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“Oh god, no.” I breathe, shaking off the panic as I run after the first responders.
I’m soon passed by a police car, another ambulance, and a fire engine, all sporting loud sirens and flashing lights.
My tears are coming freely because I know, I just know, this isn’t a coincidence.
Finally, I turn a corner and see the lights have stopped, just in front of the lake. Emergency vehicles block my view.
I’m still running when I nearly collide with an officer. He stops me from accidental assault by grabbing my shoulders.
“Woah – slow down.” The officer looks at my dress and nods back up the road. “You need to get back to the school. It’s not safe to be out here in this weather.”
I pull back from his hold and try to look behind him. “Who is it? What happened? My friend – she hasn’t shown up.” I manage to sputter.
“Ahh, I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you anything until the family has been notified.” The officer replies.
It takes me a second to process the implication behind his words. Notifying families is something you do when someone is dead.
The officer frowns as he takes in my look of shock, likely realizing his misstep. I don’t give him a chance to stop me as I dart past him, ducking under the police tape.
It can’t be Em. Please don’t let it be Em.
The officer yells at me to stop, but his orders are unnecessary. As soon as I round the firetruck, I freeze in my tracks.
Jackson’s car is submerged in the lake. The front has completely disappeared, with only the trunk remaining above water. The firefighters are working to pull the vehicle out.
The officer grabs my arm. “Hey! You need to leave. This is an active investigation site.”
“My friend!” I look back at him in terror. “That’s my friend’s car! Is she okay? Please! Where is she?”
The officer must take pity on me because as he steers me away from the accident, he tells me. “I’m sorry, miss. I think maybe you should call your parents. I – look, we were able to revive the girl.”
Any relief I might feel at his words is lost on what he isn’t saying. They revived Em – just Em, and not Jackson.
My body starts to shake as the officer leads me back to the other side of a barricade tape.
“You should call someone.” The officer says again before turning back to control the crowd starting to form around the crash site.
Word must have gotten out because many students are here now, trying to get a good look at what happened.
“That’s Jackson’s car!” Someone yells. The other students start talking, a few asking the officer if everyone is okay. The officer gives away nothing and keeps asking everyone to go home. It isn’t working.
I ignore them all. My feet feel like lead, and there’s a pounding in my head. The black circles are coming back, tunnelling my vision.
I can see the accident from this spot. The firefighters finally pull the car out of the water. The rear window is shattered. The front end is covered in mud and crumpled inwards. The driver’s side looks like it took the worst of the impact, and I can see a shadow still in the driver’s seat.
The firefighters start working to get the door open.
It takes just a few minutes, and then they pull him out. All the students stop talking in an instant. I think I hear someone scream, and the sobs start. The paramedicsquickly circle the body, hiding it from sight. But it’s too late.
Everyone saw him. Everyone knows.
Dead.
Jackson is dead, and I could have stopped it. My best friend’s twin brother. The guy with so much life in him. He’s gone, and I didn’t save him.
I killed him.
The words start spinning in my head.
