Page 53 of The Road Back to Us

I stood there, paralyzed, when she slowly moved to the side, and I got a glimpse of Lyric.

Her head was tilted back against the headrest as blood dripped down her face, her eyes closed as if she were sleeping. I took a few cautious steps toward her, studying the air bag that was pressed against her stomach, pinning her and the babies in place.

“We need to get them out,” I muttered, shaking my head as I looked inside the car at the shattered glass that littered the seats and floor. “Lyric, baby, I need you to wake up.”

I reached inside and tried to press my fingers against her neck, checking to see if she had a pulse.

My heart sank as a wave of nausea washed over me when I felt nothing.

“Someone fucking help me!” I screamed, tilting my head back as I cursed the clouds in the sky that brought a sudden darkness that would forever consume me.

Forty-Seven

Cole

I sat with my elbows digging into my knees as I stared at the floor and sent endless prayers up for Lyric and the babies to be okay.

My parents were in the waiting room with me, keeping Chloe as entertained as possible while Ben took care of Kara. I was thankful for their support because there was absolutely no way I could focus on anything other than Lyric and the babies.

When the paramedics arrived, I was forced out of the way while they worked on extracting her from the car. The man who had been driving the truck suffered a medical emergency that caused him to lose consciousness minutes before he hit Lyric. His family sat beside us in the waiting room for a while before they were taken back to see him once he was awake and stable. I, on the other hand, felt like I was being tested to see how long I could last before bursting through the emergency room doors and demanding an update.

I rocked back and forth, twirling my wedding ring around on my finger as I clenched my jaw.

“She’s going to be okay,” my mother said as she sat beside me and stared at the wall ahead of us.

“You don’t know that,” I grumbled as I fought the urge to break down and cry.

“She will. You just have to have faith and believe.”

I leaned back in my chair and tilted my head to the ceiling as I closed my eyes.

“Yeah, a lot of good that’s done me before. I’ve lost so much already, Mom, what makes you think I won’t lose even more?”

I knew my words were harsh, but I was spiraling, falling into the depths of a darkness I thought I would never see again. It wasn’t just the thought of losing Lyric and the babies that crushed my soul and stripped my heart bare; it was that I knew there was no way I could live if she didn’t. If Lyric didn’t survive this, I would die right alongside her—emotionally, of course. There was nothing that would ever take me from Ben, Kara, and Chloe, even if I had to fake being okay while I looked after them. Humans were built to endure a certain amount of pain, and I knew this would far exceed any pain that I had survived so far.

She nodded and pressed her lips together as I noticed the tears in her eyes.

“I know,” she said, letting out a sob as the tears streamed down her face. “But I would like to think that you’ve had all of the bad life can give you and that only blessings will come your way from now on. I’m not saying that it’s easy, I’m just saying that believing everything will be alright is the only thing we can do right now. It’s a terrible feeling to feel so helpless when someone we love so much is in there fighting for her life and we can’t do a damn thing about it.”

“You’re telling me,” I said with a heavy sigh before wrapping my arm around her shoulders and hugging her.

We sat there for a few minutes, not speaking, when a doctor finally came out. He looked exhausted, but it was more than that. It was the look of defeat, of not being able to save a life that needed saving. I had seen that same look on the doctor’s face when Melanie died, just like I had seen it on another doctor’s face when Clay died.

I pulled away from my mother and wiped my hands down the front of my jeans before standing up. My hands trembled at my sides, but I stood tall, ready to take whatever news he was there to deliver.

“Family of Lyric Coleman?” the doctor asked, looking directly at me.

I nodded, wanting to force words out, but they died in my throat before I could.

The doctor walked over and looked past me to Ben, Kara, and Chloe, who were now watching him. I didn’t have to see their faces to know the sadness that sat upon each of them.

“Is she...” I asked, my voice cracking as I felt my mother’s hand grip my arm as she tried to hold herself steady. “Did they...”

My father came and stood on the other side of me as I let out a sob and shook my head. He wrapped his arm around my back, holding me upright as if he knew the world as I knew it was about to swallow me whole.

“Lyric suffered multiple injuries,” the doctor said, keeping his tone professional and void of emotion.

I felt my whole body tremble as I tried to hear what he was saying, but it all sounded foreign. I fought to keep myself upright as my parents held onto me the best they could.