Clementine had no idea how long she was unconscious, she only knew that the airbag had deflated enough for her to see around herself. The rising sun illuminated everything in a screaming tableau.

First she looked over toward John, who was still unconscious. Clementine tried to reach over and push his airbag out of the way, but found to her horror that she couldn't move her arm. She tried again, thinking to herself, I'm going to move my left arm over to John's airbag and push it out of the way. This time her arm obeyed her, and she saw her hand squeezing the fabric of the airbag as she tried to shove it down.

She looked again at Johnny, whose head was thrown back at an awkward angle, hands dangling limply at his sides.

"John." Clementine meant to shout his name, but it came out in barely a whisper. "Johnny." She was leery of shaking him, thinking vaguely of spinal cord injuries and brain damage, scary things that she didn't want to dwell upon for too long.

She could now see the front of the car, and tree they'd hit, much too close to them. The front of the car was less than half its original length, having accordioned nearly into the windshield. Smoke rose in the cool morning air from under the crumpled hood.

Oh my god, what if it caught on fire?

This thought blazed through Clementines mind, cutting through the murk.

They needed to get out of the car.

She needed to call 911.

She sat and considered which to do first.

Where was her purse? She felt around with her feet, but couldn't find it. She then tried to open her door, but found it wouldn't, the mechanism clicking uselessly when she lifted the handle.

Next to her, Johnny moaned and she looked over at him. His head was thrown back, only the whites of his eyes showing, the pupils rolled far back into his head.

Seeing him like this terrified Clem, the fear spiking through her and waking her up as the thought of fire had done.

She had to find her phone.

But the airbag was still in the way, the fabric now draped across her lap.

She saw something out of the corner of her eye, a flicker, and she looked up to see a small flame curl from under the hood.

Oh my god.

But the gas tank was in the back, right? No chance of an explosion or anything? Clementine realized she had no idea how cars worked, or if anything could explode in such a situation.

She yanked again on the door handle, but to no avail.

"Johnny, please wake up," she said uselessly. "We have to get out of the car right now."

Even in her state of shock, she knew that John wasn't going anywhere under his own power, not with his eyes rolled back in his head like that.

She heard a car come around the corner and slow down, and she tried to turn around to call for help. She realized that she couldn't, not with her seat belt on. The car stopped, and Clem heard the sound of a door opening.

Then, miraculously, her sister's voice.

"Clem? Oh dear god, Clementine, are you okay?"

But Hyacinth hated her and was in love with John, surely she'd try to save him first?

But no, here she was, on Clem's side of the car, trying to open the door.

"Don't move, Clemmy, I'm calling 911 right now, don't move."

Clem closed her eyes and lay back on the headrest.

Thank goodness for Hy.

Clem heard her sister talking to 911, then try the door again. This time the door opened, squealing in protest as it did so.

"Clem, the car's on fire, you have to get out right now, right now."

Clementine shook her head. "I can get out on my own, please go help Johnny, and be careful when you move him."

"I'm not leaving you, Clem, come on, let's get you out, then I'll get John."

Clementine looked up at her sister, who was crying, blue eyes huge.

"You still love me, Hy? Do you?" Suddenly this seemed like the most important question in the whole world.

"Of course I still love you, you idiot, now come on."

Clementine put her arm around Hy's neck and tentatively tried to stand. With the door open, she could smell the smoke, and hear the crackling sound of the fire.

Hyacinth carefully lowered Clem down to the ground, then went around to John's side of the car.

"I can't get the door open," Clem heard her say. She watched her sister tug fruitlessly on the door. She could see John, still motionless, head thrown back.

Then she heard the sound of sirens, and began to cry.

Help was coming.

Then, suddenly, a firefighter was running past her with a hose to put out the fire as another one manhandled John's door with a crowbar.

Had she passed out?

She must have, given the level of activity around her.

Then more sirens, and an ambulance was there too, trim and tidy EMTs spilling out of the vehicle like an organized clockwork.

One of them approached her.

"Please help John first," she said through her tears, gesturing to where he sat. She saw that the firefighters had managed to get his door open, and someone was kneeling next to him. "I'm fine, please help Johnny."

Then Hyacinth, whom Clementine hadn't even known was next to her, spoke. "Clem, John's getting help, don't worry, let this nice woman help you."

Clementine jumped at the sound of the hose spitting water onto the ruined hood of the car. The hood sizzled and steamed.

"Where do you hurt?" the EMT asked.

Clementine opened her mouth to tell her she didn't hurt anywhere, when she realized that her right ankle did hurt, a lot. She pointed, and the EMT picked up her foot, easing her shoe off.

"Looks like a fracture," she said sympathetically.

Clementine nodded, craning her neck to see how John was doing.

They'd immobilized his head and were easing him out of the car and onto a backboard. They then lifted the backboard onto a gurney and wheeled him out of Clem's view.

And he hadn't moved, as far as Clem could see. Other than that one, terrifying moan, he'd shown no sign of life at all.

The ambulance pulled away from the curb, siren wailing, presumably to take John to the closest Emergency Room.

Clementine could see a few cars stopped, people stepping out of their vehicles to watch the drama unfold.

"We'll get an ambulance here for you and get this seen to, okay?" The EMT nodded reassuringly at Clem and Hy. "You'll be good as new in no time."

"Will I go to the same place they took Johnny?" Clem asked, reaching out to grasp the EMT's sleeve. "I want to know if he's okay."

"I can just take her in my car," Hyacinth offered. "It might be faster?"

"No, I'd rather she be transported by us," the EMT replied.

Clem noticed for the first time that she was wearing a name tag, and that her name was Hannah.

"Thank you, Hannah, for taking care of me," she said.

"Yes, thank you," Hy echoed.

The second ambulance pulled up, and much to her embarrassment, Clementine herself was helped onto a gurney and trundled into the back of the ambulance.

"Can I go with her?" Hy asked.

She was given permission to ride in the back with Clem, and she climbed in, sitting against the wall so she could hold Clem's hand.

Clem sat up a little so she could look at her sister, even as the EMTs tried to push her back down. "Hy? I'm so sorry about everything that happened with me and John, I'm so sorry—"

"Shh," Hyacinth admonished, squeezing Clem's hand. "Don't talk about that now, just keep quiet, okay?"

Clem nodded and lay back down, closing her eyes. She felt her consciousness drifting away, and wondered if this was a response to the accident.

"No, please stay awake if you can," the EMT said. "We're nearly there, all right?"

Clementine nodded and opened her eyes, trying to focus on something. She looked again at her sister, who'd finally stopped crying.

"Don't worry, Hy, I'm going to be fine," Clem assured her.

"I hope so," Hy responded, squeezing her hand again. "I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, Clementine, I really don't." She leaned forward. "I'm sorry I was such a bitch to you, I need to say that right now, okay? I'm sorry for everything. You didn't do anything wrong, not a thing."

"No, that's not true, I lied to you. I shouldn't have," Clem contradicted, shaking her head slightly.

"And those things I said about you?" Hy continued as though Clem hadn't spoken. "I didn't mean them, I was just so jealous. I think you're the most amazing person, the most amazing sister—"

Now it was Clementine's turn to soothe her sister.

"Like you said, we don't need to worry about all this now, right? All we need to know is that we love each other, and we always have and always will."

"We always have and always will," Hy echoed, stroking Clem's hand.