Collisions Ch. 03

As always, I appreciate any constructive criticism or compliments. I'm still getting the hang of this writing thing. Still not much steam, but I wanted to establish the characters first. Chapter 5 or 6 will probably start being juicier. Thanks for reading. :)

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True to his word, Bobby really did not speak with or even look at Mellie during the next couple weeks. The only time he did was merely to ask what color her dress was so he could be sure to have a matching tie and buy a nice corsage. Mellie told him it was a deep purple, and he grunted and walked off, again leaving her alone.

During study hall, she stopped observing him, instead focusing on homework and studying for the upcoming tests in a couple of her classes. However, after two weeks had passed, Mellie began to get excited for the dance. She actually had a date, and she hoped it would make the dance even better than she anticipated. The thought of having someone with whom she could dance during the slow songs cheered her, as did the idea that her friends all had dates as well. Hopefully this dance would prove enjoyable for all the girls.

During band, Mellie and Danielle talked about what they planned to wear to the dance. Danielle was wearing a red dress, wanted her hair in an updo, and had purchased red heels that matched her dress. Mellie had her purple outfit, hadn't yet decided how to wear her hair, and planned on wearing a pair of silver heels with the dress. As neither girl had yet purchased any jewelry, they planned to meet at the mall that night.

After rehearsal, Mellie went home, worked on her homework, and helped her mom prepare supper. After eating, she and her mom had some time to talk about how school was going for Mellie and what was going on her mom's work. Mellie told her mom she was somewhat afraid of Bobby, and her mom told her to just try to stay near people at the dance.

"If he gets pushy, honey, just leave him. Your friends would gladly bring you home if you needed them to do so, and any guy who is pressuring a girl for sex should be ashamed of himself and most certainly does not deserve to have the girl."

Mellie agreed with her mother. She started planning a signal for her friends to tell them she needed help. She figured she could talk it over with Danielle at the mall. Thanking her mom, Mellie ran upstairs to get her purse and take a picture of her dress and shoes. The picture would probably help her decide which jewelry would look best with her dress. She then left for the mall.

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"Those earrings are phenom. You really have to get them, Mellie. They will match your shoes perfectly; plus they are absolutely stunning." Danielle had an eye for such things, so Mellie grabbed the earrings.

"Ooh, Danielle! Check out this necklace. The ruby almost looks real, and it's the exact shade of your dress."

The girls had been going on like this for over an hour, and had yet to find very many things. However, the store they were in now seemed to be the best. Mellie had her earrings, and now Danielle had a necklace. They continued to peruse the products on display, and each made a few more selections before they headed to the cashier to pay.

Danielle had decided not to buy earrings, because she already had studs that would match the necklace she was buying. Nevertheless, she found a fancy purse that would match her dress, and she bought a pair of elbow length gloves. Mellie purchased the earrings Danielle had pointed out, as well as a matching set of a necklace and bracelet. She had actually received a silver handbag a few months earlier for her 18th birthday, so she only needed the jewelry to complete her ensemble.

After making their purchases, Mellie and Danielle walked to the cookie place, where they each purchased a cookie and a slush. Feeling rather content with their evening of spending, the two exited the mall and said they would see each other the next day in school. Both were feeling extremely excited about the dance, and Danielle had congratulated Mellie numerous times about nabbing Bobby as her date. Mellie remembered her words as she walked to her car.

"You are so lucky, dear! I am so happy for you. Be careful though, especially if he gets pushy again. If he tries to pressure you into anything, just leave him. It will still have been awesome to have him as your date. And you two will be breath-taking for the pictures!"

Danielle always looked on the bright side of things, a facet of her personality for which Mellie was eternally grateful. Her positive attitude has helped relieve some of Mellie's fears, and Danielle had easily agreed with having a signal in case Mellie needed some help. Mellie felt confident that the night of the dance would easily go her way.

She got in her car, started it, and drove out of the parking lot. It's a good thing we finally picked out our stuff, she thought. Otherwise, the mall would have closed before we bought anything. She had stayed longer than she thought she would, and it was dark out. Luckily, Mellie had finished all of her homework prior to leaving for the mall, so it was alright that their shopping had taken more time than she had planned.

