The Throw-Aways

“So how’d you like the Grand Canyon?” Austin asked me. I was laying in my bunk and we had been on the road for a little while to go up to Omaha. We just finished up a three day tour of the natural wonder on the backs of donkeys. It was beautiful, but I still loved Lake Powell all the same.

Alan had named his donkey Burrito and they had good old time over the three days. I enjoyed the ride, although I loved the showers even more at the end of the trip. Now it was day two on the road. It had been a lazy ride to Omaha with our bus driver taking the scenic routes. Nobody cared. It left more time for naps, extreme monopoly, and other fun games.

“Oh, it was awesome. Alan seems pretty sad he had to leave Burrito behind.” I laughed lightly and looked up from my phone. Kylar had been texting me and I sent her and the others pictures of our adventures. She told me the town had blown up over the country news that I had joined the band. Kye constantly asked me if I really wanted to be a permanent member.

I always answered yes.

Although there was lingering fear that I would be choking up on stage, I knew that it was in the future and I had plenty of time to practice.

Austin stood, looking into my bunk, chin on his folded arms. I sleepily looked at him, just waking up from my nap when Kk had called and Aus had started to talk to me.

“Alan is a little sad at that. So I’m guess you’re talking to Kylar right now?” He asked me curiously. I nodded and showed him a picture they sent. It was Dante and Kylar together.

“Ooh, so are they like a couple now?” Austin’s eyes sparkled. He might not know Dante besides quickly meeting him when the band passed through town, but Austin Carlile was the best listener in the world. You could briefly mention a name and he would always ask how they are doing and even remember their full name a week later.

“Nah, they’re still friends.” I replied. Alan’s head poked up next to Austin’s.

“What about this kid?” He asked suspiciously. I showed him the picture and Alan glared. His lips formed words I couldn’t hear. Maybe I didn’t want to hear those uttered growls that hadn’t completely formed words. His head disappeared as I set my phone down on my bunk.

“So we’re going to stop in a few minutes. I looked up the town. There’s a Starbucks. Do you want to get coffee?” He asked. I nodded with my stomach rumbling. Coffee was my lifeblood nowadays. Every time we stopped, I couldn’t help but have to search for any source of caffeine. It could be a Monster or a Frap, but I had to have it!

I hopped out of my bunk, leaving my phone on the bunk and closing the curtain. I had grabbed my wallet, but left my cell. We were going to park in the lot of the shop, so I didn’t see the need to carry everything.

The bus came to a rolling stop, slowly plodding its way into a spot at the far corner of the parking spaces. While everyone went outside to stretch their legs, Austin and went over to the coffee place. Our drink orders were placed and we got the cups before walking back outside.

Ambulance sirens blared.

Austin and I turned our heads to the sound. It wasn’t from too far away. The bright red and white vehicle pulled from the road to a side street, partially hidden by a big building. It would be the perfect place for a wreck.

“I wonder what happened.” I murmured my thoughts aloud. We edged closer around the Starbucks towards where we could see the lights of the ambulance. When we got to a safe enough distance but we could see, I peered around the ambulance to the scene.

I close my eyes and turned away.

It was a car and a hunk of metal. It wasn’t even formed to look like a car anymore, just a lump of metal, leather, and blood. Police officers, firemen, and paramedics were rushing around. Three stretchers pulled gruesome messes from the scene. I couldn’t look at their bodies. Two stretchers had sheets covering the bodies.

I knew they were dead.

There was no way someone could survive a car crash that bad.

A child on the sidelines was screaming for his mother. A cop was trying to calm him down, but the child kept crying for his mother. In the car that was the least damaged, a woman was pried out of the windshield.

“MOMMY! Momma! Where are you?” The child cried loud enough for us to hear from across the street. Cars slowed as they passed the scene, but their squeaking tires weren’t enough to block out the child’s sobs.

“I’m scared, mommy! Where are you, momma?” He sobbed. I don’t think anyone had the heart to tell him where his mother had finally ended up.

“Don’t look.” Austin murmured. Over the two weeks we’d been together, he knew I got queasy at the sight of that stuff. I never puked, but I could faint. I didn’t feel that hungry right now. I didn’t want to see the stretcher but I dared another peek. All I could see was the body of the woman, head bent at an odd angle, legs with her bones sticking out.

My heart went out to the little boy.

He lost his mother, and he was only about seven years old.

“Come on, let’s go.” Austin murmured, tugging my frozen body away from the scene. We quickly went to the bus, hiding away from the wreck. It was a sunny day, but the sky seemed darker outside with what had happened. The others on the bus looked at us oddly.

I sipped my caramel frap while crawling into my bunk. All I wanted to do was drown out the screams of the little boy with music. Plugging in my headphones, I dared to press the button and force myself to take all the volume I could handle.

No one bothered me for the next few hours. I hoped Austin had explained the situation because I honestly didn’t have the guts to tell them what had happened. I knew the feeling of what it was like to lose a parent, but I lost Mom when I was about fifteen or so, just about to be sixteen. I don’t think I wanted to remember the screams, the blood, or the sirens. I never want to see another wreck again. I never want to be in a car wreck. It was the second time on the road trip we had heard or seen a car wreck. I turned up my music louder at the memories, trying to blast some Motionless in White’s Abigail.

No matter how loud I cranked it, all I could hear was the scream of that boy.

Notes