The Wreck Read Free

definitely not saying no.”
    “That’s good, because I don’t want a
husband who can’t keep up with me.”
    The laughter that filled their secret
garden faded to moans as she lowered herself down on him.
    They had been gone almost two hours by
the time they finally got dressed and began the mile-long walk to Brian’s house
to meet their friends. Above the lake, the moon cast a glow on the calm water,
but the path they took was dark and shaded from the moonlight by the canopy of
trees. The sound of crickets, another harbinger of spring, filled the air. When
Carly tripped over a tree root, Brian’s tight hold on her hand kept her from
falling.
    “We can slow down a bit. A few more
minutes won’t matter. We’re already in for a serious ball busting.”
    She cringed at the idea of the teasing
they would receive from their friends. “Can we tell them we’re engaged?”
    “Shouldn’t we tell our parents first?”
    After a moment of silence, they said,
“Nah.”
    Carly giggled. “Like we could keep a
secret like this from them anyway. Michelle will be able to tell something’s up
in two seconds—if it takes that long.”
    “True.”
    They were about a hundred yards from
Tucker Road when the sickening screech of metal colliding with something hard
and unyielding sliced through the peaceful night.
    “What was that?” Carly asked as
they broke into a run.
    “Do you smell smoke?” he asked a few
minutes later, panting from exertion.
    “Yeah.”
    Running as fast as they dared on the dark
path, Carly and Brian emerged from the thicket and stopped short at the sight
of an inferno. A car had hit one of the big oaks that lined the road and was
fully engulfed in flames.
    “Oh my God,” he gasped.
    At the same moment the stench of burning
flesh reached the side of the road where they looked on in horror, it
registered with Brian that the car was his own station wagon. “ No! ” he
shrieked, bending at the waist as if he had been punched. “Sammy!
Noooooooooo!”
    In an effort to break free of him, Carly
tugged at the grip he had on her hand.
    “No, Carly!” He lifted her off her feet to keep her
from bolting across the street.
    She struggled to break free. “We can’t
just stand here!” she shrieked . “We have to do something!”
    Tears coursed down his cheeks as he
turned her face into his heaving chest. “There’s nothing we can do.”
    The initial blast of flame began to die
down, making ghastly silhouettes of the bodies burning inside the car.
    “Don’t look,” Brian said, choked by sobs
and acrid smoke. “Please don’t look.”
    Despite his pleas, Carly turned her face
toward the heat and stiffened when realization set in. Her screams shattered
the night.
    Standing by the side of the
road, across from the smoldering remains of the car, his brother, and five of
his best friends, Brian Westbury felt the fragile hold he had on his childhood
give way to the stark, agonizing reality of adulthood. While the paramedics tended
to Carly, who had screamed herself hoarse, the first cop on the scene focused
on him.
    “Do you know where your father is
tonight?” asked Lieutenant Matt Collins, a man Brian knew well. Brian’s father
was the chief of police, and his officers would need his guidance as the full
magnitude of the tragedy began to seep through the smoke. That the chief had
lost the younger of his two sons maybe hadn’t occurred to Matt yet.
    Brian ran a trembling hand over his face.
“They went to my aunt’s in Cedarville.”
    “Do you know the number there?”
    Brian’s voice broke as he rattled off the
number. “You aren’t going to tell him it’s Sam over the phone, are you?”
    Lieutenant Collins put his arm around
Brian’s shoulders. “No, son.” He barked out orders to the cops who had arrived
after him, sending one of them to call in the chief’s contact number to the
dispatcher. When Brian’s knees buckled, the lieutenant eased him to the ground
and sat next to him.
    “Is