I had just got out of work. Another nine hour shift taking orders and punching s*** into the register. Finally, I was about to go home and pass out. I was walking down Main Street minding my own business. New Jersey was usually cold around this time of year but there was a sense of heat in the air that I couldn’t really describe. I looked around, continuing  my way, when out of nowhere a Honda whipped around the corner ahead of me. That silver car sped down that street so quickly as if Vin Diesel was driving it himself. Music was blasting, I could feel the vibrations of the bass under my feet. One person emerged their body from the car and sat on the window, fist banging on the roof as if  in a celebratory manner. I recognized him from school and as I looked closer, I recognized all of them. When they finally started to pass me it was as if everything went into slow motion. Most of them were boys. The car looked packed, at least eight people were sitting inside. They were a group, a squad,  always together walking around the halls, messing around and cracking jokes. Their lunch table not that far away from mine. They were all chanting and screaming, singing along from the top of their lungs. They were just being ignorant young adults. 

I remember the girl the most though, the only girl in that car. I saw her face through the glass. Her dark hair blowing in the wind as she threw her head back. She looked so happy, like nothing could bother her. Her bright white smile leaking giggles from her mouth. And at the same time that I’m noticing all these brilliant features, our eyes locked through the window. And when I say locked, I mean it was as if we were the only people there. My mouth slowly conformed into a grin of my own.  I didn’t even know her but I felt like I did, I wanted to know her. I saw her around school a lot. She sat along with the boys and seemed to have many friends but we had never talked before. She was always having fun, even the simplest things made her happy. I’ve heard so many great things about her too. Not one negative comment, nothing about her grades, nothing about hookups. She just seemed so perfect to me.  Because of those few slow motioned seconds however, I decided to myself tomorrow would be it. I was going to walk up to the girl with aquamarine eyes and dimples deep as craters and have a conversation. No matter how nervous or scared, no matter where and what time. I was finally gonna man up and take my life into my own hands. I know Jeremey has bio with her. Maybe I can get him to ask her about me, see if she even knows I exist. Or maybe i’ll just go up to her during lunch and open with a pickup line.
“On a scale of one to ten you’re a nine and I'm the one you need.”
Naw that's too corny. If I do go  to her do I sit down next to her or just walk up and stand there? I should probably  just compliment something about her, girls like that kind of stuff. All I knew for sure was, I could look into her eyes for the rest of my life. But that was it, in a few seconds it was over. I could hear the SWOOSH as they finally drove past me. The wind sending goosebumps up my spine. I  continued my way, still smiling, watching my feet as one stepped in front of the other. The boys were still chanting, screaming the lyrics as if they themselves had wrote them. And then suddenly all I could hear were tires screeching.
Everything went silent.

Chapter Two
I turned so fast I tripped over myself. That same car, with careless teens trying not to worry about life, the same car with the girl whose smile will now forever be implanted into my skull.  That same car, was suddenly rolling on its side over, and over, and over again.
All I could do was stand there. I didn’t know what to do, what just happened? What the hell just happened? I looked around. No one else near. No people, no other vehicles just me and this car. Street lights in the distance twinkling as my vision starts to blur. Shards of glass, plastic and metal lay around scattered like a broken china doll.  Then suddenly I hear screaming. A frightening,  piercing scream.
I start to run over, first slowly then into a full sprint. Pulling my phone out of pocket, as my fingers struggle to dial 911.

Operator: Hello 911 what’s your emergency?
Alex: The car, its, its  upside down.

As I get closer it becomes worse and worse.

Alex: Oh my god. Oh my god. There's a body.

Mangled, bloody,  just laying there. I think I’m about to be sick.

Operator: Sir calm down what’s your location? Sir?

I’m starting to dry heave, I can’t do this.

Operator: Hello? Sir? Stay on the phone were going to track your current location.

Then I hear the high pitched screaming again.

“Helppp!” she screams.

It was her. She was still alive. A sense of relief washed over me. But then she starts to cry.

“ Oh my god. Jake? Jake. Jake answer me! Help, please someone help me!” she sobs.

