Broken (The Guitar Face Series Book 1)

by Sasha Marshall

  Caleb is lying in the grass next to the interstate, his eyes closed. I fall to my knees and place my ear on his chest. There aren’t any breath sounds. I can’t hear his heartbeat.

  Okay. It’s okay. I took CPR in high school. Remember, Henley. It’s.... Um.... It’s... thirty compressions, two breaths, and repeat until help arrives.

  I tilt his head back and open his mouth to clear his airway. I count thirty compressions while my head screams with every single push. I lean down and give Caleb two breaths and then begin my compressions again.

  Come on, Caleb, open your eyes.

  I continue ten sets of compressions and breaths when I see Kip lower himself to the ground beside me. When I catch his movement out of my peripheral vision, I turn and nod. I need to concentrate on the count, so I turn back to Caleb and count. Jagger lowers himself to his knees on the other side of Caleb. I don’t take my eyes off Caleb, though.

  Please, Caleb. Please breathe for me. I need you to open your eyes. I don’t know how much longer I can do this with my head throbbing harder with every single push. Please be okay. I can’t do this. I can’t lose you. Where is the fucking ambulance? It should be here by now. I just need to continue CPR until they get here. They will take him to the hospital and fix him. God, they have to fix him. He will be fine. When he gets out of the hospital, we’ll fish every day for a damn month. Come on, Caleb. Fight for me, please! Fight for your parents, our fans, our friends. I can’t fight by myself.

  Movement catches my attention out of my peripheral vision again. A man with salt and pepper hair lowers himself at Caleb’s head. He gives me a sad little smile. He has on a uniform, but I can’t keep count of compressions and figure out who in the hell he is. Shouldn’t he be jumping in now?

  “Kip, can you please count the compressions?” I ask.

  Kip counts. I keep pushing on Caleb’s chest and giving two breaths at a time. I can finally give the man beside me a little of my attention. He is just sitting, watching me intently. The patch on the side of his uniform shirt says EMT—he should help Caleb.

  “Why aren’t you helping him?” I snarl.

  “What’s your name?” He asks.

  “Henley,” I croak.

  “Henley, my name is Manuel. I’ve been an EMT for twenty years. I will take over compressions when you decide. Once I begin CPR, I cannot stop until he reaches the hospital, and a doctor determines whether the lifesaving measures have any chance of working. I will take over compressions if, and when you tell me to,” Manuel says.

  “Why wouldn’t you?” I ask.

  “Henley, you’re in shock. You appear injured, and your adrenaline is pumping from the trauma of the accident. Have you looked at Caleb, darling?”

  “Yes! I’m looking at him now,” I scream.

  “Henley, focus on his head and neck,” he says.

  I can’t bring myself to look at Caleb. I’m not sure I want to see more than I’ve already seen. I continue my compressions and breaths. No one makes any attempt to speak further. I have this crazy out-of-body experience where I finally see emergency lights are flashing everywhere, and traffic is backed up on both sides. The scene around me comes alive as though it were all paused for a moment. Bystanders are watching and whispering, and emergency workers are surrounding us. I listen to Kip count the compressions while I glance around, and take in firefighters, paramedics, and police officers standing around the scene. They’re just standing around watching me save Caleb’s life. I realize by the expressions on their faces that they know who I am. They know who he is. I get sad, sympathetic faces from each of the men standing behind me. I have no idea how I didn’t hear the damn sirens.

  I stop compressions long enough to give two more breaths, and as I rise to start compressions again, I see Jagger’s face. Tears are falling down his face, and he seems incredibly helpless. I can’t see him like this. I glance over to Kip who’s still counting. His face is stained with tears as well.

  I won’t give up on Caleb. I wish I were more religious, then maybe this wouldn’t be happening. I’d have a firm idea of what I believe in, and I would know who in the hell is in charge. I could take my requests... no, orders... directly to him or her.

  Save my best friend.

