The Aftermath

Charlie

“Rick?” I asked nervously.

“Just sit tight, Charlie. We’ll get him to the hospital in time.”

“It’s not just a bruise, is it?”

Rick’s jaw clenched. “No. It’s not.”

I knew it was internal bleeding without having to ask. The way the skin seemed to be growing more and more purple by the minute suggested there were dangerous injuries we couldn’t see. I swallowed back my fear and bit down on my tongue.

The tears became harder to keep at bay.

Rick and I locked eyes in his rear view mirror. A second later he said, “We need to get our story straight. The doctors will want to know what happened and lying about the accident itself could be detrimental to Benji’s surgery.”

“Surgery?” I asked.

“With bleeding like that he’s going under the knife, Charlie. The doctors need accurate information. We have to give them the details of what happened without mentioning the street race.”

“Road rage,” Harley said simply.

Rick glanced at her.

She nodded and gained more confidence as she continued spea