Chapter 30
Luca
By now, I’m checking my watch every two minutes. Noah should have been here over an hour ago, but he isn’t, and he’s not answering his phone. My gut tells me something’s wrong.
I’m standing with Jannis, about to ask him what I should do, when my phone rings. Frantically I answer it. “Noah?”
“No, it’s Louis.” There’s something in his voice that immediately freezes me as he continues on. “Where are you?”
“You know where, I’m at Valérie’s. Where are you?”
“Have you been drinking?”
“Yeah, but I had my last drink over an hour ago. Why are you asking such a stupid question?”
“We were on our way there and we passed a car accident. Someone crashed into a tree. We’re the first ones at the scene and called the ambulance.
Luca, it’s Noah. David’s with him, but he’s unresponsive.
” Louis’s voice is shrill and he’s stammering, completely distraught, I don’t recognize my brother like this.
If he’s reacting like this, it must be bad.
“I’m on my way. Where are you?“
“Luca…”
I can hear my brother’s voice trailing off as I frantically turn towards Jannis.
“I need your car. Now. Now! Where are your keys?” In a panic, I reach into Jannis’s pants pocket.
“What happened?”
“Lou called. Noah had an accident. I don’t have any details, but he says it looks bad. I have to get to him. I need to. Give me your keys.” With the keys in my hand, I run to the door.
“I’ll drive.” Somewhere in the distance, I hear Jannis’s voice. My whole body is shaking as he takes my phone and the keys from my hand. “Hey, I’m driving. Where do we need to go, Louis?”
I don’t hear anything for a while, then a quiet “Shit.” Panic rises up again.
“What did he say? What about Noah? Where are they?” I hear myself screaming.
“Not far from here, the last sharp left turn.” It’s less than two minutes, and sure enough, at that moment I see my brother’s hazard lights.
As I jump out of the car, I hear a siren in the distance. I run toward the old Renault Twingo, which is completely wrecked and wedged against the only tree in the entire curve, tears streaming down my cheeks. “NOAH! NOAH!!!”
David is kneeling in front of the open driver’s door, which they’ve somehow managed to pry open.
He quickly scrambles to his feet, and I let myself fall to the ground.
I don’t even know where to touch Noah without making things worse, so I grab his limp hand.
Everything is covered in blood, and Noah is hanging with his head forward in the airbag.
My free hand instinctively reaches for his curls. “How do you know he’s still alive?”
David swallows before answering. “He has a pulse and he’s breathing. I’ve been checking over and over.”
The ambulance arrives. I have to step away so they can work, but I don’t want to leave Noah alone. Louis and David pull me aside, kicking and screaming. The paramedics take over, talking to him in German. “He doesn’t understand German,” I keep trying to say, but no one is listening to me.
The emergency doctor and the police arrive almost simultaneously and two police officers head straight for us. “Did you report the accident?”
Louis and David raise their hands. “We did, but it had already happened by the time we got here.”
“Did you change anything at the scene of the accident?”
“No, why?”
“Routine question. Schneider, write down: No obvious skid marks visible. Please come with us to the car, we need to take your personal information, then you can go.” Shouldn’t they actually secure the accident scene?
But that probably doesn’t make much sense here on this street. Nobody usually comes by anyway.
“I’m staying with Noah. I’m not going anywhere. I can’t leave. I won’t leave him alone. He doesn’t even understand them.” Nobody even looks at me.
Meanwhile, the fire department is cutting my boyfriend out of the car. His legs are apparently trapped, if I understood correctly, and Noah is still unconscious.
“Do you know the injured person?” One of the police officers snaps me out of my thoughts.
“Yes, he’s my boyfriend. We’re together. His name is Noah Martin. He’s from Strasbourg and he doesn’t speak German. When he comes to, he won’t understand what happened. He’ll be okay, right? He’s not going to die?”
“Unfortunately, we can’t give you any information. Family members only.” Blah, blah, this talking is driving me crazy. I just want to get to my boyfriend.
“Noah doesn’t have a family. He’s deliberately cut off all contact with his parents.”
Suddenly, things get chaotic in the car. Screams echo through the night.
I fight to get to Noah, but the police officers stop me. “Emergency staff only!”
At that moment, I hear the young paramedic’s voice. “Hey, does anyone here speak French? He doesn’t understand us and we can’t calm him down. We urgently need an IV.” Shouldn’t he have one already? What did they do the whole time?
