Sparkling Hope (The Eastburgh Devils Series Book 1)

It was just after three in the morning when I woke up from the mattress with an unwilling feeling in my stomach and looked at the bright screen of my cell phone to check the time.

A few messages had reached me, some pictures Aria had taken and sent to the group of Lucy, her, and me, and a text message from my brother Ethan, which I read through after scrolling through the pictures.

ETHAN

I like Weston, but next time, tell me about him sooner, Luni.

LUNA

Then you should have told me about Jude as well.

ETHAN

I will introduce Jude to you and Mom tomorrow night at dinner at home anyway

You’ll like her, I’m sure.

LUNA

Seems like we are both pretty happy right now.

His news reminded me of the dinner Mom had planned. I tried to talk her out of it initially because our dining room table was packed in thousands of boxes, but she and Weston agreed that he would assemble the table before dinner.

Weston said last night after the game that he would call me on his way home. Not a single text message or missed call from him.

He went to Sigma Devils with some students. They met there to celebrate the Eastburgh Devils’ win and the end of the Game Week.

Ethan was there, too, and if anything bad happened, he would have already let me know, but I clicked on Weston’s name in my contact list and called him.

It rang a few times until it went to voicemail, and I hung up.

These negative thoughts occupied my entire head, and it felt like they were pressing my body into my soft mattress.

I got up and plodded down the stairs to the kitchen and turned on the light from the lamp hanging from the ceiling. In the fridge, I found a carafe of water and thin slices of lemon and poured myself a glass with it.

A few minutes passed that I spent downstairs in the kitchen, and while I drank the cold water, I looked out the window on the street,  which was lit up with streetlights.

I returned to my room and put the glass of water on my makeshift nightstand. This consisted of a cardboard box filled with medals and certificates, which had accumulated over the years I swam.

I snuggled under the blanket Weston had for sleep last night.

I tried to fight my heavy eyelids until I gave in, and they closed again.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, my cell phone lit up, and Weston’s name appeared. I’d never sat up straight in my bed again so quickly and pressed the green button with my finger.

‘Hello? Weston?’

‘Eastburgh Police Department. Officer Harding,’ the man on the other side of the phone introduced himself.

My heart was racing like crazy, and I could feel the heat flowing into my cheeks, and they tingled.

‘Your boyfriend Weston Sinclair was in a car accident on the highway, and you were his emergency contact.’

The words barely registered with me. I stared off into nothing, and in my head, those words swirled and pushed against my heart as I realized what the officer had just said.

‘Mom,’ I cried after the man told me the address, and I gathered any clothes off the floor and put them on myself.

Again I called her name as loud as I could.

Suddenly she yanked the door open and rubbed her eyes.

‘Weston’s been in a car accident.’

I was in a shock trance.

So much was happening in my head, and then again, nothing. Everything going through my head was forgotten in the next second, and knowing that something had happened to him purred any air from me.

It felt like someone was cutting off my heart with a barbed wire fence, and in my stomach was a thunderstorm. Mom immediately ran downstairs with me after my words, put on her winter coat, and slipped on some shoes.

The officer didn’t tell me anything about his condition or general status. I called Rick and Camilla several times on the car ride to let them know.

We drove as fast as we could to the highway, where Mom stopped immediately as the blue lights became visible from a distance, and we couldn’t get any further through the stationary cars, police cars, ambulances, and a fire truck anyway.

A towing service was also already on the scene.

I got out of the car and started running. I felt the cold November air on my tingling skin and noticed how much my cheeks were glowing.

It was like a bad horror movie, but this was my reality, and I was in the middle of it. Yellow tape with POLICE in capital letters blocked the gawking people from their cars from the accident.

Even though it was the middle of the night, some people stood before the tape and looked.

Police officers were running wildly everywhere, mumbling something into their walkie-talkies.

I kept a lookout for Weston until I saw him lying on a cot in the ambulance.

‘Weston,’ I yelled his name as I looked into his living face.

 A stone fell from my heart, probably leaving a crack as it hit the highway’s asphalt.

Weston was alive.

I pushed through the people and the reporters and bent to get under the barrier tape.

‘You can’t go this way,’ an officer stopped me and my Mom.

‘She’s allowed to,’ another officer with a bald head waved at us.

Mom stopped and started talking to this man, and I ran to the ambulance and hugged Weston.

I touched his chest and felt his heartbeat under my palm.

‘I was so worried,’ I started to cry, and I could feel the individual tears rolling down my cheek.

Weston had a laceration on his head and several cuts spread across his face, which extended all the way down his neck. His arm was already in a splint, as was his knee. The sweater had been cut open, and the skin on Weston’s ribs was discolored purple.

‘I’m so sorry, Luna. I didn’t see the truck,’ he apologized and sobbed.

I was happy to have him alive in front of me and to be able to touch him, and at the same time, I was sad to have to see him with so many injuries.

Exactly then, something happened where everything was so good. Everything started to work and went well.

‘Don’t ever apologize for that, Wes. You’re alive, and that’s the most important and only thing that matters now,’ I leaned my forehead gently against his, which was covered in sweat and dried blood.

I kissed him lightly on the forehead and squeezed my eyes shut to stifle more tears.

From the open door of the ambulance, I saw his Jeep. The passenger side was completely crushed.

God, I was glad he wasn’t sitting there.

My grip on his hand tightened as I looked at the car and imagined what else could have happened. Little shards were all over the floor, and the passenger door was barely recognizable. It was so dented.

‘Luna, I’m so sorry,’ he apologized again.

‘Stop apologizing, Wes.’

His jaw, as well as his lip, was trembling.

He raised his hand to where an IV had already been placed and tucked a strand behind my ear.

‘Promise me you won’t hate me. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I didn’t see the truck coming.’

‘I could never hate you,’ I said in a firm tone because I didn’t understand why he kept apologizing.

Individual tears rolled down his cheeks from his eyes.

‘I am so sorry,’ he whispered again.

At that moment, another transport stretcher drove along the open ambulance door. Only there was no human to be seen but a black body bag. I released my grip from Weston’s hand and exited the ambulance.

Two slightly younger officers pushed the transport stretcher past me, and another police officer spoke into his walkie-talkie clipped to his vest.

‘Additional involved person removed from the crash vehicle. Dead body identified as Ethan Montgomery.’