Second Chances: Between the Lines

Second Chances: Between the Lines
By Hero541
The Crash

Josh awoke with a start for what seemed like the hundredth time that night. His dreams were a little less intimidating than before, but their vividness was still pretty bad. He just hoped that he didn’t wake the three fillies around his body whenever he jerked awake. Looking at them, he was surprised to see them all still sound asleep, their little colorful bodies curled tight, their minds off in their own peaceful dreams. What I’d give to have it that easy right now…

Realizing he wasn’t going to get any more sleep that night, he looked to the clock on the wall illuminated by the moonlight. Its face read about four-o-clock. Josh silently swore under his breath, wanting to get out of bed, but not disturb the little ponies he shared the bed with. After about another half-hour of lying there, he dared to move, carefully pulling his body out from under the sheets and raising a leg over the sleeping form of Sweetie Belle.

Miraculously, he didn’t disturb a single pony as he climbed out of the bed and set foot on the floor. Smiling at this, he decided he’d go downstairs and just sit for awhile, maybe even read a book. Anything to take his mind off this night, which was just one of many on his road to recovery. Making his way to the door, he was about to duck down and exit, when he heard a small yawn behind him.

Turning, he saw Apple Bloom awake, raising her tiny yellow hooves over her head and making a huge yawn.

“Where’re ya’ll goin?” inquired the filly, her mind still very hazy.

“I was just gonna go and sit downstairs for a bit.” he replied, “I can’t sleep anymore. Sorry if I woke you up, Apple Bloom. You don’t have to be up if you don’t want to.”

“Can Ah get a glass of water?” she asked, her eyes still half closed, “Ah’m powerful thirsty.”

“Sure.” Josh said, smiling and carefully reaching down to grab the little filly.

The human cradled the miniscule pony in his arms and carefully made his way down the stairs. As he reached the kitchen, he gently set Apple Bloom down on the counter and fetched a glass from the nearby cupboard, filling it with water and handing it to the tiny filly. She downed the glass in several small gulps and placed it on the counter, holding out her hooves once more. Josh picked her up, his one hand under her little rump, the other stroking her strawberry mane as her head rested on his shoulder.

Not wanting to wake Sweetie Belle or Scootaloo, he sat in a chair downstairs and gently stroked Apple Bloom’s mane. She was fast asleep in his lap, her little body rising and falling with each breath. As Josh stroked the filly, he felt his racing mind ease a little. This was a type of serenity he’d need to savor, because he knew he wouldn’t see much of it for a little while. Already, his dreams were tormenting him, and they would only get worse with time.

Slowly, the sun began to rise, and Josh still sat in the chair, Apple Bloom fast asleep on his lap. His dream played over and over in his mind, Richard’s enraged face continuing to flash before his eyes as he blinked. A chill ran down his spine as he remembered that day.

*****

“You sure about this, man? You’ve been smoking a lot today.”

“Don’t be a puss, Rich. That jackass wants a race, he’ll get a race.”

Richard had a concerned look on his face as Josh revved his own engine. The car next to them responded in kind. Josh’s eyes narrowed at the driver next to him, who responded by flipping off the budding producer.

“So, I’m gonna guess the finish’ll be that lamp post at the end of the road there.” said Josh, pointing at said object, “Bet we’ll beat his sorry ass there by about fifteen seconds or so. That pussy Vette of his ain’t got shit on this beast!”

“Just be careful, okay?” said Richard, sitting back in his seat and preparing for the worst, “You don’t need to be getting a ticket for speeding. Again.”

Josh said nothing to that, instead shifting his focus on the brightly glowing traffic light in front of him, its red hue illuminating the otherwise black night. His foot sat ready on the gas pedal, awaiting the change that would send his car shooting down the long, narrow road. He’d been smoking a lot of chronic today, but that hardly held him back. He was as sharp as ever.

