Chapter Text
Edward was excited, he’d heard about something supernatural being written off as normal in the next town over and just had to check it out. Louis had also wanted to go along, since he is worried that people may be messing with things outside their powers. So, Edward’s minions and the supernatural investigation club were coming together to check this out.
Almost all of them could fit in Edward’s van, but not all. Which is what led Barry to driving himself and the quietest passenger, Isaac, there. It wasn’t the best weather to drive in, but Barry trusted himself enough to believe he was a good driver. Even though there was almost no one on the roads, the teens still went.
The car shook a bit from the strong winds, and as they kept going, Barry started to fear losing control of the wheel. He wanted to pull over, but there wasn’t anywhere safe to, so he kept going. Trying not to go too fast, but ultimately still going too fast for when the control was inevitably torn from him.
Edward had left a bit earlier than them, so Barry hoped the same thing wasn’t or hadn’t happened to him. He really tried to hold on, even as control started slipping. Attempting to slow down, and even hitting the brakes, but the car kept moving. Frustrated, swear words left his mouth as he kept trying to regain control, not even noticing what was coming.
The car hadn’t slowed, despite what he tried, and it seemed that Isaac was just noticing that something was wrong. Glancing over at Barry, holding down the brakes and turning the wheel away from their doom. But that didn’t stop it, as the car slammed into a tree. The car stopped, but it was at too high a cost. Barry felt the pain right away and couldn’t even bring himself to cry or scream. His legs hurt, but one felt severe pain in only one part, the rest just wasn’t feeling.
Beside him, Isaac wasn’t moving, but there was blood. So much blood was coming from his body. Barry felt sick, but couldn’t even throw up, his body was just too overwhelmed. There was just so much pain, and he felt like he might black out. He stayed on the edge of consciousness, staying awake through the desire to not die.
It felt like forever, sitting there in the smashed-up vehicle, and just holding on. When Barry finally heard the sound of a car approaching and slowing down. He weakly looked over, it was Edward’s van, he could see his friend running over. Moving hurt, but he wanted to be able to show him that he was still alive. Warn him to not try and look at Isaac too much, something he had done and regrets.
The car door was opened with the work of Edward and Cody, both pulling as hard as they could. With it out of the way, Barry could finally smell something other than the metallic smell of blood. He felt Edward wipe a liquid from his cheek and noticed that at some point he had started to cry.
“Hey, we’re here, Barry, help is coming,” Edward looked so scared to him at that moment.
“It hurts…” was the first thing Barry said, his whole body ached, some parts far worse than others.
Drew rushed over, “I can try to help.”
“We’ll need to get him out of there to do that, and I don’t think any of us knows how to,” Louis kept a reasonable mind over the situation. “Plus, there is a chance he may have an injury that would bleed worse if whatever is trapping the blood inside moves.”
“I can’t feel… one of my legs. I’m scared…” Barry wanted to be pulled away from this and safely into a hug.
Edward looked toward where the metal had moved and looked, “Barry, your left leg… isn’t attached.”
Barry started panicking, and hyperventilating, his distress made Edward feel terrible. Gently, he reached into the car and tried to rub Barry’s back to comfort him. That was when Edward finally saw Isaac, he’d gotten closer and could that pass Barry, Isaac was just a mess of blood. In his panic about Barry, he’d forgotten Isaac had been with him. It explained where the strong smell of blood was coming from, though, and Edward looked away from the corpse.
Drew finally asked the dreaded question, “Barry, what happened to Isaac? I know you’re overwhelmed, but, what happened?”
“D-don’t look…” Barry got out, trying to slow his breathing. “He’s d-dead…”
“No! I don’t believe you,” the small teen ran over to the other side of the car.
Edward left Barry alone, following Drew and stopping him as he yanked on the door handle, “You shouldn’t have to see that… just sit down and take a minute.”
Drew was denying the truth, “No… I can fix him. He can’t be dead.”
Looking down into Drew’s eyes, he saw the tears building up and spilling over. He looked even smaller than normal, slowly just curling up and collapsing onto the ground. Sniffling and trying to contain the grief he was feeling, and would keep feeling. It was such a strong emotion, that he just started to shut down, not wanting to respond anymore.
Seeing how broken he was over the whole thing, Edward carried him back to his car and left him there to grieve. Going back over to Barry, he saw that Cody was trying to distract him. Edward rejoined them and kept distracting Barry. It took help a while to get there and when they did, Barry was getting to the point where he could be lost at any moment.
The paramedics had to get the teens' help in opening Isaac’s door, it was a gory sight. Pulling the corpse out from the wreck took a bit of work, but it was done as soon as Barry was removed. His lack of a leg had been a surprise to them, and they had to work extra hard to get it. There was a chance of reattaching it, although it was very unlikely.
As they loaded the two onto stretchers, Drew peeked out from the car window. Everyone else had already seen the damage to Isaac and Barry, but he hadn’t. The full extent of the accident was terrible, and Drew wished he could help. Isaac’s body had been severed at the middle, separating his upper and lower half. His entrails were spilling out onto the stretcher, while his limbs were twisted in awkward directions.
Barry was doing well compared to Isaac, his body was mostly intact, and he was only missing a leg. Blood was actively pouring from his leg stump, but it was being stopped by the paramedics. He was going to make it, but just barely, seeing as he got messed up so bad.
—
In the aftermath of it all, they all had nightmares. Each of them is plagued by the disturbing sight of Isaac’s body, and Barry’s injuries. Drew had seen the least, but he had changed the most. Having sudden outbursts and losing his innocent and childish view on things. Seeing someone he had grown to care about so much, ripped from his life in a gory, gruesome way. It had ruined everything soft about him.
Sometimes he gets into fights with Edward, saying if they had waited for them to be ready, or squished everyone in his van, then Isaac could still be alive. He uses how Barry is disabled now to hurt him too, bringing up how the other teen is in a wheelchair and has frequent panic attacks. Barry doesn’t come to school anymore, the environment causing too much stress, plus people like to ask questions.
Stacy had tried to talk to Drew on Barry’s behalf, but he’d snapped at her. She hadn’t had things easy either, most of the time she would spend her free time carrying for Barry. His parents weren’t around enough to do it. But there was Drew, acting like he had things the hardest.
Nevin eventually got after him for his behaviour, “Drew, you’ve been acting very shut in lately. I know you just came home that day and said you saw something bad, but it can’t be that bad. You’ve been just so cold.”
“You can’t tell me it’s not that bad, you didn’t see it!” Drew grabbed Nevin’s shirt, glaring at him.
“If it’s so bad, then tell me about it! Stop cutting yourself off from everyone,” Nevin retorted.
“I saw Isaac’s fucking insides fall out of him, there was so much blood. He was cut in half, his limbs were twisted every which way. You can’t tell me that isn’t bad,” he was fuming, but it was finally out there what was upsetting him so much.
Nevin was at a loss for words, “Isaac died?”
“Yes, he did! Nobody knows because his parents decided to keep quiet about it, though,” Drew started crying, he was so overwhelmed from keeping all that in for so long.
“Hey, it’s okay, come here,” he pulled his twin into a warm hug.
“I just want him to come back,” soft sniffles and sobs were emitting from Drew.
Nevin rubbed his back and held him, “I know, and I’m here whenever you need me.”