ONE

...Shattered Peace...

"Can you believe we get to see Crabnormal Behavior before anyone else?!" Cyd exclaims loudly, her long, dark hair bouncing with every step she takes. She walks fast, and I have to take long strides just to keep up with her. If we don't hurry, we won't make it to the movie on time- well, not in time for the previews, and Cyd knows that if I don't get to see the previews, I don't feel like I've seen the whole movie. That, and I want some time to get drinks and candy. I really don't even want to see this movie, but it's Cyd's turn to pick, and this beats any of the horror movies she might have usually picked.

"Cyd, Barry's an executive producer- he's seen it!" I argue, putting a little more pep in my step as she steadily pulls ahead of me.

"He doesn't count!" Cyd retorts, and I don't know how to respond with anything other than "He doesn't?!"

It's a cool night, not a cloud in the darkening indigo sky, and a nice breeze ruffles my fluffy blonde hair. I can see a thousand stars glittering over my head, twinkling silver against the dark sky. I feel good, like I know that nothing could possibly go wrong tonight.

The movie theater parking lot is packed when we arrive, and being on foot in the middle of a bunch of cars is a little unnerving for me. Cyd notices, and reassures me that everything will be alright. I still feel uneasy- women's intuition, I guess- but I ignore the feeling of dread deep in my stomach and instead follow Cyd through the lot.

"Huh," Cyd says, scanning all of the cars as we walk past. "Good thing we didn't drive- we'd have to park over at the pizza place!"

"Yeah..." I reply, watching the cars cruise past us. We wait for a gap in them and cross the street together, and I don't see the shiny blue Toyota Corolla pulling out of the parking space just behind us.

We're on the edge of the road now, the theater entrance just feet away, but there's so many people that there's no room for the two of us on the sidewalk. Some people are entering and some are leaving- the stench of alcohol wafts from some of them, and I wrinkle my nose.

Cyd makes a face. "Whoever thought it was a good idea to sell beer at a movie theater concession stand was an idiot."

I laugh, trying not to gag at the smell- it makes my stomach churn and my head ache. "Tell me about it-!" The words die in my thoat, a terrible noise drowning them out before I can register the source of the sound.

SCREEEEEEEEECH!

I raise my chin, eyes widening as it clicks- it's the sound of screeching tires that had reached my ears heartbeats before I realized it. My feet are glued to the road as people all around us move out of the way, but all I see is the bright pair of headlights belonging to the swerving blue Toyota- coming straight at me like a speeding bullet.

A scream builds in my throat, but not a sound leaves my half-open mouth as my brain frantically tells my body to move. It doesn't listen, like my knees are locked and my feet glued to the ground.

"Shelby! Watch out!"

I barely hear Cyd's voice over the blood roaring in my ears. I don't see Cyd's facial expression. I don't see her start to move until the car is nearly on us. All I see in those few seconds is a blur of long, dark hair, and then suddenly I feel a powerful shove, and then I'm on my butt on the sidewalk and safely out of the car's path.

But I barely get a moment to feel relieved, because less than a heartbeat later, I hear a bloodcurdling scream, and I'm not sure if it comes from my mouth or Cyd's.

Then I see it, and I wish I didn't have to.

Cyd had acted just fast enough to save me, but not herself. The car strikes her head on, her body rolls up onto the hood of the car, and the car's momentum sends her through the windshield. The sound of glass shattering is almost as loud as my heart's beats.

The cars keeps going until it slams into a lamppost, denting the front of the car. Time seems to slow down as I watch the car finally stop.

I see everything, and I can't move, not at first. Then suddenly, something spurs me into action, and I'm on my feet, running towards the car, just vaguely aware of the witnesses calling out to me. I ignore them, because nothing else in this world matters until I can get to my best friend.

"Cyd?... Cyd!?" I cry, climbing up onto the hood of the car. The driver of the car is slumped in his seat, unconscious, and he reeks of alcohol. "SOMEONE CALL 9-1-1!" I scream at the bystanders gathering around.

Moments pass and somebody tells me that an ambulance will be here in a few minutes, but I hardly register it. I want to throw up, I want to run away, I want to cry, but I can't bring myself to move.

There's blood. So much blood, more blood than I've ever seen in my life. It's thick and scarlet and pours from the multiple cuts over Cyd's broken, crumpled body. The twisted lower half of her body is inside the car, and the upper half is out. I can see the rise and fall of her chest- it's faint, but it's there.

My stomach lurches as I reach out to her, softly calling her name, over and over again, until ut sounds like less of a name and more of a desperate plea- "Cyd? Cyd?! CYD!?"

