after that was dark. Please let everyone be okay.