Picture on the side is of Annabel:)

Chapter 1

“Are you ready?” Matt asked, as he stood next to the door.

“Hold on, let me just grab my jacket,” I replied.

“Do you think it will be packed?” I asked him, making my way outside.

“Maybe, but it’s worth it,” he said, unlocking the car as we got inside.

We were on the way to the Toby’s Pizzeria. Today was the first day of summer vacation. We had graduated yesterday and were trying to enjoy the freedom of finally leaving high school, before starting college.

Matt and I had started dating last summer as soon as I moved into town and transferred to Lorain High.

Since I arrived two weeks before school let out during my junior year, I waited to enter school until the fall.

During those two weeks, while I was meant to be at school- I spent the days at Sal’s Café.

One day, I was sitting at an empty table, my laptop in front of me, with a mug full of coffee- when a guy approached me.

“You’re not from around here,” he said, as he took a seat in front of me.

I looked up at him and it took me a while to look away. He was tall, really cute, strong build, and with a playful smile. I didn’t say anything to his comment, still distracted with his looks.

“I’ll assume you just moved into town,” the guy said, removing his back pack and getting comfortable.

“We moved in this Saturday,” I replied in a soft voice.

“Do you go to school?” He asked, keeping his gaze on me.

“No. I mean, yeah,” I answered, stumbling with my words and more than likely, confusing him.

He raised an eyebrow and my cheeks started to warm up. I knew a blush was now covering my cheeks.

“So which is it?”

“I’m enrolling to school next year. I’m going to be a senior,” I replied, still feeling shy.

“Yeah? Next year is my senior year as well,” he said. I nodded my head, looking into his eyes. The way he just walked up to me and his bluntness, was something I wasn’t used to.

“I’m Matt,” he introduced himself, outstretching his hand to me.

“Annabel. My name is Annabel,” I replied.

Two weeks later, I was Matt’s girlfriend.

My senior year was as exciting as could be. Matt was- the golden boy. He was the typical jock, good grades, played basketball, president of several clubs- and I was dating him.

Now, a year later, we were celebrating our anniversary. Even though we were attending the same University next year, there was still a feel of melancholy in the air. We were both moving away to a University far from home.

Not only had it been our graduation yesterday, but tonight was the night.

Two months after we started dating, Matt brought up the subject of sex. He had already told me he loved me, but I was always hesitant about us being intimate.

Three months into the relationship, I realized that I really did love Matt. I was completely in love with him and he was the one, even if I wasn’t ready to take our relationship to the next level.

It surprised me that even though Matt wanted us to take that step, he never put pressure on it. On our nine month anniversary, we both compromised.  If we were happily together by the time our one year anniversary came around, we would finally take the next step.

Now we were on our way to have lunch. Toby’s Pizzeria was my favorite place to dine it, so Matt chose it for today.

He had been a complete sweetheart, making me feel even luckier to be dating him.

“What do you think?” Matt asked, as he parked his car in the Pizzeria’s parking lot.

“It’s not that full,” I replied.

We got a booth towards the back. This place was usually full. During the summer, I expected it to be much worse since everyone was out on vacation.

“My parents are steering clear from our house,” Matt said, while taking a bite of his pizza.

I laughed at him and shook my head.

“And how exactly did you manage that?” I asked him in a teasing tone.

“It wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be. I told my dad, you know, we were going to, you know. So, he’s taking mom out to some fancy restaurant in the city. He said they’ll spend the night over there,” Matt replied casually.

“I’m nervous about it,” I confessed, looking down at my plate of food.

“I know, but I’ll be there for you all the time. If at any point you want to stop, we will,” Matt said, reaching out for my hand and giving it a squeeze.

I smiled, trying to calm my nerves down. It’s not like it was happening in that moment.

“I love you so much Annie,” Matt told me, and I noticed the glint in his eyes. It was so easy to fall in love with Matt. He was amazing.

“I love you too,” I replied, reaching over to place a kiss on his cheek.

We left the Pizzeria just as more people were starting coming in. It was late in the afternoon and a light coat of rain was falling. Matt and I both found it odd that it was raining, since the sky had been clear before we went to eat.

“Nothing” by The Script started playing on the radio. I let out a chuckle, and Matt turned to look at me with a curious expression.

I pointed at the radio and once again chuckled.

“That song and this weather make the perfect downer,” I told him. Once he caught on to the lyrics, he grinned.

“It’s part of their charm,” Matt replied, sarcastically. Even though he rarely listened to calm music, The Script was a band that he listened to often. That just made him sweeter in my eyes.

“Well, at least it’s more romantic than depressing,” I said.

Matt turned to me, offering a teasing smile.

I knew he was going to make fun of something, or joke around, but I didn’t know how or with what.

Just as he was about to speak, something impacted Matt’s side of the car full force. Matt took the hit directly and right after it happened, I saw his eyes close. All the windows in the car shattered.

If I hadn’t been wearing my seatbelt, I would’ve flown out. The air bags had attacked both Matt and me. I wasn’t sure if they were helpful or had caused more damage.

