“Zeke!” I looked up and saw Mrs. and Mr. Shay walking this way. I stood up and shoved my hands in my pockets.

“Mrs. Shay I'm so so sorry I don't….” I started to say before she took me into a hug.

“Shhh Zeke it's ok, I know it wasn't your fault” She whispered. I tried not to cry as she hugged me.

“Tell me what happened” Lindsey's dad said looking at me. I cleared my throat and stood up looking at him.

“I was helping my friend with a favor and Lindsey insisted she come, so we went there and…” Memories of what happened flashed through my mind as i tried to speak.

“Umm…. there.. There was a car and it… it flew around the corner… it was too late… I..” I tried to speak and coughed clearing my throat near the end.

“Quinn Shay” a doctor called out. I slowly followed behind them heading over to the doctor.

“Is my daughter ok!?”

“What are the injuries??”

“When can she come home!?” Mr and Mrs. Shay bombarded the doctor with questions. The doctor waited for them to stop then spoke.

“Your daughter will be fine… some fractures and a few cuts but will be healed soon, she must have tried to jump out of the way of the car.

“Can we see her?...” I asked quietly.

“Yes but only two at a time” He said then left.

“You guys go first she's your daughter” I said and sat down in a chair near by. I wanted for about half an hour till they came back out and sat down. I slowly stood up wiping the sweat from my hands on my jeans. My ears pounded and I couldn't hear anything around me. Just the beating of my heart. My heart… it broke when I saw Lindsey lying in the hospital bed I walked over to her and sat in the chair next to her bed.

“I’m sorry” I whispered looking at her. I reached out and held her hand crying softly. I stood up and leaned over lindsey kissing her forehead softly.

“I'll see you tomorrow my princess” I said quietly and left her room and went down the hall.

“Zeke are you ok/” Mrs. Shay asked

“Yeah.. i'm fine see you tomorrow” I said coldly heading out of the hospital doors. The rain hit my skin as i clutched my jacket in my hand, people rushed to get out of the pouring rain as if it would kill them is they were in it too long. I walked through the busy parking lot heading towards Isaac at the very corner of the parking lot.

“Dude you ok?” He asked stepping out of the car.

“Yeah just take me home” I said getting in the passenger side. Isaac took me home and the rain cleared up by the time we got there, it was going on to 4 am and Alex and his mom were sleeping as I snuck in and up to the upstairs bathroom. I turned on the light and shut the door. I rested my hands on the edge of the sink keeping me upright. I looked up into the mirror. My hair and clothes were wet and my eyes looked lifeless I shut my eyes tight and leaned forward resting my head on the mirror. My throat was dry as sand and my head ached. My phone dragged me out of concentration as it rang.

“Hello?” I said quietly

“Zeke it's me Isaac”

“I don't want to talk” I said getting ready to hang up.

“Well that doesn't matter because you're gonna listen, Zeke i don't mean to put you down but were the reason she got hit, and were both hated by alot of people, so what happens when one of them wants to come after us. They're gonna go to our families, our loved ones. They're gonna go after Lindsey whether you protect her or not.”

“You have no right to talk about her”

“But Zeke you know it's true” I ran my fingers through my hair walking back in forth in the tiny bathroom.

‘The what do you want me to do”

“We have to leave, get out of here to protect our families”

“I don't know dude” I said, it felt like it was getting harder to breath that the air was thinning as if we were climbing a tall mountain and getting closer to the top, my eyes blurred and made it hard to see.

“I’ll give you till tomorrow night” Isaac said then hung up without saying anything else. I kneeled down resting my elbows on my knees and folding my hands at the back of my neck. I stood up and grabbed my phone walking to my room, I shut the door quietly and walked over to the window looking out, you couldn't see much from my window, you could see the houses across the street and some of the houses behind that. I was more spacing off then looking outside, i couldn't stop thinking about what Isaac said to me. That if i stayed i could hurt Lindsey even more than i already have. I layed down thinking about this till my eyes slowly flickered then closed as sleep took over. The next morning i got up at six in the morning and got dressed going down stairs. When i walked in the kitchen Ms. Lane and Alex looked at me worriedly.

“Zeke is that blood on your arm..” Ms. Lane asked

“Yeah umm Lindsey…” I choked on my words

“Lindsey.. Got in a car wreck last night..” I finished saying. By the look on her face Ms. Lane would have dropped her coffee cup if she didn't set it down first.

“Why didn't you call me last night” Alex said standing up.

“I was still registering it myself” I said.

“I'm going to go take a shower then i'm going back to the hospital” I said and walked up stairs to the bathroom. I grabbed my speaker and played 104.1 through my phone. I turned on the water making sure it was warm then stripped down. I stepped inside feeling the hot water hit the back of my shoulders first. I washed the blood and dirt off of my skin as quickly as i could as if the memories of last night would wash down the drain with all the dirt but even when I stepped out it's like i could still hear the squeaking of the brakes and the crash of the car hitting the fire hydrant. I dried off my skin and tied the towel around my waist as i walked over to thee mirror, i rubbed my eyes then opened them looking at the person in the mirror. It was like looking at a stranger but the stranger had my layered haircut and my hazel eyes. The stranger looked at me but he didn't smile, he didn't laugh at how his hair was messy, he didn't want to leave the house to go see his friends. He's not the guy i've become these last two months he's someone totally different.

“Zeke…. Are you ok?” Ms. Lane's soft voice came from the other side of the door. I put on a smile and opened it.

“Yeah why wouldn't I be?”

“Zeke..”

“Your girlfriends in the hospital Zeke” She said worryingly

“I'm fine.. I got to finish getting ready” I slipped past her and into my room