Sarah, Edmund, and Pod rushed from the crowd when they saw who was on the stretcher. Edmund felt a pang of guilt when he saw Wilona’s face. She wasn’t crying. Instead, a hard determination.

The ambulance pulled up and wheeled Odi in. Wilona was about to hop in as well when Odi’s mother and sister appeared at her side. Wilona helped them up but the EMT waved her aside. There was no more room.

She watched, still as stone, as the sirens and lights faded down the street. Her mind was a somehow both murky and highly focused. She felt like she was bracing against a world swaying beneath her feet. She was going to be sick– no, she was going to punch something– no, not that either. Decisions frittered through her head and vanished into ether. Somewhere at the fringes of her awareness she knew someone was calling her name, but… answering seemed so pointless. Yet, she knew if she did nothing—

A soft hand clasped her own. Sarah was suddenly there, her fiery hair filling Wilona’s vision. Sarah was saying things but none of it registered. Wilona’s eyes were fixed on the distance, and something unpleasant was welling deep inside.

Sarah pulled Wilona by the arm and she moved automatically. She was led to a car by the road. Dr. Edden was driving, Pod had taken passenger, and Edmund was in the back. Sarah coaxed Wilona into the middle seat then followed her in and they sped after the ambulance.

Wilona sat rigid in place. Edmund put a hand on her shoulder but she didn’t react. Slowly, Wilona brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs forming a tense ball. She tipped over onto Sarah’s lap and began trembling. Sarah wrapped her arms around her and began humming. Only able to watch, Edmund sad quietly and waited for the ride to be over.

–––––

Two hours later, Wilona had calmed down. She sat, facing the window in the waiting room and clenching Sarah’s hand. Pod and Edmund had fallen asleep. In that moment something occurred to Wilona.

“Sarah,” she said.

“What’s up?”

“I don’t have to say anything, right? About you and Lily?”

Wilona felt Sarah’s fingers twitch.

“No. No, I don’t suppose you do.”

“Good. Because right now I don’t think I could get through a speech.”

“That’s alright.”

Wilona turned to find Sarah smiling through tears eyes.

“It’s obvious,” Sarah said.

–––––

Odi knew he was in pain, but he could figure out where it was coming from. Narrowing down the origin was like feeling for a light switch that you weren’t sure was there. His body felt heavy and everything was dark. It was a little while before he realized he was actually awake and opened his eyes.

A hospital. He was in a hospital. This led to an immediate sinking in his guy. He hadn’t finished the race. Worse than that, he wasn’t sure he’d run again. This, more than the knowledge of pain, went straight to his eyes and he began to cry. There was no holding back. he didn’t care what the nurses thought, what the other patients thought. He cried. Turns out, a nurse cared and came rushing into the room.

“Mr. Uba! You’re awake? What’s wrong? Where does it hurt?”

The questions came far faster than Odi could answer in that moment. He shook his head and continued to cry. The nurse got the message.

“Oh, there, there,” she said and sat down next to him. “Come on, it’s not so back. We’ve bound up your leg and you’ll heal just fine. There’s nothing to cry about.”

But there was something to cry about and he continued to do so.

“I’ll go find your family. Wait here.”

But before the nurse could move, Nanu and his mother came bursting into the room.

“Odion!” his mother said as she rushed to his bed. The nurse hopped out of the way. She gripped his free hand, pressed it to her forehead and began muttering prayers. Odi smiled and tried to speak but his strength was gone. Nanu approached from the other side of the bed but seeing the tubes and needs up close proved far too much for her and she queasily backed into a chair and slumped down. Odi gave the smallest of chuckles.

Quietly, the nurse slipped out of the room.

Outside the door, the nurse sighed. She’d seen similar many times before but it was always hard. Always…

She headed down the hall back to the waiting room where she found two boys fast asleep and two girls rest on each other’s shoulders. The red headed girl looked up suddenly and they locked eyes. The nurse tried to look away as if she were busy but the redhead nudged her friend and made a straight path to her.

“Is he awake?” the redhead said. Her tone was a fair blend of concern and politeness that instantly put the nurse at ease.

“Yes.”

“Thanks.”

The redhead hurried back to her friend, kicking the boys in the legs on the way.

“Get up, you two. Odi’s conscious.”

–––––

The sun had set. Edmund, Pod, Sarah, and Nanu had all left to find food. Odi knew Nanu only volunteered to go because of Edmund. Odi didn’t have the heart to tell her he was gay and so expected an earful when they returned.

His mother had left to “stretch her legs,” leaving Odi and Wilona alone for the first time since the accident.

Wilona found space on Odi’s bed and had nestled up against him. Their fingers were tightly intertwined as they lay in each other’s presence.

“Wil,” Odi croaked.

“What is it?”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“I ruined the race for both of us.”

Wilona looked up at Odi’s face to find a steady flow of tears.

“Hey, hey, hey,” Wilona said as she reached up to touch his face. “It’s ok. It was just a race.”

“You know that’s now true. That was our chance. That was our chance…”

“It’s ok… we’ll figure something out.”