I run over to the upside down hunk of metal.  Her hair hangs upside down, along with her lifeless friends right beside. Images I would never be able to get out of my head. I felt as if we were in a movie.

“I’m here, I’m here. My name is Alex. What’s your name?”
She whimpers as she tries to catch her breathe, “K- Kel- Kelsey.”
“Okay Kelsey I’m gonna get you out okay?”

She starts to sob. “I’m so scared.”
So was I. I was terrified. This beautiful girl who I wanted to get to know so bad is right in front of me. I’m scared to even talk because this is forever going to be our first encounter, our first impression. I never pictured it to be like this. I couldn’t let her know how scared I was. I needed to be brave for the both of us.

“Can you move your legs, your arms?”
Her right arm is covered in blood, I can’t tell if it’s her own or one of the other beings in the car.
She moans and groans as she starts to stretch.
“Yeah, I can move.”
“Good, I need you to unbuckle your seatbelt, I’m gonna catch you and pull you out.”
“Okay.”
I put my arms inside the broken window, hoping not to touch the lifeless bodies surrounding her, making sure they were perfectly aligned with her body.. All I could see inside was blood, limbs and glass. One of the boys who sat in the front was leaning into the back seat, eyes wide open, blood dripping down his face.  I cringe as I tried to look away. Kelsey is still whimpering as I wrap my arms around her.  She reaches to her waist  then  click, the latch releases. She curls up into a ball as tight as she could as I  slowly backed
out of the shattered window. I walk her over about 20 feet away, as far away from the bo
dies as I could. I wouldn’t be able to watch her cry over her dead friends, not like this. This was too real.  I told her how I called the police, how’d they’d be there soon. I sat her on curb gently, not trying to cause any more bumps or bruises.  She looks up at me. Her  eyes glisten under the street light. A small cut on her forehead drips blood.
“Thank you.” she whispered. 

And that was it. Right after that the red and blue lights flashed in the distance. Cops pulled up ambulance and all. They went straight up to her and put her on the gurney. Cops walk over to me and asked for my statement. Other officers and EMS collect the bodies and parts of the scene. She’s sitting up on the gurney looking down at her feet as the medics gauze up her head and right arm. Her eyes glance over to mine, deep into mine. The same intensity from right before the crash. But the moment no longer feels the same. This crash changes everything. She won’t be able to look at me without thinking about tonight. I won’t be able to look at her without thinking about it either. What am I gonna do now?
“Sir, hello.” Deputy Swan said. I snapped out my thought bubble.
“Yes, sorry still a little shaken up sir.” I clear my throat.
“So what happened after they drove past you?”

After explaining to the officer what went down he offered me a ride home. He mentioned to me that he was proud to meet a brave young man like myself. I never thought of myself as brave until he said it. That made me smirk a little, boosted my confidence. By the time we pulled onto my street it was quarter to one. I could see the living room still lit up through the window. S***, my parents were waiting up for me, that’s never a good sign. Officer Swan pulls into my driveway, headlights flash against the house. I see my mom peak her head through the blinds. I brace myself as I pull the handle, get out and shut the cold metal door . I was glad to be in the passenger side of the cop car and not the back, made me look better. By the time I was halfway up the porch steps my mom had opened the door.

“Where have you been? Do you know what time it is? You made me and your father worried sick. What have you been doing, why didn’t you come home?”  And then she saw the cop car. The glitter from her blue polar bear pajamas sparkle from the hint of street light. The curlers in her hair bounce back and forth as she glances from me to the officer. Her face switched from stressed and angry to worried and disappointed.

“Oh no, what did you do? Alex, you know better than this. What did you do?” Her eyes started to water and voice started to crack. Before I could get a word out the officer spoke for me.
“Actually ma’am your son was a hero tonight.”

Her facial expression instantly changed as if she was thinking to herself, really?

“On his way home there was a car crash and he saved one of the victims. Called it in and everything.”
She stood there for a second, quite, processing, until she snapped out of it and embraced me to the point of pain. 
“Oh my god are you okay? Oh my god I’m so sorry, I’m so happy you’re safe.” She held me tight and rubbed my back as the tears silently fell from her eyes.