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The car siren was wailing into the empty night sky, a pained and distorted noise. Underneath it, the radio was still somehow playing - Jepsen's Call Me Maybe, of all things, warbling through crinkling static.
Wendy shifted from where she was collapsed on the gravel road, then cursed under her breath as the motion pulled on her busted leg, made her head swim in pain.
"Hot night, wind was blowin'
Where you think you're goin', baby?"
She looked up and down the road - nothing, and nobody. Wendy hissed through her teeth. Great. Just great.
Shaking breath in, back out and again. Cool and collected, the unflappable Wendy. She couldn't stop shivering.
Stiff hands drifted down to her pants pocket, pulling out her little flip phone with a trembling hand. It slid and slipped in her jittering hands, unable to keep and good grip, fingers numb and slick with blood.
Holding her phone in both hands, her thumbs hovered over the numbers. For a moment she thought, I need to call dad.
But she hesitated. She could already hear the lecture in her head, his grisly shouts about her recklessness through her flip phones tiny microphone. No, that wasn't fair, he wouldn't do that. He'd yell, but he wouldn't be mad, not at her. No, he'd worry, and that was even worse, had the pool of nausea swimming in her gut.
…there was someone else she could call, the second thought appearing in her head with just as much clarity as the first. She didn't know if he would even help, but- she felt warm tears prickle at her eyes, making her breath shaky, he'd make her feel better.
With trembling fingers, she punched the numbers onto the little buttons on her phone, watching the screen light up, and the dial begin to ring. She pressed the phone to her ear, trying to keep her breathing even, from shaking out into the small sobbing sounds it was trying to be. Cool. Collected. Unflappable-
The other side picked up.
"Wendy?" Soos's voice was groggy, and Wendy wished she felt worse about waking him up at this hour, but mostly she was so relieved to hear his voice it was hard to feel anything else. "What's up dude?"
"Soos-" Wendy hiccuped, breath hitching, "I- there was an accident- and-" she could barely get it out, feeling herself rapidly breaking down, ice walls splintering and cracking, leaving her raw and unguarded.
"Are you okay?" Soos asked immediately, suddenly sounding a lot more awake now.
"The jackass just fuckin- he came up out of nowhere, he hit my car, and- and-"
"Woah, woah, slow down, dude-" Soos rushed to console her. "Where are you?"
"That one back road, behind, y'know, behind that one place, used to be the mattress store-"
"The arcade?"
"Uh-huh," Wendy choked out, feeling so small, sniveling like a little kid, shivering in the brisk night air.
"I'll come get you," Soos said, voice so steady and quick, like it was the easiest thing in the world. "Can you wait for me there? I'll be there in ten."
Wendy knew she should say yes. She knew she should agree, say that's fine, I can wait, take your time dude, maybe crack an over-easy joke on top of it to warm this cold air, but something in her had her hesitating. A locked gear, frozen in place, refusing to turn. Her hands were still shaking.
"I can put Melody on the phone," Soos said suddenly. "She can talk to you while you wait for me."
"I- no, it's late, she should sleep-"
"Don't even worry about that, dude," Soos said, then pulling away from the phone, she could hear his voice, a rustling around, muffled talking, "Melody dude, can you sit with Wendy for a mo'?"
Wendy could hear as the phone traded hands.
"Hey Wendy," came Melody's voice, groggy and fresh from sleep, but just as friendly and lax as it always was. "What's up?"
"Hi Melody…" Wendy sniffled.
"Soos will be right there," Melody told her, "In the meantime, wanna talk to me for a minute?"
Wendy huddled against the cooling metal of her car, pressing the phone to her ear as she listened to Melody's calming voice, and she could finally, finally feel her thundering, panic-rapid heart start to slow.