  I peer over at Manuel, and his eyes are glistening with tears. They haven’t fallen over just yet, but the emotion is clearly there. When I see his tears, I know. I have to look at Caleb closer than I did before. I complete several more sets of compressions and breaths until I find my courage. When I finally take in the man who has been my best friend, my partner-in-crime since the first grade, I can’t believe what I see. The right side of his head and face is sunken inward. His neck is severely cut. I can see things I shouldn’t be able to see.

  Those things mean the person is dead, right? I don’t understand, though. Caleb was wearing his seatbelt. How was he thrown that distance? Why isn’t he in the car? Why did it take so damn long for someone to find him? Why did it take too fucking long for the paramedics to get here? Why won’t Manuel help him?

  I look back at Manuel’s face when I come back up from giving Caleb breaths. His tears have finally fallen over his lids. He knew as soon as he saw my best friend that he was dead, and he couldn’t be saved. I can’t bring him back. His injuries are too extensive. As reality dawns on me, the tears form and spill in steady streams down my cheeks. Caleb is gone, but I keep pushing, and Kip keeps counting. Everyone around us quietly waits. I don’t know what they’re waiting for.

  “How do I do this? Do I just stop?” I ask.

  Manuel’s lips press together. “When you are ready, you stop.”

  “When I’m ready?” I ask, unsure of what he means.

  Manuel slowly nods his head. “Yes. When you are ready to let him go, you stop CPR.”

  “But you said you would take over if I ask you to,” I plead, my last-ditch effort to save him.

  “And I will keep my promise. You say the word, and I will take over,” Manuel says with a crack in his voice.

  “Okay.”

  But I don’t move or stop CPR.

  My eyes find Jagger’s beautiful crystal blues, puffy and red from crying, but they seem more brilliant through his tears. The things one notices in times like these are almost absurd. Jagger focuses on me with agony in his eyes. When my eyes fall on Kip, his green eyes seem to sparkle through the night. I know Kip, and right now, he’s focusing on counting in such a robotic way... to keep from facing this. Kip is still counting compressions. Jagger places his hands on top of mine as I continue another twenty sets of compression and breaths. I dip down to give Caleb another two breaths, but when my lips touch his, his skin is cooler than it was when I first found him. It’s this moment, right now, that I realize he’s dead. He cannot be saved, by me or anyone else.

  When my hands stop pushing on Caleb’s chest, Jagger’s holds both of my small hands in his. When I find his beautiful face, I see what sorrow, pain, heartbreak, and anguish look like. Jagger looks like I feel. Heartache sets in, and it feels as though a ton of bricks is now sitting on my chest. The tears spill down my face and Jagger frees a hand to wipe them away.

  “Oh, baby, I’m so sorry. I’m just so fucking sorry,” he says.

  Kip puts his arm around my back as a sob escapes his throat.

  His words carve into my heart like a dagger, and whatever gate was holding my sanity firmly in place slips. The hysteria overtakes me. I lay my face down on Caleb’s chest, hug him, and sob.

  “No! Caleb, no. Please don’t leave me. I can’t do this. Please!”

  Caleb doesn’t hear my cries though, and he won’t come back. I pick up his head and pull him to me. Jagger, Kip, and I hold him. I hold him, and I sob. My best friend is dead.

  “Please don’t leave me. I don’t understand why this happened. I don’t understand. I don’t
want this. This isn’t okay. Please, Caleb, come back. Don’t leave me. Why? Why did you leave? Why did you leave me?”

  I rock him back and forth as I sob and softly speak to my best friend who can neither hear me nor respond. He never will again. I’m not sure how I’m supposed to live without him. Why didn’t I die instead?

  “No, no, no! Don’t fucking do this to me!” I shout at the sky.

  Since my pleas to Caleb and the unknown go unheard, I try Jagger.

  I find his crystal blues, and beg, “Jagger, please make him come back. He’ll listen to you. Please bring him back to me.”

  Jagger tenderly touches his hand to my cheek and sighs. “I’m sorry, Hen. I’m just so fucking sorry.”

  He chokes on his sympathy.

  I don’t know how long I stay wrapped up in Caleb, but Manuel keeps telling me to take my time, and I do. I can’t bear to say goodbye. I can’t figure out how. What words can express the way I feel right now? None of them do the reality of this moment any fucking justice, but Kip softly breaks my trance.