Mellie drove up to an intersection and stopped for the red light. She was still musing about the dance, and decided she wanted to turn on some music. The light turned green, and Mellie drove forward, still reaching over to her radio to turn it on. Since she was looking at the radio, she didn't notice the bright lights approaching her until it was too late. She only heard a loud squealing of brakes, which caused her to look up and realize what was happening. Mellie didn't even have time enough to scream before the car slammed into her.

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Earlier that day.

Oscar was in a foul mood as he left school. He still felt so wired recently. He had so much energy, but it was mainly negative energy. He knew better than to give in to his violent urges, but they were so damned hard to ignore sometimes. He didn't know what had come over him, but he knew he could trace it to the beginning of the school year.

He hadn't gotten in trouble yet this year, and he was doing really well in all of his classes. He should be feeling happy. But he wasn't. He suspected it had something to do with that girl. Mellie. He believed that he had a crush on her, which was impossible. Dios mio, he thought to himself. He liked Latinas, with their sassy charm and sexy appearance. He did not like white people. They were rude, they looked down on Hispanics, and they thought they were the best people in the world. The fact that he was Mexican made his shady background even worse. People expected him to be a law-breaker, a gangster, a felon. Then when he did break laws, he was punished all the more, just because of his background.

He had messed up just once really. In getting involved with a few former friends. They had encouraged him to break the law, to push the limits, to steal, commit arson, and beat people up. He had welcomed any semblance of friends, and had vigorously followed their lead. Then he got caught, and caught again. And put in prison, and expelled from school. His so-called "friends" had deserted him, leaving him to the authorities. If not for his family, he most likely would have embraced his bad-boy image and joined a gang. But they kept him sane and accepted him in spite of his problems. They had stood by him during the entire year-long process, and had encouraged him to return to the normal high school and to graduate.

Now he was getting straight A's, spending time studying, and hanging out with friends who didn't force him to break the law to earn their friendship. But it didn't matter. Whenever anything went wrong, the principal brought him into her office for questioning. If he so much as touched someone, like when he caught Mellie that first day of school, people would assume he was trying to hurt or take advantage of them. He felt that no matter how hard he worked, he would never escape his past.

It hadn't mattered to him before. What people thought of him, what they said about him. None of it had mattered. Until this semester. Now all of a sudden he wished people could see him for who he was now, not who he had been two years ago. He wished that Mellie in particular could look at him without fear or judgment in her eyes.

Why am I crushin' on this chica? He couldn't get over her for some weird reason. He felt drawn to her in a way he had never previously felt about anyone, male or female. But instead of pursuing her, he'd helped her get a date with that pendejo! The asshole who only wanted sex. Oscar couldn't bear the thought of Mellie being with Bobby, the idea of her kissing him, or doing more than kiss—STOP THINKING! He mentally chastised himself for even holding the idea of her being his. It was ridiculous. It was stupid. It was there, though, and so strong. He sighed. I need to stop thinkin' about this mujer. No necesito mas problemas in my life. I have enough as it is.

In order to escape his thoughts, he called up one of his friends, Carlos, and asked if he wanted to hang out. Carlos said yes, and offered to come by and pick Oscar up. Oscar consented, and waited for his friend to arrive.

Carlos and Oscar hung out at Carlos's house until after dinner with Carlos's family. Oscar enjoyed eating with them because Carlos had four brothers and a sister. All of them were younger, with Anjelica being the youngest. Every boy in the family and all of their male friends were fiercely protective of her, and Oscar was no different. He was putty in her hands.

"Oh-car! Play with me!" Anjelica demanded as soon as she saw them. She had her doll out and a suitcase of doll clothes. Oscar went over to help her dress her doll.

"How is Juana doing today?" he asked her.

"Good. She has a fasten show."

"You mean a fashion show, muchacha?" Oscar laughed. He loved kids, and wished he had siblings.

"Si, a fasten show. Ayuda me, por favor."

Oscar sat down on the ground, then laughed as Anjelica grabbed the suitcase of doll clothes and marched over to sit on his lap. Together, they undressed and dressed Juana until the fashion show was finished and dinner was ready. After dinner, Anjelica played with two of her brothers, leaving Oscar free to play video games with Carlos. After an hour or two of gaming, Carlos threw in a movie, and the boys relaxed with a couple of beers. By the time the movie finished, night had fallen and it was time to get Oscar home.

