Crashing Into You (30 page)

“Evan… oh my God…”

I jerked my head to the left
and right. I couldn't take another minute. I couldn't take another
second
. I opened my mouth wide.

“Oh yes! Yes! Oh, Evan! Oh—”

The driver’s side door shot
open, and someone sat in the front seat.

When the door slammed shut, I
accidentally kicked Evan in the shoulder. “
What
?”
I shouted. “Is someone there?”

Someone turned on the
ignition, and started backing up the car.

“What the
fuck
?” Evan said.

I pulled my underwear up,
just as the driver hit the brakes and catapulted Evan's head against the back
window.

“Oww!” he screamed, and
landed on top of me.
 

I tried to push him away. He
was too heavy. “Evan! Evan, get up! We have to get out of the car!”

But it was too late; the driver
pulled out of the parking lot and floored my Sportage down the main road, toward
the university exit. I reached for the side door handle. Locked.

“Everyone just calm down,” a
voice said from the front seat.

I looked up at her. “No. Oh no,
no, no—”

“Hi Sydney,” Michelle said.
She shot me a crazed smile, as she reached back, and patted the top of my head.
“Let's take a little drive.”

Chapter 34

“Unlock the door, Michelle!”

“No.”

“Unlock the door right now!”
I screamed.

“I don’t think so.” She sped up.
I looked out the windshield, as she blew through a stop sign. The rain pounded
against the car. She had the wipers on full blast.

“Michelle, stop the car! You
don't have to do this!”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she said,
still slurring her words, still drunk off the tequila. She glanced back at me
for a measly second. “Did I just ruin your little moment?”

Evan leaned against the
driver’s seat. “Michelle. Please. Think about what you're doing—”

“Shut up, Evan. I know
exactly what I’m doing.”

He pounded his fist against
the center console. “Stop this car right now, goddammit! You’re gonna kill us!”

“Good,” she said. “You
deserve to die for what you did to my sister.”

“But I didn’t do anything!”

“
Liar
!”

I rolled down the window.
Thought of jumping out. But we were going too fast. I looked to my left, at the
signal up ahead.

“Michelle! It’s a red light!”

“I see it,” she said.

“You're gonna stop, right?”

“Nope.” She pulled hard
against the steering wheel, and veered the car to the left, onto another street.
The speed limit must have been 25 MPH, but she was going at least 40.

Evan grabbed the headrest
with his left hand, and wrapped his right arm around Michelle's neck. “Slow
down, Michelle. Take your foot off the pedal.”

She laughed. “Yeah? Or what?”

“I'll break your neck, that's
what.”

“Oh, I fucking dare you,
Evan,” she said. “You already killed one sister. Why not the other?”

“Goddammit, that's enough!”
Evan screamed. He started climbing over the center console, toward the
passenger seat. “Stop the car! I'm not gonna say it again!”

“Gladly.”

She hit the brakes.

The car stopped so fast that
my head struck the back of the passenger seat, and Evan’s whole body flew up
into the air, struck the glove compartment, and tumbled back down.

For a moment, I forgot to
breathe.

“Evan?” No answer. “Oh my God,
Evan
?”

I reached my hand toward him,
but then I glanced to my right; this was my chance. I propelled myself forward
and started crawling out the window.

Michelle jerked her head
toward me. “I don’t think so!” she shouted.

She shoved her foot against
the pedal, and the car zoomed back into motion. I slipped back inside, and
knocked my forehead against the door handle.

“Oww!” I screamed.

I glanced up toward the car
ceiling. Blinked a few times. I saw James again. He was crawling back on top of
me, a grin on his face, a Corona in one hand and a Bud Light in the other. “Never
drink and drive!” His words seemed to echo from miles away. “Never, ever, ever,
ever
!”

I shook myself out of my
daze, as Michelle made a right on a busier street, and swerved around a large
truck.

“Michelle, stop this—”

“No!” She had tears in her
eyes. “Not until Evan tells you the truth!”

“Oww...” Evan whispered. He
sat up, rubbed the top of his head. He was shaken, but hadn't been knocked out,
thank God.
 

I saw another signal in the distance.
This one had a green light.
 

“He thinks he can just kill
my sister and get away with it?” Her voice was deep and focused; she didn’t
sound drunk any longer. She didn't even sound human.

“Michelle, please stop,” Evan
said, softly.

“What was that?” she yelled. “I
can't hear you, Evan! You're gonna have to speak a little louder!”

When I heard him take a confident
breath, I knew he was back. “Louder, did you say?” He reached his hand toward
Michelle. “STOP THE FUCKING CAR!”

He grabbed the steering wheel
and jerked the car to the right, all the way up onto the sidewalk. Michelle
screamed, and I pushed my hands against my sweaty cheeks. I didn't know whether
to close my eyes or keep them open; I was powerless in the back seat.
 

“Let go of the wheel!”
Michelle screamed. “
Now
!”

“No!” Evan shouted. “Not
until you stop! You’re gonna run someone over! You’re gonna hit somebody!”

“I said, let go!”

I looked at the signal again.
The green turned to yellow.

Michelle jerked the car to
the left, back onto the road.

“Stay away!” she screamed.

Evan grabbed the wheel again,
and pulled it to the left, with all his strength. The car bashed against the
curb and flew up onto somebody's lawn. Michelle wasn’t fast enough to swerve
back onto the road, and the left side of the car started mowing down a white
picket fence. The pieces of wood split every which way, onto the lawn, the
street, the windshield.

