Fall From Grace, part 3

Tossing and turning on the rigid bed, the school nurse cautiously approached the brown-haired girl who seemed to be in a lot of pain, as she judged from the anguish and grimaces that she made. The nurse wasn't sure what was going on, but her original thought of calling the girl's father seemed to be a good idea.

If she was having migraines, then she shouldn't be at school, the nurse believed. Since her father mentioned that her mother and he were not able to pick her up from school, but agreed that she should go home, the nurse decided to come wake her.

So, she reached out to gently nudge her on the arm. Jasmine was woken up by the slight push of the school nurse, which shot her straight up, gasping for breath.

Startled, the school nurse backed away in surprise and asked, "Are you alright?"

Jasmine looked at the middle-aged women and did her best to get a hold of herself. Her mind had just received a strong shock to the system, and she didn't have her wits about her. Registering that the nurse had asked a question, she nodded and then gripped both side of her head.

'Poor child,' the nurse thought while she spoke, "Your father said he wasn't able to pick you up from school, but it seems that you shouldn't stay here like this. Can you get home alright?"

The dream was still fresh in her mind and her head ached, but so did other part of her body. It was a phantom pain that she was feeling, but she gritted her teeth and nodded again.

"Alright," the nurse continued, "Your classmate brought your backpack while you were resting. Here, you may leave now," she said as she handed Jasmine her bag.

Accepting it, the nurse helped her get down from the bed and Jasmine headed for the clinic door.

"Be careful," the nurse reminded her, "There are no crossing guards at this time of the day."

Jasmine glanced at the clock as she left and noticed that she had not only missed the lunchtime bell, but also the 5th class period bell. It was already early afternoon.

She quickly left the nurses office and went down the hall towards the cafeteria and the main entrance attached to it. Her mind was a whirlwind of thoughts that left her dazed, but she steadily put one foot in front of the other as she left the building.

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Aaron Johnson had left College Station earlier in the morning after deciding to skip a few of his classes for the day. They were of little consequence to him as the midterms wouldn't start until the following week, so he had quickly packed some clothes to last a few days and raced back toward the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

After stopping in Waco to refill his Hummer 2, he had sped down the interstate and arrived in the Dallas city limits by lunchtime. He considered stopping to pick something to eat, but after reviewing his current bank account balance, he angrily went without and pressed to get home faster.

His father hadn't deposited his allowance! The refill in Waco had brought his bank account balance dangerously close to zero!

Aaron was seething and wanted to be home all that much sooner. For the sooner he got home, the sooner he could get a bite to eat and prepare to persuade his father to give him some funds.

Sure, it was his poor choice to indulge his ex-girlfriend by taking her out to eat so often and pick up the check every time while they were still together, but his father had cut his allowance as soon as he learned that his first born son wasn't preforming as well as he did in high school.

Last time Aaron was home, his father chastised him for not saving and for his spendthrift ways. He kept berating him for not measuring up to expectations and even threatened to take away his vehicle. How ridiculous was that?

As he pushed the gas pedal to the floor, he thought of all the different arguments he could use against his father. He would not be denied!

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Her mind was preoccupied, yet Jasmine was making good, constant progress in getting home. Her body ached and her head throbbed, but all of this served to bewilder her, but what kept her unable to think properly was the dream.

The angels, Belial and Azazel, were neither good individuals. She had known that and even Levana recognized early on that Belial had no good intentions, but Azazel...

Sure, Jasmine had been granted an omniscient point of view to many of the events leading up to the latest dream, but even she had been caught off guard by how deeply wicked and immoral he was.

Yet, what she couldn't get or understand was why. Why did that look in his grey eyes hold so much unholy rage? What had Levana done to him for him to act so vile? More importantly, how was he able to keep such hidden?

That hostile glare had communicated a lot to Jasmine. It wasn't just the look of a savage beast, but one who wanted to rend you into thousands, if not millions of pieces. Like you had murdered his wife and children, then castrated him, all to send the poor man mad so he would hunt you eternally for justice. It was just so unreasonable.

As her mind worked through her body's duress, she plodded forward with little focus along the sidewalks of her neighborhood. Letting her subconscious lead, she followed the path that she had used hundreds of times before and turned to cross the main throughway through the neighborhood towards the side where her home was a few blocks away.

If she had been in the right state of mind, she would have most likely noticed the SUV that was speeding down the very street she was starting to cross.

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A black Hummer 2 speed down the wide street that cut through the neighborhood. While a brown-haired young teenage girl crossed the same road.

There was a screech of tires followed by a dull thud. The vehicle swerved towards the curb, then sharply turned back towards the middle of the road before it came to a stop. Then, the white reverse lights lit up as the vehicle backed up, straightened itself, then madly sped off again.

The driver hadn't even stopped to see if the girl, who was now laying unmoving in the opposite lane, was still alive.

A classic hit and run.

With it being in the neighborhood during the middle of the day, it took another five to ten minutes before another driver came up on the scene with their sedan.

The Good Samaritan stopped and rushed over to the unconscious form on the street, checked for a pulse, and found that the girl was alive. However, the blood that pooled around her head and stuck to hair was not a good sign.

Drawing a cellphone from their pocket, they called 911 and reported the accident to the emergency dispatch. Who in turn, immediately sent out the 10-57 call over the radio bands and requested police as well as ambulance dispatch to the location.

Officer Trevern and his partner heard the call over their patrol car radio. Switching their lights on, the red and blue lights strobed atop the black and white sedan as it sped to the neighborhood with sirens blaring.

The police were on the scene first, and the sight that greeted Officer Trevern was his worst nightmare come true. It took everything he had to keep from collapsing to his knees.

The ambulance arrived shortly afterwards to get Jasmine Trevern stabilized, transferred from the road to a stretcher, then loaded into the back of the ambulance. Jakob Travern jumped into the back of the ambulance as well so that he could be with his daughter as he fretted over the injuries.

His partner was left to drive the patrol car as it followed the emergency vehicle to the local hospital, where Jakob's wife had just come on to her shift. Sadly, for her, this shift would be one that would be more devastating than normal.