Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 54383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 54383 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 272(@200wpm)___ 218(@250wpm)___ 181(@300wpm)
“Scarlett?” Tully cries. “Scarlett, can you hear me?”
I stare ahead at our mangled dashboard, at the blood that’s smeared along the leather.
Everything dissolves into a blur.
And then my entire world is black.
34
TULLY
“Scarlett, can you hear me?” I press my thumb against her neck, waiting to feel a pulse. “Scarlett?”
I lay my head against her chest, but I hear nothing.
She’s gone.
PART 6
SOME LIES ARE BETTER THAN THE TRUTH
Question:
If you were forced to choose between hurting the person you love most and losing them once they know the truth, or breaking things off to spare their feelings and save them from ever knowing the truth, which would you pick?
A) Because honesty always wins, no matter what. (And hey, they might come back to you someday)
B) Because they’ll never look at you the same if they find out, and you don’t want to hurt them harder.
Answer:
B.
They don’t deserve to know how horrible of a person you are.
35
TULLY
“Drunk driver.” “I heard he was going one-twenty in the sixty before the train hit the back of their car.” “We need to talk to their parents about their survival chances once we’re out of the O.R.”
I’m straining to hear the words around me, but they’re all faint.
Every muscle in my body is numb, and I’m trying to figure out why the floor under me is moving so damn fast.
Where am I?
I struggle to open my eyes, but the view doesn’t look familiar.
The lights above me are bright white and they’re moving as fast as the floor. Masked faces surround me, and now they’re shouting at each other.
“Scarlett Crane is in Room Two, we need to move Tully Crane to Room Four!”
An image of my sister bleeding in the front seat suddenly flashes across my mind.
“Excuse me…” I attempt to speak. “Where is…Where is my sister?”
Beep! Beep! Beeeeep!
The masked faces suddenly cover my face with a blue bubble and my world turns black again.
36
EASTON
Hey. How did Tully react when you told her about us?
Did you change your mind about doing that tonight?
I refresh my inbox for the hundredth time before setting it down on the grass.
Sirens have been blaring all over town for over half an hour, so I decide to head somewhere quiet.
Walking into the athletic complex, I hold out my student ID, but the security guard doesn’t take it.
“You have to scan this for the door to open, Max.” I smile at him. “Remember? They changed the system last week and you joked with me and my teammates about it.”
“Dude…” He sighs. “Please tell me you’re only here as some type of weird coping tool because I’m not good when it comes to talking about sad shit.”
“I can scan it against the machine myself, if you push it a bit closer.”
“Easton.” He stands up from his chair, looking as if he’s seen a ghost. “You know, right?”
“Max, I’m a little too tired to joke with you right now. I came here to get some peace and quiet.”
“Your girlfriend and her sister were in a really bad accident tonight.” The words rush out of his mouth. “They had to use the jaws of life to get them out of the car.”
“What?”
“It’s all over social media…” he says. “Haven’t you seen it?”
37
EASTON
I make it to the hospital in fifteen minutes flat.
The waiting room is a sea of crimson red, every chair occupied by fellow students and teammates.
“Hey son.” Coach walks over to me. “I was just about to call you.”
“How bad is it?” I ask.
“I don’t think I’m the right person to tell you.”
“How fucking bad is it?” I need to know now.
“They’re both in critical condition,” he says, “They have them in an adjoining room, and that’s the last I heard.”
“Where is this room?” I start to walk past him, but he grabs my arm.
“They’re not allowed to have visitors, and even then, it’ll only be with the parents’ permission.”
“Where are their parents, then?”
“Their parents don’t know yet.”
“How is that possible?”
“They’re on a flight right now,” he says. “Police are going to notify them whenever they land. That’s all I know right now son.”
My world falls apart in an instant, and I slump into a chair.
I wonder if this is my fault, if maybe they argued about me when Scarlett revealed the truth. Even though I overhear the whispers about the culprit being a drunk driver, a man who is “also in critical condition,” my heart feels like lead.
For hours, I see people coming and going, hear people asking questions that are asked yet never answered. Before I know it, Scarlett's mother is kneeling in front of me and clasping my hand.
“They're in a shared recovery room, Easton,” she says, “The seventh floor, 713. You can go see them whenever you're ready.”
If the laminated identification charts weren’t hanging from the end of their beds, there would be no way to tell the difference between Scarlett and Tully.