Without a word, I run toward the car. I’ve never seen anything this bad before.
The firefighters are just lifting the engine block, and I see Noah’s legs—or rather, what’s left of them.
Shit. It’s all happening so fast, I barely manage to turn away, otherwise I would have puked on my feet. So much blood.
Noah’s eyes are closed, but he’s groaning and his face is contorted with pain. As soon as the paramedic touches him, he screams and writhes. Where are his glasses? He’ll need his glasses when he opens his eyes. I want to hold his head, stroke his hair, calm him down.
“Do you speak French?” The paramedic asks.
I nod.
“How well?”
“Fluently.”
“Can you please explain to him what happened? He needs to calm down and he must not move.” Calming down would be perfect for me too, but there’s no time for that now. It’s all about Noah.
“Okay. Where should I go?” I want to be as close to Noah as possible, but I also don’t want to get in anyone’s way. “Passenger seat, if that’s okay with you.” I carefully crawl into the wrecked car.
“Hey Noah… mon Papillon, can you hear me?”
“Do you two know each other?”
“He’s my boyfriend,” I murmur with tears in my eyes. Carefully, I reach for his right hand.
“Can you hear me, mon Papillon?”
Noah groans and squeezes my hand very lightly, then he screams again. “My legs! My legs hurt so much.”
“You’ll get a painkiller in a minute. It should kick in quickly, but you have to stay calm, and you must not move, okay. I’m here with you. I won’t leave you alone, ever. Stay with me!”
***
I have no idea how we made it to the hospital, but Noah has been in the OR for five hours now, where they’re trying to save his legs. At least one of them, they hope for both. I sent Jannis, Louis and David home a while ago. I want to be alone with my thoughts on Noah, without any distractions.
Suddenly, the door to the OR opens, and a doctor steps out into the hallway looking around. “Luca Delfosse?”
“Yes?” With three long strides, I’m standing in front of him.
“Mr. Martin gave verbal permission in the ambulance for us to discuss his medical condition. We were able to save both legs. The left one looked worse than it actually was. Large lacerations and a clean fracture of the lower leg, but nothing life-threatening. The right leg was severely damaged, and it remains to be seen whether it will regain full function. He also lost a great amount of blood…”
“But he’ll make it, won’t he? He’ll survive?” That’s all that matters, we’ll figure out everything else, no matter how hard it is. Together.
“After such major surgeries, complications can always arise during the healing process, that’s beyond our control.
But as things stand now, I’m optimistic.
Mr. Martin is currently in the recovery room.
As soon as he’s in his room, you can see him.
But he’s on very strong painkillers, so don’t be surprised if he’s unresponsive at first, or seems sedated or confused. ” Nodding, I sink back into my chair.
I must have fallen asleep and startle awake when someone touches my shoulder.
“Mr. Delfosse?” Another doctor.
“Can I see him?”
“Yes, but first I’d like to speak with you briefly with the police present. We have some questions.”
My mind is whirling. Is this really necessary now?
I just want to see Noah. He mustn’t feel alone.
Noah was alone for so long, and I know being so again is his biggest fear.
But I can’t share all that, so I follow the doctor into a consultation room, and the police officer is already there.
They both introduce themselves, but I’m not interested in their names.
“Mr. Delfosse, please answer the following questions honestly, because we may need to take further action. Is Mr. Martin depressed, or has he ever spoken to you about suicide?”
What the …?! What do they mean?
“I know he suffered a lot when he was younger—he was very lonely and never had any friends. He’s convinced nobody wants him… Why are you asking that?”
“How long have you been together?”
“Three months, but we’ve known each other longer.”
“Was there any incident between you two yesterday? Why didn’t you go to the party together?” The police officer frowns sternly, but I don’t understand why or what he’s getting at. I’ve already been questioned, and I’ve already told everything I know.
“No, everything was fine. I’d been there all day with my parents, my brother Jannis, and his boyfriend. Valérie’s fathers and mine are close friends. Noah had to finish an assignment and was planning on coming over later. Why are you asking all this again?”
“Our investigation so far has shown that this wasn’t an accident…” No skid marks… Fuck… but why? “…we found this. Can you tell us anything about it?” The officer slides a cell phone across the table—Noah’s phone. WhatsApp is open and a video is playing.
Oh no. This isn’t what it looks like, but if he saw that… fuck…! I let my head fall onto the tabletop.