Fearless?

Fearless? - Chapter Forty

‘People fear death even more than pain. It’s strange that they fear death. Life hurts a lot more than death. At the point of death, the pain is over,’ 

- Jim Morrison

Chapter Forty

Azelie woke up, the pounding pain in her head pulling her from her unconsciousness. She slowly opened her eyes, coughing a little as she did.  A bright white light blinded her as she shut her eyes once again, only now realising that there was a strong smell of petrol hanging in the air, mixed in with something else. Blood. She opened her eyes again, squinting a little as she did before looking around, letting out a scream of terror as she did. 

The car was upside down, and she was strapped in by her seatbelt - the seat belt Cole had forced her to put on. Azelie’s breaths turned quicker and shallower as she tried to get her mind around what had happened.

The speeding truck round the corner. The force of the truck. It all came back to Azelie as tears began to roll down her cheeks. She turned to her right, crying in hysterics as she did.

Cole was half out of his chair, blood pouring out of his body like a river. They had hit a tree and a thick, heavy branch had come through the window and was stabbing through Cole’s body. Azelie’s shaky hand quickly pressed down on the release button for the seatbelt, her body falling down from the chair as she did, but Azelie didn’t feel the pain. She quickly crawled out of the car, dialing emergency services and barely managing to keep herself from breaking down.

She had to get help. There was no time to cry, no time to freak out. Cole had to live. He had to. 

“Hello 911, what’s your emergency?” the operator questioned as Azelie took a deep breath in, trying to push everything down but finding it impossible to do so.

“I-I was in a c-car crash, the car’s upside down, my boyfriend is trapped, please help, please,” Azelie cried, her voice shaky and she quickly spoke down the phone. It was the first time she had called him her boyfriend, barely five minutes after he had asked her, and he was dying. 

“Okay, ma-am, stay calm - help is on the way! Do you know where you are?” the operator quickly questioned, his voice full of concern.

“I don’t know... just outside of Bellingham,” She answered, tears rolling down her cheeks as she tried to think. 

“Okay, we can just track your location, just stay calm - what’s your name? Are you okay?” the operator asked. Even just the simple question seemed impossible to Azelie as her brain tried to make sense of the words.

“Azelie... Azelie Ryans, I’m fine, it’s my boyfriend - it’s Cole,” 

“Okay, Azelie, is your boyfriend awake?” the operator replied, Azelie’s heart beating wildly in her chest. Not even an hour ago, she was trying to end her life; and now she was trying to save the life of the guy who saved her. The whole situation made Azelie sick. They wouldn’t have been driving home if she hadn’t of run off, if she had just sat in the hall and cried. It was her fault. She shook her head, now was not the time to be concerned with the though of how this was all her fault, right now was the time to be concerned with saving Cole’s life, so she didn’t have to blame herself for that wouldn’t be her fault as well.