This is not happening. It isn't. It can't be. My best friend is not dead. She can't be. She isn't. I refuse to believe it, because it's not true, it's not. But I don't see the rise and fall of her chest any more. It stops.

"Cyd, Cyd, please," I plead, nearly choking on the words. "Please wake up... We gotta go home..."

No response. It's almost like she's... Dead. My hand freezes, just inches from her hand, as the realization crashes down like a heavy rain. A wail rises from my chest, barely escaping my lips before a low groan escapes Cyd's.

"Cyd?!" I cry hopefully, and then she coughs, then inhales, exhales, inhales, exhales. Shallow breaths, but breaths just the same.

Her dark eyes flutter open, clouded in pain, brimming with withheld tears. She blinks, then speaks, she voice a low, hoarse whisper. "Sh...el...byyy.." Tears flood my eyes as I release a breath I didn't know I'd held in. "You're...okay?" she asks softly.

I nod, smiling and swallowing a sob. "Yeah," I told her, "Thanks to you.. But... you're not."

"Touch... So we... Make this... Never happen."

I don't know why I didn't think of that before, but now it seems so incredibly obvious. I pull part of her limp, broken body into my lap, so that her head rests on my thigh and I can easily wrap my arms around her, thinking over and over again about how we needed to get back to the present so that this never happens.

The familiar orange-gold flickering came, then went, flickering like a dying lightbulb, but in the end, nothing happened. I whimper in fear, panic rising in a lump in my throat. "There's a delay in our jump!" I croak.

Cyd groans, blinking up at me with round, dark brown eyes, her face tight with pain. "She..lby...I'm-I'm going to-t-to die, aren't I?" she asks pitifully.

I swallow hard, unable to answer her. My stomach lurches as I look at her broken body. I didn't know what to say to that, because at that moment, it hits me- if Cyd doesn't get help soon... Death was a very real possibility.

"No..." I tell her, "You... You can't... I won't let you, you're not allowed." I try to joke, because I know I'm a bit of a huge control freak, and Cyd has always found it weakly, a smile graces Cyd's features. Then she breathes a soft sigh.

"Sh... el...by..." Cyd whimpers, her dark eyes round and wet with tears. "I'm... scared..."

"I know, Cyd," I whisper gently. "I know...Don't worry... I'm here, I won't let anything happen to you..." I can't fight back the tears- they stream down my cheeks and onto Cyd's skin, which grows paler and paler by the second. A lump rises in my throat, and I swallowed hard.

Cyd keeps talking. "Take care of Diesel for me, okay?" she requests. "And please... Thank your parents again... For taking me in... A-and, when my parents get back from P-Puru, t-tell them I... I love them. 'Cause I never..got...to show it..."

"I won't have to do those things, Cyd," I tell her softly. "I'm going to fix this, alright?"

I decide to try time-traveling again, because maybe now that Cyd's a little stronger, it'll work. My stomach lurches, at the thought that maybe it won't work, and I pull her closer, crying into her shoulder. Back to the present, back to the present, pleeaase... I can't loose my best friend, I just can't...

It doesn't work.

I can hear sirens in the distance. The ambulance is almost here, and then Cyd can get the help she needs. I whimper, praying that it's not too late for her. God wouldn't take away my best friend, would He?"

"Come on, Cyd... Just a little longer, okay?" I ask her gently, watching the lights appear from further up the streets as the sirens grow louder. "You can hold on that long, right?"

No response. Two ambulances and a swarm of police cars came into my view, and I lean down to whisper in Cyd's ear-

"Cyd, please, I can't make it without you... I know it's hard... Just... Don't let go..."

TO BE CONTINUED...

Our friendship was the one thing in life that mattered

And it all could have ended when that glass windshield shattered.

They say that good things in this life may never last

But I know we'll be best friends whenever, present, future, and past

-Shelby Marcus

A/N- Hey, guys! Pebblemist here! This is a rewrite of another story of mine, I Can't Make It Without You, which a lot of people seemed to like... Except for me. I wasn't happy with it and decided to rewrite it, and thus this was born.

Each chapter will end with a poem from the point of view of Shelby, Barry, or Naldo, in regards to Cyd's condition at the end of the respective chapter. This will actually have an impact in the story later on, so stay tuned for more chapters!

I'm pretty excited about this story, and if you enjoy it, please let me know with a review! They mean a lot to me :)

Stay gold, you people!

- Pebblemist

P.S. If you can guess what the 'you people' part of my sign off was inspired by, you get a virtual cookie! You'll never get it.