"H-hurts" came out as a painful gasp, the world was spinning so violently making her feel like throwing up.
The brown-haired woman tried to stand up but her legs refused to listen.
She tried to look around trembling, but all she could see in-front of her was her hand holding the red – faintly glowing sapphire.
It was her best friend's necklace that she had accidentally ripped off before they got separated.
'Where had everything gone wrong?' She thinks before coughing, the black thick smoke filling her lungs.
But as she tried to get up with her arms could an sudden explosion be heard.
….
An hour before.
The snowstorm intensified in the city, leaving everyone's phones with weather notifications to avoid driving. Even so, the city buzzled with activity from cars to people as the clock crept forward 6pm, the time people were finish working and were commuting home.
In a office building, a woman with blond hair moving through the quiet corridors holding two cups of coffee while humming to herself.
After a while, she pushes up a door and her eyes falls upon a workplace that was still occupied.
"Galexy! I got your coffee, its filled with my love- damn... "she says with a smile, before she stumbles on her words
Hunched over the desk staring at the screen with heavy eyes, Galexy looked like shes been running a movie marathon for 2 day. After a moment she leans back and brush her brown hair away from her face.
"Girl, you look like you need this coffee more than me" The blond woman says as she places both cups on the desk and wheel another chair over to sit beside her friend.
"Shimmer what took you so long? I wrote to you 2 hours ago, if you could grab me a cup" Galexy says as she stretches.
Galexy sighs and takes up the cup and starts sipping on it while continuing to work on her computer one-handed feeling tired but wanting to finish as soon as possible.
" I should finish soon if you are wondering. I just need to submit some documents"
" But what took you so long to get here?" Added galexy while glancing at shimmer, who is spinning around in her chair.
Shimmer stops spinning and leans backwards lazily" I did not have time to make the coffee before I finished designing the cover for the company's 20 years university, since it needs to set up tomorrow"
" Oh, the anniversary? I heard that the director says he will buy in lots of food from the the Italian pizzeria from down the street" Galexy says as she smiles, thinking about how the whole company will get an entire day to just celebrate while still getting payed.
Shimmer side eyes galexy as she gets lost thought, in fantasying about the food. But Galexy gets interrupted by a golden chain glimmering beside her keyboard reminding her of it.
" Right, I nearly forgot your necklace. You dropped it here before" Says Galexy as she reaches for it and places it in shimmers hand.
Shimmer grabs it and immediately puts it on again to not forget it, the deep red sapphire glint on its golden chain around her neck as she fiddles with it.
"Omg thank you girl, I had completely forgotten about it."
Shimmer pauses
"Did you know it was actually my grandmother Elizabeths before, I got it from her when I was about eight, while saying it would protect me if I ever was in danger."
Galexy pauses, looking up from the computer screen at shimmer, "is that why you wear it so often, like a lucky charm?"
"Kinda yes, I don't believe in witchcraft but it's a nice keepsake from her since she passed"
Galexy doesn't push any further, one of the first things she got to learn after befriending Shimmer was that she lost her whole family in a car crash 11 years ago, leaving none other than Shimmer left.
Galexy glances over at the phone while continuing to work "Nah it was just me who never asked, you are wearing it nearly every day after all"
"Meh but Galexy look here"
Shimmer turned the screen toward her.
It showed a younger Shimmer at what looked like a second-grade graduation, proudly holding the same sapphire necklace. Beside her stood an older woman with pure white hair and striking purple eyes. A visitor badge on her chest read: Elizabeth.
"You looked so cute as a kid. And wait — did your grandma have purple eyes?" Galaxy leaned closer. "Isn't that like… super rare?"
"Yes, my grandmother was actually an albino, I wish I inherited that so bad like wouldn't I looked so badass with white hair?"
Shimmer smirks before looking out the window.
"Galexy, the snowstorm seems to be getting worse and I wanna be able to get home before the public transport becomes more chaos that it already is"
She pauses for a moment
"Or I will just leave without you" Shimmer smirks and looks at galexy
Galexy finishes her cup of coffee and places it down and looks at the untouched cup beside it.