"You okay to drive, Carlos? Or do you want me to call mi padre?"

"Nah, it's fine dude. I drive buzzed all the time, and have never gotten so much as a speeding ticket."

"If you say so." Oscar always refused to drive if he had anything to drink, but as he wasn't thinking too clearly at the moment, he allowed Carlos to lead him to his car.

After driving for five minutes, Oscar concluded that Carlos was still a fairly safe driver when buzzed, but was definitely impatient. He sped up at yellow lights, and crossed even if they turned red. It scared Oscar, but Carlos seemed confident. They drove past the mall, which was closing, and were still a block away from an intersection when the light turned yellow. Carlos gunned the engine, accelerating.

"Dude, there is no way you'll make this light. Just slow down, man."

"It's fine, Oscar. You worry too much, mi amigo." Carlos looked over at Oscar as he said this, and therefore missed seeing that the light had turned red and a car was crossing the intersection.

"Look out!"

"Shit!" Carlos slammed on his breaks, but the car kept going forward even as it slowed. The car crashed into the side of the other car, pushing it for some yards before coming to a stop.

"Holy shit, Carlos. You hit the driver's side. We could have killed them!" Oscar was freaking out. Somehow, someone would tell him that this was all his fault. That he should have taken Carlos's keys or called up his parents for a ride instead. Shit. Shit shit shit. He called 911 as he unfastened his seatbelt and opened the car door. Luckily he could get out. When the operator answered, he told her they had been in a t-bone collision and at which intersection the crash had occurred.

"I'm walking over to the other car now," he stated. The operator told him she had already sent an ambulance there, and that help would be there soon. She asked him if he was showing any shock symptoms, to which he answered no. He reached the car. It looked familiar, and had a Bloomfeld High Honor Student sticker on the bumper. Oh no, this was someone from school, he thought. It could be someone we know.

He went around to the passenger side of the car and opened the door. Inside...inside was...oh God. It was Mellie. And there was blood. It seemed like it was everywhere. In a choked voice, he told the operator what he was seeing. She told him not to move the victim, but that if he knew how to check her pulse, to do so. With shaking hands, Oscar reached out to her wrist, and with a huge surge of relief and joy, felt a pulse.

"She has a pulse! It's still strong and everything," he told the operator. After hanging up and calming down a bit, he stopped shaking and really assessed her appearance. She looked somewhat battered from the airbags going off, and had a bad cut on her head. He knew that her head wound was the reason for the blood, but he was still freaked.

He grabbed for her hand again. "Mellie! Mellie, please be okay. Please answer. I'm so sorry. I'm just...so...sorry. Please. Mellie." He was begging, and he recognized it in the back of his head, but a different part of him was in control now, and this part had to know she was okay before it made him go insane. Oh Mellie, he thought. He knew now that he could not ignore how he felt about her anymore.

The ambulance arrived, and Oscar told the paramedics that he knew her from school and wanted to stay with her. One of them took one look at his crazed visage and knew that he would not be refused. They cut her out of the seatbelt and carefully moved her onto a stretcher and into the ambulance, working over her the whole time.

Please God, Oscar prayed. Please let her be okay. He told Carlos to give the cops his cell number if they wanted to question him, but that he thought that Mellie shouldn't wake up alone. Carlos, shaken from the experience, agreed.

Be okay. Please be okay. The words just kept repeating in Oscar's mind as he rode to the hospital.

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Mellie was beginning to wake up, but continued dreaming. She'd had such a strange dream, with voices belonging to people she didn't know, and one person she did know.

She heard authoritative voices calling instructions.

"Vitals are normal, but she's still unconscious."

"Someone get her clothes off so we can check for other injuries."

"She needs stitches, but only on her head. She has a laceration, about 4 inches across, on the front left side of her head. Still bleeding."

"Someone get her purse and notify her family."

Mellie was confused. Someone was hurt, bleeding still. Who was hurt?

"Young man, are you related to her?"