I scooted closer to Michelle.
Why couldn't Evan put a stop to her?

“I swear!” Evan shouted. “This
is your last warning!”

“Or you'll what?” she said.
“Kill us all? Let
me
!”

She sped up even faster, and aimed
for a five-foot-wide palm tree at the end of the sidewalk.

“Turn the car, Evan!” I
shouted. “For God's sake, do something!”

“I'm trying!” he screamed.
“Michelle, get your hands off the wheel!” He tried to pry her away, but it was
no use. Michelle pushed her chin against the steering wheel. Focused on the
tree, and nothing but the tree.

“Oh God,” I said.

Evan pounded his fists
against her hands, but she didn't scream, didn't cry out in pain. She readied
herself to take all three of us down.

“Tell her, Evan,” Michelle
said.

“Tell her
what
?”

“The truth!”

“But I already have!”

“That's the
wrong
answer!”

She drove straight for the
tree. We were five seconds away. Four seconds.

Nothing was happening. I
couldn’t just sit there.

“I'm sorry, Michelle.” I
jumped behind the driver’s seat, and clasped my hands against her throat.

She leaned her head back, and
for a quick second took her hands off the wheel. Evan grabbed hold of it and
swung the car off the sidewalk, back onto the road, just barely missing the
tree.

“Let go of me!” Michelle
said, trying to talk as I choked her.
 

“Not until you stop the car!”

“Sydney… I can't... I can't
breathe…”

Evan pulled against her right
leg. “Take your foot off the pedal!”

I looked out the windshield.
The signal was close. It was a red light. No cars were stopped at the
intersection, and no cars were passing through it, either.
 
 

But then I saw them.

An old man and a little girl,
walking from one side of the street to the other.
 
 

“Oh no. No, no, no.” I pushed
against her throat even harder. “Michelle, take your foot off the pedal
now
!” I screamed. “Right now! Do it!”

The man stopped first, pulled
his umbrella down, and put his arm around the girl. We were seconds from
colliding. And Michelle wasn’t stopping.

James. The red light. Kyle,
and his mom. It all came flooding back.

Was I going to let this
happen a second time?

“Hell, no,” I said. I brought
my hand down, and formed it into a fist. “Not today.”

I leaned forward, against the
console, and punched Michelle across the side of her head.
 

Chapter 35

Michelle's head slumped
against the window, and her foot slipped away from the pedal. Evan grabbed the
wheel, pulled to the right, and veered the car into the last driveway on the
street.

We didn't hit the curb,
didn't hit a fence or a lawn.

This time, we headed straight
for a garage.

“Holy shit!” I screamed, and
pointed. “Evan, stop the car!”

He saw it, too. “I got it! Hold
on!”

He stuck his leg out, and slammed
his foot against the brakes. The car came to an abrupt stop, just inches from
the garage door.
  

I fell underneath the seat.
Evan put his arms out and blocked his head from hitting the glove compartment a
second time. Michelle's forehead struck the steering wheel so hard I heard what
sounded like a bone snapping in two.

Then all went silent.

I pushed myself up. My heart
was racing. I took three deep breaths before I even let myself consider the
consequences. Was my car totaled? Had we hit anyone? Was everybody okay?

I looked out the back window.
The old man and the little girl had made it to the sidewalk. The grandfatherly
figure stared at my car for a few seconds, obviously irked, but he didn’t
confront us; much to my surprise, nobody did. I waited for the police, the neighbors,
all to come speeding toward us like a gang of hungry zombies. But the scene stayed
quiet.

Michelle leaned her head back,
started to come to.

“What...” she said. “How...”

“No you don’t!” I shouted. I
wasn't going to wait one second for her to back out of the driveway and start
this madness all over again. I pushed myself out the window, all the way to the
hard cement ground.

I jumped to my feet, scooted
around the front of the car. It was banged up a little, with some dents across
the fender and a broken headlight, but it could've been worse. I opened the
driver’s side door, and Michelle spilled right out. Her forehead was covered in
blood.

“Oh no,” I said.

Evan joined me at my side,
gave me a quick hug. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” I tapped against his chest,
and pointed at Michelle. The rain pounded against her face, sending the blood
down to her cheeks, her chin. He brought his hand to his mouth. “Oh God.” Evan
and I were banged up, but in no way like Michelle.

“We have to get her to a
hospital,” I said. I leaned down and helped Michelle to her feet.

“No, that'll take too long. Let's
go to urgent care, on campus. It's two minutes away.”

“Okay. Good idea.” I leaned
her up against the car. “Here, help me get her in the back.”

He clasped his hands against
her armpits, and started pulling her onto the back seat. “What the hell
happened to her?” Evan asked. “I mean... she just
snapped
.”

“I don't know,” I said. I
grabbed hold of her feet and pushed her all the way in.

“Where... where am I...” Michelle
said, like a frightened little girl. She was totally out of it. She sat up, and
rested her head against Evan’s shoulder. The blood immediately seeped into his
jacket.

I sat in the driver’s seat,
turned on the ignition. But I didn’t pull back onto the street, not just yet. I
idled for a moment, and stared at Evan in the rearview mirror.

“That could have been worse,”
I said.

“A lot worse,” he added.

“What are we gonna do with
her? Should we press charges?”