The Story of Awkward

by R.K. Ryals

  ~Peregrine Storke~

  “Perri! Come on, Perri! Don’t you dare give up on me now!”

  My lungs burned. My body was a heavy weight, my blood full of liquid fire. Knife-like pain sluiced through my arms and legs, and I bucked. A hand pushed against my chest, the feel of it heavy before something soft and chilly pressed against my lips.

  I’d know those lips anywhere.

  I coughed.

  “Oh, my God!” Camilla sobbed. “She’s okay.”

  There were sirens in the distance, the sound of thunder rumbling and cars squealing as they came to a halt on slippery asphalt.

  Hands rolled me. Water gushed from my mouth, my head feeling full and uncomfortable. I gasped, my chest heaving.

  “She’s over here!” someone yelled.

  My hands groped at the ground, my shaky fingers digging into mud. A hand fell over mine, and I clutched at it. Fingers threaded with my fingers.

  “Hold on, Perri,” a voice said.

  My eyes opened, my blurry gaze locking with Foster Evan’s hazel eyes. Beyond his shoulder was a ditch full of water, a black TrailBlazer sunk below it. The only thing visible was the roof.

  I rubbed at my eyes, but they wouldn’t clear. Coughing made my body shake. My ribs hurt. Everything hurt.

  “Elspeth,” I whispered.

  My vision was too blurry to make out anything, my world too shaken for me to do anything other than stare blankly. Someone lifted me. There were hands, a lot of hands. I couldn’t see!

  “Foster!”

  The cry came unbidden, the sound of it weak but audible.

  Camilla gasped. “Did she just call for you?” she asked.

  There was something hard against my back now, more hands, an oxygen mask pulled over my face.

  “Can you tell me where you are?” a female voice asked.

  I couldn’t answer her. All I could see were blurred images. All I could hear was static.

  “She wears contacts,” Foster’s voice called out. “She may have lost them in the flood.”

  Somewhere in the distance, I could hear Camilla throwing questions at her brother, but I couldn’t make out what they were or how he answered them. There were so many hands, dizzying movement, and a throbbing chest. My heart hurt. Elspeth. Weasel. Herman. Nimble.

  “Peregrine,” the woman prodded gently. There was the sound of slamming doors and screaming sirens. “You were in an accident. We’re taking you to the hospital. Just breathe. I know everything seems scary right now, but you’re going to be just fine.”

  Breathing hurt. Everything hurt.

  “We need to get her warm!” the female voice called out.

  I blacked out to more hands and the continuing scream of sirens.

  Chapter 28

  “That awkward moment when you realize you’re only human.”