The light changed to green and both cars shot forwards, peeling out and shooting gravel and dust behind them. The other car quickly gained the advantage at about 400 feet, but Josh made it up. He felt the adrenaline course through his veins as his car passed the one next to them, leaving the other driver in the dust. In no time, he’d passed the finish, the other driver trailing behind him by about ten seconds.

“Yeah! Fuck Yeah!” he shouted, slowing a little, “Told you we’d win!”

“That was fuckin awesome, bro! Totally awesome!”

Josh smiled at Richard, whose face wore an expression of excitement and glee. The two of them were so enthralled by their win against the other driver and his Corvette that they never even saw the truck barreling towards the passenger side of the car. All they heard was a single loud crash and then blackness overtook their minds.

When Josh awoke this time, he was in a bright room, surrounded by all kinds of loud beeping machines. His left leg, right arm, and head were heavily bandaged and hurt like nothing he’d ever felt before. He wore a neck brace, restricting him from looking in any particular direction except forward. One of his eyes was swollen as well, restricting his already limited vision even further.

“Oh good, you’re finally awake.” said a voice nearby.

Josh saw a tall, pretty, African-American nurse walk forward, carrying a clipboard. She flipped through the papers on it once, before looking down to Josh’s broken form and smiling.

“You gave us all quite a scare there, Mr. Daniels.” she said, checking some of the equipment attached to Josh’s body, “Things have been pretty touch and go for awhile now, what with that head injury of yours. However, it seems that no significant damage was done, and you’ll make a full recovery in no time.”

“W-w-what… h-happened t-to… me?” he managed to stammer out, his throat dry and sore.

“You were in a car accident. The other driver of the truck was pretty drunk and slammed right into your vehicle going about 45 miles an hour. You were lucky to survive an impact like that. It’s a good thing you were wearing your seat belt.”

“M-my b-b-brother…”

The nurse suddenly looked more apprehensive at his words. She placed the clipboard on the nearby table, pinching the bridge of her nose and biting her lip.

“You see… the impact was on his side of the car. That’s another reason that you’re not the worst hurt from this whole thing.”

“W-what happened to him?” asked Josh, his eyes widening in fear at her words.

“He… was killed on impact. I’m sorry. There wasn’t anything we could to for him.”

Josh felt his heart plummet. He couldn’t believe it. Richard was dead. And even worse, Josh knew it was his fault. If he hadn’t raced that guy, this might have never happened…

Hot tears flowed from Josh’s eyes. He broke down in silent sobs as the nurse apologized one more time, then left the room. It’s all my fault he thought, his body quivering at the thought of his poor brother I killed him.

*****

Josh once more felt tears flow down his face. He had inadvertently killed his one and only brother. All throughout their lives, Josh had always had Richard’s back, protecting him from anything and everything that would dare hurt him. However, Richard had died because Josh was being an idiot. Now, the memory of what he did haunted his dreams every time he stopped using.

“Hello, darling.”

Josh wiped his eyes quickly, then peered up at the staircase, watching Rarity descend.

“Why is Apple Bloom on your lap this early in the morning?” asked the unicorn, eyes locked on the little yellow filly.

“I was having a hard time sleeping last night, so the girls came in and stayed with me for the rest of the time. I got up at about 4, and Apple Bloom here needed a glass of water. I just kept her out here with me to not disturb the other girls.”

“Oh.” said Rarity, one eyebrow raised, “Why couldn’t you sleep, dear?”

“Bad dreams.”

“That’s too bad.” she said, smiling at him, her curlers in her purple-indigo mane bouncing as she sauntered over to him, “Well, tell you what. Take Apple Bloom here back up to the others and get her to bed. I’ll begin making you a big breakfast. I know you’ll need it for today.”

Josh nodded as the unicorn trotted downstairs to the kitchen. Carefully, he picked up Apple Bloom, causing her to groan in an adorably annoyed way, and took her back up to the other two fillies. As he made his way up to his room, he tried to push the thought of his dreams out of his mind, knowing he had to focus on the lesson he was to teach Vinyl today. Besides, that was the only way he was gonna get out of this world anyway.