Two

Bobby Sanders

I glanced at the guy sitting in the seat of the work van. His hair was jet black and stood up all over his head. The ends of it looked like they'd been burnt off and soot or ash was smeared on his face. He appeared confused, and I didn't want to worry him, but I'd seen what had happened and was amazed he'd survived.

I'd noticed him in the distance as I approached the small town my dad had sent me to. It was in the middle of nowhere and hidden in the heavy growth of oak trees, all of which looked ancient. The sky had grown dark, and in the distance, I would have sworn the clouds were illuminated with a strange blue glow just before a loud clap of thunder sounded at the same time a bolt of lightning hit him and blew him onto the side of the road.

I slammed on the brakes with both feet and ran to where I'd seen him land. There he was in a smoking heap, shoeless and not breathing. I thought he was dead until he sucked in a breath and blew out a puff of smoke. I was so shocked that for a moment I couldn't react, but I tried to stay calm because there was no way he could know how lucky he was.

His shoes had all but melted off him, and his jacket and shorts didn't fare much better. His eyes were wide in fright or shock, I wasn't sure which. I had to help him, and I couldn't just leave him out there on his own. So when he hesitated to get in the van, I did all I could to reassure him, and as he sat next to me now, I was glad I hadn't just left him there. His hands shook as they rested on his legs, and he rocked forward in his seat. He needed more help than I could give him.

"Is there a hospital nearby?" I asked and knew what his answer would be.

"The nearest one is twenty minutes away. Why?" he asked and met my eyes. His eyes were filled with terror which was more than easy to understand. He had to be in shock to not realize he needed to see a doctor.

"Don't worry, I'll get you there." I hit the gas and drove as fast as I could while he gave me directions. "At least the rain let up." As soon as the words were out of my mouth the skies opened up, and it was raining so hard I was forced to slow down for fear of driving off the road or hitting a slow-moving car ahead of me. His groan had me trying to push it and drive faster, but there wasn't a chance of going any faster without getting us both killed.

"It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm just—" His words were cut off as his back arched and he started to convulse.

"Fuck!" I yelled before cranking the wheel and slamming on the brakes. "Hey. Hey, look at me," I said while tapping his cheek. "Come on, man. I told you I'd drive you to the hospital, but I have no clue what to do." He stopped seizing, but his eyes were still rolled back, and he was frozen in the same position. His head thrown back against the headrest, his back arched, and his hands both clenched into claws. "Come on, Cole, it's going to be okay, I promise."

Suddenly he sucked in a deep shuddering breath and slowly relaxed back into the seat. "I—I'm okay."

"No, you're not, you just had a seizure." I brushed the hair back from his face and felt the texture of sooty ash that I refused to think about too much, but imagined it was probably burnt skin cells. "We'll be at the hospital within twenty minutes. Try to relax and I'll hurry." My own body started to shake, and I forced myself to stay in control and be calm, but I was so ill-equipped to deal with someone who had just been struck by lightning. "I probably should have called an ambulance," I rambled.

"Water," he said. His voice was dry and brittle sounding.

"Sure," I said and scrambled to find something besides the coffee I had in the center console. Finally, after reaching behind both seats and digging around underneath them, I found a half-full bottle of water. "Here, sorry it's already open."

Without a second thought he took it from me and drank it all down. "Thank you," he said, and glanced at me. He looked better, not so pale and definitely more relaxed. Then I realized I was staring at him. His eyes were beautiful, and in the back of my mind I thought it was strange I'd notice that in the middle of a crisis. And by crisis I meant the guy had just been struck by lightning and likely had internal injuries or possibly his brain had been partially fried. I shook my head and looked away from him to get my focus back on the task at hand, getting him some help.

Checking it was clear to pull out, I merged back onto the highway, and drove as fast as I could in the shitty conditions. Twenty minutes later to the second, we were pulling into the hospital parking lot. Driving right up to the emergency room entrance, I was relieved there were no other cars parked there. It was a smaller hospital, but you never knew what you were going to run into. Considering all the farms in the area I imagined they treated their share of accidents related to machinery or livestock. Hopefully someone would know how to help Cole.

"You can just leave me," Coal said from the passenger seat, still slumped over with his eyes closed.

"No, I don't think I'll be doing that. Wait right here. I'll go get someone." Before he could protest, I got out of the van and ran to the door. "Help. I brought someone in who was struck by lightning," I said to no one in particular and hoped the right person would hear.

"Where are we going?" a female orderly asked as she hurried to me pushing a wheelchair.

"This way." She followed me to the van and the two of us helped ease Cole into the chair.

"You'll need to give the front desk your information," she said before hurrying him off to the back.

"Fill this out." A clipboard was shoved at me, and when I turned away from the desk, it was to a waiting room packed with other patients. I took the last open seat between a mum and little boy who was clutching a bucket, and an older man with a large bloody bandage on his hand.

"Did your friend really get struck by lightning?" the older man on my right asked.

"Yeah. Blue lightning to be specific." I looked at the paper attached to the clipboard, but all the information they wanted was on Cole and I had zero clue how to fill it out since I didn't know him at all. I stood to walk back to the desk when the man grabbed my arm. I looked from him to his hand, but he still didn't pull it back.

"You say blue lightning?" he asked as he squinted his eyes and seemed to brace for my reply.

Tucking the clipboard under my arm I peeled his fingers loose, but he didn't react at all as his eyes were still trained on me waiting for me to answer. "Yeah. He was jogging and the storm moved in fast on him. He didn't have a chance to get under cover, I guess. I'm not really sure. I was driving past and just happened to see it happen." I realized I'd started to ramble and promptly clamped my mouth shut.

"With a flash of blue," he mumbled but then turned away and mumbled more to himself. I hurried over to the reception desk, and hoped they didn't need more information than his name and what I'd seen happen to him because that was all I had.