A defiant voice answered, "Yes, I'm her brother." Mellie knew that voice from...somewhere. It was a nice voice. Who was his sister? Mellie didn't have a brother, so it couldn't be her.

"I'm going to start her on an IV of morphine to control any pain she feels once the shock wears off."

Mellie felt a prick, and within seconds she drifted back to sleep.

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When she next awakened, Mellie felt disoriented and extremely confused. She was in pain. Several parts of her hurt and she had a killer headache. She opened her eyes and tried to sit up.

"No no no, gatita. You must stay down."

"What are you doing in my dream, Oscar?" She asked someone moodily. What a horrible dream. She must have been the one the voices had been talking about, but why was the dream still continuing?

"You aren't dreaming, Mellie. Are you in pain?" He asked the question very quietly, looking down as he asked, as if he were feeling guilty.

"Yes, actually. Why am I so sore everywhere?"

"You were in a car accident."

Mellie's pulse spiked as she processed that information. Oh. She remembered. She had looked up, seeing headlights coming toward her and hearing brakes squealing loudly and then...nothing. Pain. That dream that wasn't a dream. Oscar's voice begging her to be okay. Oscar telling a nurse that he was her brother. As if he looked anything like her. She decided to stick to thinking about that last part instead of about the accident. Her heart rate slowed, but a nurse came in anyway.

"Hello, Mellie. I'm Hannah, and I'll be your nurse for the next eight hours, and I'll be giving you medications and checking some of your injuries out, dear. Do you have any questions for me?"

"Umm, how bad am I?"

"Well, you sustained a couple broken ribs on your left side, you have a fractured arm, and you have some serious bruising and some cuts on different parts of your body. The worse is on your head, which you must have hit after the airbags deflated. You also have some burns from the airbags, but ultimately you were very lucky."

"Are my parents here?"

"They are on their way. Your cell phone was damaged in the accident, but they used your driver's license to get your name and call your parents. They should be here shortly, hon."

"Okay. Thank you."

"Do you need more pain medication before I go?"

"No thanks, I'm alright."

"Okay, well here is your call light, and I'll just wrap it around this bed rail for you. It controls your tv and the bed angles as well. Just call me if you need anything."

"Thanks."

Mellie looked at Oscar, who still looked guilty and worried. "What's eating you?" she asked him.

"This is all my fault. Oh Mellie, I'm so sorry. I didn't think Carlos was even buzzed, but he kept running the yellow lights and then we didn't see you until it was too late, but I should have taken his keys away and called my dad to pick me up, and I am so so sorry that we hit you. I tried to tell him to slow down and to not run the light, but he didn't listen."

Oscar looked into her eyes as he said all of that, his blue eyes fierce with all the emotions he was feeling at the moment. Mellie knew he meant it, and told him that she would be fine and that he didn't need to hold himself so responsible for the accident.

"It was just that—an accident. You didn't make him crash into me, and you certainly wouldn't cause me harm on purpose. So it's okay."

Her parents arrived a few minutes after her conversation with Oscar. When they saw him, they glared at him silently until he sighed and left the room. They then rushed over to Mellie's side.

"Oh Mellie, we're so glad you're okay. Is that the boy who did it? They said he was one of those Mexicans."

"No, Mom. He was in the car, but as a passenger. He's the one who called the hospital so quickly. And he rode in the ambulance with me so I wouldn't be alone when I woke up. You shouldn't have been rude to him."

Mellie's dad cut in, "We're sorry, honey. We were just so worried for you. Your mom called me, and luckily my flight had just gotten in, so I was able to rush over immediately."

Her parents remained with her for a couple hours, doting over her and talking to the doctors. They talked to a police officer who understood that Mellie remembered nothing about the crash except that her light was green. He told her that Oscar had told him the same thing, and that Carlos was in trouble for drinking under the legal age and for driving while intoxicated. Mellie felt badly about Carlos getting in trouble, but was disappointed to find that the car was totaled.

"It's alright, Mellie. We can get you a new car." Her mom smiled reassuringly, then stood up to kiss her daughter goodbye. "We'll come back and visit tomorrow morning, sweetie. They just want to keep you overnight to make sure you'll be okay."