Chapter Four: Shattered Glass

"I had no idea! How could I ever know this would happen?"

"Of course you would! She likes you more than she likes me!"

"That has nothing to do with accidents like this, it's totally unplanned. It's not like she did it on purpose!"

"Why weren't you THERE? Why did it have to be her!"

"Excuse me? I'm the one who cared enough to BRING her here! I'm just as upset-"

"NO! Don't you dare claim to be as upset as I am, you wouldn't have brought her here if it weren't for that boy. Next time you won't even be around to help."

"Oh, like you've always been there! At least we know I'll still be alive, okay?

"I couldn't care less if you're alive, or that Jeff kid! I need her alive. Get out!"

"No, I'm not leaving!"

"Then I am, I can't stand you!"

That's what I woke up to. I couldn't fully awake though, my eyes sealed themselves shut and I sat there, listening to Claryn and my mother, whisper furiously back and forth until finally my mother's footsteps grew fainter and fainter until gone. I wanted to say something, but I just couldn't move. I wasn't in my car anymore....I had been in a crash! Well I wasn't dead, but...

Had I killed someone else?

For a minute, my lungs and heart stopped working too, but I was okay when I heard a phone ring. Claryn must have picked it up.

"Hello?....Hey Sebastian, she's okay now. I guess....yeah. She didn't break anything, just kind of went into shock. We cleaned her up as much as we could, but now all there's left to do is wait. She's still out cold. But she's breathing......head trauma? Oh, of course......Oh, I hope not! That would crush me. Yeah, I could never....ugh, I can't even imagine. Brain damage would be so...."

I could hear the crack in her voice, and the tears swelling in her eyes.

I'm here! I'm okay!

"It's just me in here now. Her mom and I....well I have to get her, the doctor could be back any minute. Sure, I'll go check."

She was gone soon enough, right when my eyes decided to open. I was in a small hospital room, and the smell of an old retirement home hit me. Sitting up, I found my phone on a nearby chair. Picking it up, I looked through my messages. I had quite a few...but what shocked me was at the top of my recently contacted list was Jefferson. I looked at the messages, the last one was sent by...me?

me: It's Claryn. Wendy's been in an accident. She may never be the same again. If you truly care....if you're still even out there...Come back for her.

He hadn't responded. He didn't even see it.

My head pounded, my eyes pooled with tears and clouded my vision. I took deep breathes, and lay back down in the hospital bed. Why did I ever have my hopes up? I should have known he would be gone.

I heard footsteps again, coming closer this time, and muffled voices.

"Ma'am, we're getting the sense it's Alzheimer's disease,  it may be permanent. If not, she has some other type brain damage-"

"Will she live?"

"Of course..."

My first instinct was to shut my eyes and pretend I was still out, so I did. I lay there, concentrating on my breathing, slowing down, relaxing my face. I was always good at fake sleeping.

But the minute I heard Mom's voice, my eyes opened and I sat up, looking straight into her eyes. She stood with Claryn and some nurse, and I was about to say something when suddenly my eyes blurred out completely. When they cleared up, I saw three women, one was a high school student, at best guess, and the other two at least in their late 30s, standing in the same place as....who had been standing there before?

Where was I?.....I......who was I? Me?

"Gwen?"

"Gwendolyn, how are you fe-"

"Wendy!"

"Excuse me young lady, don't do-please, she-"

I found my body being held tightly by the red-headed high school girl. Why did they all call me different names? Were any of them even mine?

I shoved the girl off of me. I mean, having strangers throw themselves on me wasn't exactly my idea of joy. The second I shoved her off, my hands felt tingly, and developed a purple aura of light, which pulsed as if to say "I can do the unimaginable. Leave before it's too late". The girl was paralyzed for a solid 5 seconds, before collapsing to the ground, not breathing. What did I just do? Has this happened before?

One woman started screaming, the other dropped her clipboard, yelled something urgently into the hallway, and dropped to the floor to assist the teenage girl.

My eyes focused  on my hands. How had I done that? They started to burn and ache, the purple aura fading. "AGH!" three more people ran into the room, all wearing lab coats. The room was a chaotic commotion as they all yelled over one another trying to understand what was going on. I found people's hands touching me all over, trying to accomplish who knows what.

"Stop! Get off! I don't know you-NO!" My hands touched a man's arms, shoving them away. He began screaming as they smoked, and smelled of fire. His eyes turned completely black, and he looked straight at me. "The next one has risen. She must be stopped!" And with those words (which had thrown everyone off), he launched at me.