I was panicking inside, but couldn’t find my voice to yell, or at least say something. Matt was already passed out and there was blood all over his face and on his shoulder.

I tried to catch his hand and hold it, but we were still getting pushed by the car that had crashed to us.

It was all happening in seconds, but to me, time had slowed down. I was able to notice every detail of the accident.

When the car finally stopped moving, I tried unbuckling my seat belt and move closer to Matt. Either my nerves were playing tricks on me, or I just wasn’t trying hard enough. The seat belt seemed to be locked.

I moved around the air bag, trying to make space. My hands were shaky and had little drops of blood that poured out of the small cuts I got when the glass from the window shattered.

As soon as I released myself, I moved closer to Matt.

“Matt, wake up,” I said to him softly.

“Matt, don’t be like that, just wake up. Move,” I kept repeating.

“Matty- baby, listen to me. Please, do something, move,” I said, desperation clear in my voice.

“Don’t do this Matt, please.” My voice sounded weaker with each word I spoke.

I tried feeling the pulse on his wrist, but got distracted by the noise of a siren.

It was then when I noticed I had blocked all the outside noises. I started looking around and noticed it wasn’t a small crash between two cars. There were a lot of cars involved and many of the people looked hurt.

One car was burning and I could see people thrashing inside, trying to escape the flames.

Tears were rolling down my face. I couldn’t tell if I was sobbing or if the tears were just falling.

I turned back to face Matt and release his seatbelt, trying to shake him so that he would wake up.

When the seatbelt was unbuckled, his body fell over me. His blood was all over the place, but I didn’t care. I was just trying to get him to wake up.

“Matty, don’t this to me. Baby, please wake up,” I said, my voice just a whisper. I hardly recognized it as my own.

When his neck moved to the side, I saw a big piece of glass piercing his neck. Blood was pouring out of that wound. I was sobbing, but still kept shaking Matt. No matter what I did, he remained still.

I checked his pulse, this time without distractions. I grabbed his wrist gently and put my index and middle finger over his veins, wanting to feel anything that showed me he was okay.

I felt a heartbeat after moving my fingers around. It was weak- too weak. If someone didn’t take a look at him, he wouldn’t make it. I was aware of that, but I wasn’t going to let that happen.

A fire started somewhere in the trunk of the car. A guy in a fire fighter suit came to my side of the car. With some struggle, he managed to open the door.

“Miss, you need to get out of the car. There’s a fire starting and with the gas leak, it will ignite. We need to get you as far away from here as we can.” His voice sounded urgent, but I couldn’t register very well what he wanted.

“You need to help Matty. He’s unconscious, but he’s fine,” I said, slapping his hands away when he tried to carry me out of the car.

“Miss, the car can explode at any second. We need to get you out of here,” he said.

“I’m not leaving without Matt. Get someone to get him out of the car,” I told him, shoving him away from me when he tried to get me out by force.

“I will. I’ll come get him after I take you over there,” the guy said, pointing at the ambulance in the distance.

I stared at the ambulance, and then at Matt, who remained unconscious in his seat.

“They’re going to come get you right now Matty,” I said to him, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me.

“You’ll be okay baby. I love you,” I told him, planting a soft kiss on his lips.

I allowed the guy to carry me out of the car. It was then when I noticed my ankle was in a lot of pain and it looked swollen.

Even if I had tried, I probably wouldn’t have been able to walk on my own.

“You will come back to get Matt, right? He’s all good, he’s just passed out,” I told the guy carrying me.

There were other fire fighters, paramedics, and officers- but too many people were hurt and it was obvious they didn’t have enough help for everyone.

The guy carrying me gave me a look I didn’t understand, and for some reason, it unsettled me.

“You will come back for him, right?” I asked, tears once again filling my eyes as panic started to settle in me.

In that moment, a small explosion was heard from behind us. I turned back to check what had exploded. I yelled when I realized it had been our car. I felt relieved when I saw it was just something small and Matt would still be okay.

Not five seconds later, the whole car went into flames. I was trying to yell, but I lost my voice, watching Matt’s car burning- with Matt inside of it.

“No! We have to go back, you have to help him!” I yelled, when I found my voice. I was sobbing, and yelling. In the midst of my hysterics, I was able to squirm out of the guys arms. He was holding me harder, but I was fighting him back, trying to get to Matt.

As soon as my feet touched the ground, a bigger explosion came from the car. It caused the car to rise in the air a few feet and then land roughly on the ground.

The car was completely wrecked. It was burning, but all the insides of the car were destroyed.

I stared in shock, not knowing what to do or how to react.

My vision was blurry, but I didn’t have enough strength to do anything. I let myself go and would have fallen to the ground if the guy who had been carrying me, hadn’t caught me.

I didn’t care.  My world had crumpled down and been destroyed in that explosion. My heart was throbbing from the pain that was going through my body at the sight in front of me.  

Matt. My Matt. He was gone.

Thanks to anyone who is checking out this story. Sorry if the first chapter was... different. For anyone who read my story In Between Two Alphas- this is Aaron's story. Aaron is going to be introduced in the next chapter. Any comments or votes are highly appreciated.