OH

01.09.2020

I was at my friend’s house when it happened. I’d had a whole crate of beers to myself (it had been a rough week, with the deadlines and all) and Kerry had had quite a few G ‘n’ Ts. I’m trying to remember it straight, but I was pretty waved. Kerry was tucked up against my chest on the sofa (I’d just had her in the bathroom, so she was feeling cuddly) and Josh was trying to get off with Sarah on the armchair, but she had her eye on Masie so it all looked a bit limp. Rob and Hazza were hotboxing the conservatory and Daria (she doesn’t drink) was playing with the cat. When we heard the screech, we assumed it was some pillock trying to show off to the people smoking on the doorstep, but then someone came in, all wide eyed and talking fast. I staggered to the window and cracked the blinds. There was a car in the middle of the road, black skid marks tracing the tires’ path, and a puddle of something dark. I remember there was screaming. People were shouting at the driver. I recognised him as a friend of a friend. Even in the shifting night, I could see the whites of his eyes. Someone was kneeling over something a way up the road. I popped the window open so I could shout out, but I couldn’t find the words.
“I only had a couple, I fuckin’ swear” the driver shouted, at a group of three or four girls (I don’t remember Kerry getting up, but she was one of them). I could hear the ambulance in the distance. The words suddenly came to me: “Who is it?”.
No one heard so I shouted again, “Who is it?”. “One of the neighbours” someone shouted back.
“Oh”, I said, and closed the window.