"You can drink your cup while checking what buss we can take home, I should be done in around 10 minutes"
Shimmer had gotten so immersed in the conversation that she had completely forgotten about her cup of coffee, she picks it up and starts drinking it while opening the buss app, checking the schedule
"I totally forgot about it - damn i... its cold now"
She groans before chugging it all down in one gulp, swallowing it all down hard.
"I love coffee so bad, but I prefer when it hot" she shrugs as she places it back down on the desk beside Galexy empty cup.
"You don't like coffee, you like the caffeine - girl you're worse than an addict out on the streets"
"Don't bully me when you're the one who actually look like an addict, you should really fix those eye-bags girl - they make you look 10 years older than what you are"
Shimmer points at Galexys eye bags and tired expression,
Galexy snorted "Fair enough"
"I really need to fix my sleep schedule I am not an teenager anymore" Galexy sighs before finishing of the last document on her computer.
Shimmer who was silently checking her phone lights up.
"Heh, but I found a buss, its going in 15 minutes from here at 6:45 PM. Lets take it"
Shimmer waves around the phone with the schedule showing clearly, before placing it in-front of galexy
"I heard you first time no need to shove it in my face"
Galexy pushes the phone back at shimmer before clicking send.
"Ugh, finally done. we can leave now"
Galexy turns off the monitor and stretches stiffly.
"That didn't take as long as I thought, lets grab our stuff and go" shimmer takes the chair and pushes it back to its original position.
...
The wind outside had picked up, and the snow continued to fall heavily. Traffic had thinned slightly as rush hour began to fade and people rushed home to warmth.
"Its snowing really heavily"
Shimmer breifly stops walking and pulls up her scarf higher up, shivering.
"Dont care. lets go"
Galexy grabs her arm and drags her to the buss stop before releasing her.
"What got you so grumply all of the sudden" shimmer smirks and throw one of her arms around Galexys shoulders.
Galexy sighs before answering "Karma will get you next time when you're the one whos exhausted and just want to go home"
"Sure whatever, but its okay since i know you loooovee me so much" Shimmer tugs slightly at galexy while pouting.
Galexy glances up at shimmer before replying.
"If love represents throwing you out on the road thats just it" Galexy smirks as the arriving buss tones out shimmers gasp
After a short while have they both boarded the buss and found seats beside eachother.
As soon as she sat down, exhaustion crashed over Galaxy like a wave. Three hours of sleep after a nine-hour workday were finally catching up to her.
She leaned her head against the cold window, watching the blurred city lights pass by while Shimmer scrolled through her phone.
"Shimmer" Galexy murmered
"Yeah what is it?"
"Can you wake me up at my station please, I want to take a nap – I am so god damntierd"
Shimmer pauses her game and looks at Galexy before answering
"Sure but dont blame me if i forget to wake you"
"I don't have the energy to bicker, please wake me… thanks"
"Sure, bestie"
Galexy closes her eyes and leans back against the cold window, drifting away almost immedaly.
...….
The bus driver turned up the radio slightly as he focused on the road, humming along to the music while thinking about the worsening snowstorm outside.
He drove into the tunnel, letting out a small breath of relief as visibility finally cleared and the tunnel lights illuminated the road ahead.
Unbeknownst to everyone…
Further up the tunnel, a gasoline tanker truck drifted slightly within its lane, the driver yawning. The driver only closed his eyes for a moment before something felt wrong, the whole tanker was tilting to the side.
The driver paniced, immedaly trying to steer it upright again.
Too late.
The tanker slammed sideways into the car beside it.
Crushing it on impact.
The huge tank scapes againt the tunnels wall as it falls - ripping up the elecrical wiring, making cables fall onto the road.
The tanker's outer shell began to shred as it glides forward, gasoline pouring out and flooding the asphalt as it glides forward.
Behind it, a car braked hard.
Too hard.
The tires lost grip.
The vehicle skidded forward - straight into one of the fallen cables, pusing it toward the gasoline.
The second the cable touched the gasoline, it ignited – the flames racing into broken tank.
Exploding it.