The Secret of Ella and Micha(60)

It's hard to tell because it's dark, but it looks like Micha is winning. I start to grow restless the farther away the taillights get and I jump off the tailgate and pace the dirt.

"You're nervous," Lila observes. "And you're making me nervous."

I bite on my fingernails, unable to settle down. "I don't know what my problem is. Usually, I'm not this jumpy."

But I think deep down, I know exactly what my problem is. My feelings for Micha have been freed and now they consume me, own me, bind me to him. The crowd starts moving, nearly trampling me as they stare down the road, waiting for the turnaround. I hear the scared tones in their voices first before the crash. It's like a train wreck, metal crushing and snapping apart.

Lila's eyes snap wide. "What the hell was that?"

I spin around and shove my way to the front of the crowd. There are a few cars on the side backing up onto the road.

"Shit," someone says. "I think one of them wrecked."

I feel my heart crumble as I take off down the road.

"Ella!" Lila shouts. "Where are you going?"

I keep running, stumbling through the dark, searching for their lights. My flip flops fall off somewhere, but I keep going, needing to know. Cars are pulling out behind me and headlights shine at my back. Seconds later, Mikey's car zooms by and he shouts something foul at me.

Halfway down the road, the air turns to dirt and the sound of "The Distance" by Cake floods the air, only it's stuck and keeps saying the same line over and over again.

Spotting the outline of the car, I slow down. Suddenly, I'm back to the night my mom died. The Chevelle is smashed against the trunk of a large tree, the windshield smashed to pieces, and two of the tires are blown out. Somehow it must have flipped around and the driver's side took most of the impact.

I know whatever's inside the car is bad, just like when I opened the bathroom door the night I found my mom and I won't be able to do anything about it. I almost turn away and run, not wanting to see it, but the passenger side door swings open and Ethan stumbles out, clutching at his upper arm. There's a path of blood dripping down his arm and his cheek is scraped.

I snap out of my own thoughts and rush to him. "Are you okay?"

"Ella, go get some help." He coughs, nearly buckling to his knees.

"No." My voice comes out sharp and high-pitched and vomit burns at the back of my throat. I gently push him aside and climb into the car, which is filled with dirt and the air is muggy.

"Micha." I cover my mouth and shake my head.

His head is flopped back against the headrest and turned away from me and his arms are slack to the side. Branches are poking in through the window and it looks like one of them might be lodged into his shoulder.

His head turns toward me and his eyes widen. "Fuck. Ethan, get her out of here."

Ethan reaches in to pull me back, but I climb onto the console, taking in the long, thin stick stabbed in his shoulder. I can't breathe. I can't lose him. I can't do this again.

"Ella May, look at me." His voice is hoarse as he locks eyes with me. "I'm okay, now back out of the car so Ethan can get me out of here."

My eyes scan his body, looking for any more wounds that could be hiding from me. "It's just the branch? That's the only place you're hurt?"

He nods lethargically. "A few stitches and I'm as good as new."

Kissing his forehead, I take a deep breath, hating to leave him as I back out of the car. Ethan's walking up the road toward me with Benny at his side. He's still clutching his arm and there's a little bit of a limp to his walk.

"Someone's got to have two good arms to pull it out," he says to Benny and I see him glance at me with concern in his eyes.

Benny nods and hops into the car, while Ethan and I wait impatiently on the outside. Cars start to pull up, headlights lighting up the accident as people rubberneck. One of the cars is a Camaro and Mikey stands in front of it, laughing with his girlfriend at his side.

"Fucking * swerved at us," Ethan tells me as he glares at Mikey.

Rage engulfs me and this time I let it take me over. I march up to him and shove him hard so he stumbles back into the front end of his car.

"You think this is funny?" I shout. "They crash into a tree because of you and you keep driving. What the hell's wrong with you?"

His eyes darken and he steps toward me. "I won and that's all that matters."

Shaking my head, I lift up my leg and knee him in the balls, hard. He groans, his face reddening as he hunches over and his girlfriend runs to his side to coddle him. I start to leave when he straightens back up. Cradling his injured guy parts, he charges, ready to hit me.

Ethan blocks him and shoves him back with his good arm. "If you touch her, I'll slam my good fist into your face."

This is not the first time he's had to say that to someone on my behalf.

Mikey backs down from the fight, muttering something about it not being worth it as Benny helps Micha out of the car. The branch is out of his shoulder. Left in its place is a hole, which is bleeding down his arm and shirt, but he's alive and breathing and that's all that matters.

We get him into the front seat of Benny's GTO and then Ethan and Lila get in the back. Micha has me sit on his lap, and he nuzzles his head into my chest. I hold onto him tightly as we speed off into the night.