In a panicked moment, my brain slowed everything, down, taking in the scene before he would hurt me. In a fraction of a second, my hand moved from my lap to a few inches above my head, twirling slightly as I did so, as I screamed something in a language that even I didn't understand. My eyes closed and I heard screaming and wind-like whistling, and felt dizzy.

I opened my eyes to find myself in the driveway of a house, all on my own, in silence. Everyone, whoever they were, had disappeared. Or perhaps, I had disappeared. I took a step forward and felt something brush against my leg. Looking down, I was standing in a dazzling garment, a crinoline gown, its sleeves reaching almost to my elbows.

It was a deep burgundy red that glittered all over in the moonlight, with chiffon white swirling lines along the bottom of the gown and may waist that looked much like frost. I walked up the driveway of the house to look in the window, where I saw my reflection. My hair was perfect curled and half up, and the hair that remained loose reached down to the middle part of my back. I had the most gorgeous face, makeup perfectly done...I had to be sixteen, possibly seventeen. I looked like I could be attending a wedding almost, or some medieval ceremony.

But I looked....dark. My hair was dark, along with my eyes, masked with perfect eyeliner. The shade of red on my lips matched my dress, as well as the heels under it. Rings and earrings topped of the tips, and with a finished, a charming diamond necklace draped across my chest to compliment the off-shoulder neckline of the satin gown. I think it was the first time in my life I ever felt beautiful....if I could remember my life anyway.

Despite my looks, I felt angry. Something inside me was raging, worse than a fire. Worse than a storm. It was power, coursing through me, into my eyes and fingertips. Without thinking, my hands thrust out towards the windows, and immediately they seemed to shine with the brightest light possible before shattering. Within the flash of light, I gasped for air, and every memory from the passed 20 minutes was gone. I felt lighter, like I had been wearing a ten pound skirt just seconds ago. Now, my hair was in a messy bun, and I sat on a porch in jeans and a t-shirt.

A shattered window sparkled in the moonlight. I recognized that window. Why was I at his house?

"Jefferson?" I screamed.

Silence.

I.....had been in a car crash. Then, in a hospital. But how did I get here? I checked my pockets. No phone. I looked around. No car. just a shattered window. Where was Claryn? And my mom?

I climbed through Jefferson's window and looked around the house. I hadn't been here for months. Overwhelming tears threatened to dance down my cheeks, and I let them. walking into his kitchen, it was a mess. His mom never came back home when she went looking for him, and she never cleaned the mess, which wasn't like that clean freak. I laughed at the thought of her always frantically cleaning.

The lights still worked, and I made my way up the stairs, absentmindedly drifting into the room where I last saw him. I sat on his bed. His phone was on his pillow. He didn't even have it? I picked it up, unlocked it, and went though his pictures. There we were, smiling at a starbucks. There was his dog, licking my face. There was Sebastian, glancing at Claryn, who stood next to me. How did she not know? I laughed, remembering my vow to Sebastian  to never say a word. I didn't, ever. Would she ever figure it out?

I found my fingers swiping through his apps, and tapping on his music. There was the last song he ever listened to. I re-winded, listening to Coldplay's sad song, Fix You.

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

When the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

I knew he was thinking of me when he heard this song. He'd always been protective of me. He was protective of every woman, really, me, Claryn, his mom...

Mom!

Scrolling through his contacts, I found "Mrs. James" and called her. I waited for what seemed like hours. She finally answered.

"....Jefferson?" "No, mom, it's me. I-" "Gwen! You're alive! Where are you? How did you get Jefferson's phone?" "Mom, I'm ok." "What was that all about, HOW DID YOU-WHERE ARE YOU?" "Mom, I swear I don't know, okay? Just-" "Get over here, NOW! We're still at the hospital." "I can't, I have no car. I'm at the Sochetes' house. Please come get me."

"Why don't you just POOF here like you did a minute ago? HOW did you even-"

Mom started throwing swear words everywhere, demanding how I disappeared.  What was she talking about?

"What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

"DON'T PLAY STUPID-oh.....honey?"

Suddenly, her voice was dripping with sorrow. "Do you....remember my name? What is your address? How old are you?" "What is wrong with you! Mom, you're acting weird...just, please come get me." "Honey, the Sochetes live almost an hour away, I'll try to come quickly though." "Okay. I'll....I'll be waiting." I hung up. I turned Fix You on again, and lay down on Jefferson's bed. I cried, wishing he was here to hold me. How could he not show up? One day he was here, the next day he'd gone missing. And look, Now I'd gone missing too. Slowly my eyelids grew heavy, and were closed. With strange thoughts and dreams of shattered glass and beautiful ballgowns, I slept while time slipped through my insane new kind of reality.

Back to you, shuckface. (yes, readers...I did just make a Maze Runner reference)
-Maddie