  “Hen,” he calls out softly.

  I close my eyes and use a minute to ingrain the feel of Caleb into my mind forever. Finally, I lay Caleb’s upper body down with help from Jagger and Manuel. I touch his face, not wanting to forget what he looks like. I kiss his cheek and tell him how much I love him. I tell him how much I will miss him and that he is the best friend I could’ve ever asked for. I thank him for everything he did for me in this life, then I stand up, and turn away from Caleb and begin walking toward a nearby ambulance.

  The world spins beneath my feet, and I reach out to steady myself against someone or something.

  “Henley?” Jagger panics.

  I turn my gaze in his direction, but I can’t see his face. It’s blurry, and the world spins faster and faster. My heart beats loudly in my ears, and then blackness sweeps in on me.

  Chapter 3

  “KING, DEAD; HENDRIX, CRITICAL CONDITION”

  —E! News

  It is with much regret we report today on E! News that Caleb King of Abandoned Shadow, childhood guitar prodigy, has been killed in a car accident. It is also reported that Abandoned Shadow’s lead singer and fellow guitar prodigy, Henley Hendrix, was a passenger in his car at the time of the accident. She is listed in critical condition at a local Atlanta hospital. Sources close to the band members say the two left together after an Atlanta concert early this morning. The two were struck on Interstate 75, where King was thrown from his car. He was pronounced dead at the scene. We will bring you more details as they surface.

  “VIDEOS OF KING AND HENDRIX CRASH SURFACE”

  —Atlanta Alive News

  Videos of the car crash that claimed Caleb King’s life early this morning are now surfacing on the Internet. The videos are graphic. Caleb King, 23, was killed early this morning in the crash when he was thrown from his Porsche across the interstate. Neither Abandoned Shadow nor Broken Access has released a statement on Caleb’s death, or the condition of Henley Hendrix, who is rumored to have sustained serious injuries in the accident. More news to come about Georgia’s rockers soon, on Atlanta Alive News.

  “CARLYLE AND PAXTON HELP HENDRIX ESCAPE CAR”

  —The Star Gazer

  As videos of the crash that claimed Caleb King’s life went viral this morning, one thing became clear. When traffic came to a standstill in Atlanta in both directions for two hours because of the accident, bystanders made use of their time by filming the events that ensued after the crash. In this segment, Jagger Carlyle and Kip Paxton are helping Henley Hendrix escape the vehicle that flipped fifteen times down the interstate. The vehicle is almost unidentifiable, but the bystander captured the entire rescue on video. Audio is not the greatest, but subtitles have been added. The video ends as Carlyle pulls her free from the car.

  “HENDRIX LOST CONSCIOUSNESS”

  —E! News

  The Hendrix and King camps have remained silent all day. As videos continue to surface of the crash and events surrounding it, everyone linked to the bands have remained eerily quiet. The latest video to go viral shows Henley Hendrix, 22, escaping the Porsche Caleb King was thrown from in the collision. Jagger Carlyle and Kip Paxton of Broken Access helped her escape. It is still unclear what injuries Hendrix has sustained, but Grady Hospital has yet to change her status from critical. Another video, posted online an hour ago, shows Hendrix covered in blood and collapsing. Jagger Carlyle scooped her up and rushed her to a nearby ambulance. While Carlyle and Paxton were not passengers in King’s car, the two were also Macon-bound after their Atlanta show last night. It is unclear how close the two were to King’s car when the accident occurred. They did not appear to be injured in any of the videos.

  This just in.... Publicist and longtime friend of both bands, Samantha Davenport, will issue a live statement tomorrow morning in front of Grady Hospital. We look forward to receiving news on Hendrix’s health. Don’t forget to watch for the statement tomorrow morning on E! News.

  “CALEB KING, DRUNK! SCHEDULED TO ENTER REHAB DAY OF DEATH!”

