Caught Between

Winds blew gently moving short, pixie like, platinum blonde hair. Katlyn moved the light grey head band back into place to try and tame her hair. 'I wish Bret would hurry up!' Rubbing her forearms the girl couldn't help but feel watched and her thoughts turned to her crush's little brother. Max was a year younger at 16, and he seemed slightly creepy to her. He was handsome in his own right, but she just didn't like him for some reason. Max was taller than her 5'5" placing at 5'9". Just from a glance you could tell he worked out and tanned to try and make himself look like an Adonis of some sort with curly black hair and brown eyes. Katlyn leaned back against a cool concrete pillar that supported the theater as a shiver passed through her. She had been feeling what seemed like eyes on her for a week. It felt like the eyes of a predator and she was the prey.


Phone buzzing in her pocket, Katlyn flipped it open to view the message from Bret saying he was parking and he'd be there any second. Applying quick touch ups to her makeup, she finished with a swipe of strawberry lip gloss then turned her attention to where she saw his car pull into the lot down the hill. She smiled because she couldn't help it. Bret was the perfect example of a sweet southern gentleman. He was six feet even, with golden blonde hair that was almost an inch from brushing his shoulders, and dark pools of water for eyes. With his smile sweet and his laugh sweeter, Bret was one of a kind. Her smile faded slightly when he didn't stop at the sign, and it completely disappeared when a car slammed on its breaks to avoid from hitting him. Something was wrong. She knew this because it wasn't like him, he always stopped. He was swerving now and she didn't realize she pushed away from the wall awhile ago but she was now walking to the edge of the sidewalk, her phone was in a death grip. His car swerved more and a semi truck pulled in to make late night deliveries.


My mind was starting to piece together what would happen. 'No, no, no… Oh please god, no.' His car was accelerating and the driving was erratic. He was going to run into the truck. Her phone buzzed again, she didn't even pay attention to it, and she ran. "Bret! What are you doing? Stop, please!"


Katlyn knew she'd never make it, and if she did, what could she do? They were metal monsters that would crush her runner's body in no time. If she could've heard anything at the moment she would've heard her frantic shouts join with other movie goers, she would have heard the trucks horn, she would've heard the crash. She didn't hear it but she saw it, until her vision became obscured by a blur of tears. It seemed to take forever to get to the car and then she was at the side of his door. "Bret! Can you hear me? Bret!" It became her mantra that she repeated endlessly. She saw him in the back and tried to pull the twisted door open. "Bret hang on, please hang on!" She felt the door give a little and her eyes flicked into the back to see him, instead her eyes saw a shinny red liquid covering the charcoal grey seats. Katlyn put her all into yanking the door open and it screeched out enough so when she climbed in she could kick it open. Crawling inside she saw some cuts on his head and somewhere on his front he was bleeding too. Finally remembering the electronic device in her pocket, she used her phone she called 911 while kicking the door open all the way. Giving the details of where she was and then being directed by a medical professional, she slowly and very carefully pulled Bret out and laid him flat on the ground with her hands supporting his head into staying forward. Katlyn's slim finger tips rested below his chin and she felt his slow heartbeat. She was crying as she was murmuring for him to stay with her. She still whispered it as the ambulance came and loaded him into it, as she got in with him and on the way to the hospital's ER.


She couldn't go with him past the doors so she sat in the waiting room. Nurses came and handed her water, she called her mom, and an officer handed her his phone and wallet to hand to his family when they got here. He sat down across from her in his navy blue suit, his police badge flashed and he ran his hands down his face and sighed. "I hate to have to do this but," He fixed his hat and got out a pad of paper and a pen. "Can I ask you some questions?" Katlyn nodded and told him what she saw. She answered questions like, "How do you know him?" or "What is your affiliation with Bret Rogers?" Afterwards the officer stood up, shook her hand and before leaving he said, "Oh and Miss ? We had to look in his cell phone to rule out some things. But you might want to look at his most recent message. If what it said was true, then I believe he'll pull through." After that was said, he gave a kind smile then left. She didn't want to look right away so she pulled her own phone out to check for anything.


Katlyn had received a text message. Opening it, and after reading it about five times, she arched forward and cried into her hands. A small yes passed through her lips to answer his question. The text message she received was from Bret, saying that he knew he would have been too nervous to say it out loud but, asking if she would like to go out with him. The image of him laying on the gurney as they rushed him through the doors passed through her mind, he doesn't know my answer. Her fists balled up and she mentally thought to him, 'Bret Rogers, if you can hear me you better not die! If you want your answer you better not die!' A nurse passed by and told her she would be notified if he woke or if something changed, but he was stable for the moment.