Page 5 of Wrecked

“Goddamn it!” I kick the front bumper that is bent in and hanging off on one side. I don’t have cash to fix it or, God forbid, buy a new one. My life is on a shoestring as it is.

First, I’ll make sure Victoria is okay.

Then, I’m going to kill her.

“Victoria,” I call out into the night.

My feet stomp as I search for her. The area is fairly well lit, yet I can’t see a thing beyond that. I start to move more cautiously, the adrenaline still coursing through my veins, but my steps become more controlled.

“Victoria, where are you?”

Did she crawl out and lose her way? What if she has a concussion and doesn’t know where she is?

I scramble, turning in a circle, looking for traces of blood, a body on the ground, anything. Lights are drawing near. Good. The police will be able to help me find her.

I’m a couple of yards into the park, calling out for her, when a police car pulls up next to the crash and two officers get out.

“Stop!” a male voice calls. “It’s illegal to walk away from the site of a crash.”

I still and turn to them. “I’m looking for my friend. There was another girl in the car.”

One officer, a dark-skinned gentleman, has one hand on his holster and the other in the air while he dictates to the second officer, “Go see if you can find anyone in the woods.”

He then walks up to me and takes me by the arm. I get a look at his badge. His name is Officer Harper.

“I need you to stay with me. An ambulance is on the way.”

Feeling grateful someone is taking care of finding Victoria, I walk back to the police car with Officer Harper, waiting, as an ambulance comes down the road.

“Her name is Victoria Followell.” My words are coming out in puffs. My breathing is affected from the nervous energy pouring through my bloodstream. “She’s about five foot seven, maybe eight, with black hair, brown eyes. She was in the car with me.”

“Calm down. Take deep breaths. How much have you had to drink tonight?” the officer asks, seeming unconcerned with finding Victoria.

I answer him honestly, and when the ambulance arrives, I’m escorted into the back where they take a look at me.

Forty-five minutes later, I’m back to my normal, stable self. I don’t seem to have any injuries, but the paramedic wants to bring me to the hospital for scans, which I adamantly refuse. With no insurance and a mounting pile of debt, a trip to the ER is the last thing I need. I sign a release and decline further medical attention.

I try to call Suzanne. She’s not picking up. Neither is my brother, Luke. He’s probably already three sheets to the wind himself. There is no way I can call my parents. They’ll freak. They’re the worrying type.

“Leah Paige, you have to come with me,” Officer Harper says when I step down from the ambulance.

“Are you taking me home?”

“No. You’re under arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.”

“But I wasn’t driving. I told you, it was Victoria. Did you get ahold of her? Did you even look for her?” My voice is shaky. I don’t know what to do with my hands, so they’re flying about in rapid movements.

Officer Harper is just staring at me. The other officer is in the patrol car, typing something into a laptop.

“It was Victoria!” I yell, my body lurching toward him, as if the closer I get to his ear, the easier he’ll comprehend what I’m saying. “She was behind the wheel. You have to believe me.”

He takes me by the elbow and swings my arm behind my back. The realization hits me. Victoria isn’t hurt or lost in the woods. She bailed. The bitch fled the scene because she was high on God knows what and knew she’d get arrested.

“Oh, no, no, no, no, no. You don’t understand. I would never drink and drive. I work in a bar. I’m the one who calls taxis for everyone,” I plead while the officer puts my other hand behind my back and places handcuffs on my wrists.

He’s reading me my rights, but I don’t hear a word. All I know is I’m being arrested for a crime I didn’t commit.

My body heaves forward, and a tinge of bile rushes up from my gut. “Please, you have to look in there. There has to be a sign. Something that shows I was the passenger.”