  —The Sun

  An inside source states Caleb King, 23, was drunk when he crashed his Porsche with Henley Hendrix in it. Apparently, King has long fought with his addiction to alcohol, and, as a result, is rumored to have caused problems with his band, Abandoned Shadow. Three days ago, King was given an ultimatum from his bandmates. He was either to seek treatment for alcoholism or leave the band. King was scheduled to enter rehab the same day he crashed his car. Hendrix remains listed in critical condition at Atlanta’s Grady Hospital.

  “HENDRIX TELLS KING GOODBYE ON VIDEO! HOLY SHIT!”

  —CelebStalker Blog

  The videos that keep surfacing all day are crazy! I’ve seen every single one of them and keep waiting for more to post. I’ve seen a drunk driver swerve and hit Caleb King’s Porsche. There is also a video that shows King’s body literally fucking flying over the interstate. It looks like something out of Jackass! The car flips—count with me on this video—one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen times! I can’t believe she is still alive! Jagger Carlyle and Kip Paxton are caught on video helping Henley Hendrix escape, and when she does, her face is covered in blood! WTF? My favorite video is the one of the Guitar Goddess herself, leaping across the barrier between the two directions of traffic and bounding to her best friend. Watch this shit in slow motion. I bet we can add a badass song for effect to this one. That will come later though. Now the newest shit is of Hendrix holding King’s dead body, crying, and all I love you and shit. At what point did this crazy chick not go, oh, a dead body? Gross! You can only hear and see snippets of the drama unfold because the emergency workers crowd around here. Cock blockers! Anyhow, is this bitch crazy or what? Leave your comments.

  Statement from Samantha Davenport, band publicist

  (The morning after the collision)

  Thank you all for coming today. I will read directly from my statement.

  Yesterday morning at 2:35 am Eastern Time, Caleb King and Henley Hendrix were struck by a drunk driver on Interstate 75 Southbound in Atlanta, Georgia. The two were leaving a concert they performed at Phillip’s Arena. Caleb King was thrown from his car after the collision caused the vehicle to flip many times. Authorities state Caleb was wearing his seatbelt, but due to the momentum of the car while flipping, the seatbelt broke against his weight, and he was ejected from the vehicle. Henley was able to exit the vehicle with the help of Jagger Carlyle and Kip Paxton.

  Neither Jagger nor Kip were involved in the accident or injured in any way. The two left the venue shortly after Caleb and Henley did, and were mere seconds behind the collision. Henley attempted to revive Caleb for half an hour after she was pulled from the vehicle. Caleb immediately succumbed to his injuries. His preliminary toxicolo
gy reports state he had no alcohol or drugs present in his system. He did not have a problem with alcoholism, nor was he given an ultimatum to enter rehab. Caleb rarely drank, and the rumors that say otherwise are untrue. Henley’s toxicology report had the same results; she had no alcohol or drugs in her system. She suffered internal hemorrhaging from the impact of the collision and is currently in a coma due to a hematoma on her brain. The next several days are critical for her as she fights for her life.

  Christopher Johnson, 28, of Raleigh, North Carolina, was arrested yesterday morning on suspicion of drunk driving. He registered a blood alcohol content of .30 on a Breathalyzer test after the collision. He was charged hours ago by the Atlanta City Police with driving under the influence, driving on a suspended license, and vehicular homicide in the first degree. Johnson is scheduled for a bail hearing in the morning.

  The band members, family, and friends of Caleb and Henley would like to thank you all for your support, sympathy, prayers, and well wishes during this dark time. It is requested that all videos of the collision and events surrounding it be pulled from the Internet out of respect for Caleb, Henley, and their families. The family would like to thank everyone on scene—the paramedics, Atlanta Police Department, and Atlanta Fire Department—for shielding prying eyes from seeing the most private and heartbreaking of moments when Henley said goodbye to her best friend. No one was given permission to record either of them, and legal action will follow if videos are not removed within twenty-four hours.

  Funeral arrangements for Caleb have not been made. Caleb’s parents would like to thank everyone for their deepest sympathies. They have postponed arrangements pending Henley’s recovery. An announcement will be made at a later date. Thank you all for coming, and please continue to pray for the families of Caleb and Henley.

  “HENDRIX AWAKE AFTER FOURTEEN DAYS”