Page 71 of The Backdraft
By the time brunch was over, and the four of us were walking outside to our cars, we had an entire baby shower planned for the end of April. We were about to say our goodbyes when Shayna’s phone started ringing. Glancing at the caller I.D. she groaned, giving me a quick hug before hurrying to her car.
“When are you going back home to Massachusetts again?” I asked my mom. She definitely told me earlier, but I couldn’t remember for the life of me.
She wrapped me in one of her infamous hugs, and held it for longer than she normally did. When she pulled away, she glanced over at Linnea. “We were going to leave tomorrow morning, but we’re going to take off after we stop back at your sister’s place.”
“You remember Paige and Kelsey from high school? They’re back in Boston for the weekend, and we’re going to meet up with some other people tonight for dinner and drinks.”
“Sounds like fun. Tell them I said hi, and drive safe. Text me when you’re home.” I pulled her into a hug, then unlocked my car.
“Will do. I love you, Darcy,” my mom said, hugging me again like I knew she would, which was precisely why I didn’t get in my car yet.
“I love you too, Mom. Thanks for visiting.”
“I wish I was staying longer, but I’m scared your father is going to convert more of the backyard to berry fields.” She laughed, and I joined her. Her fear wasn’t entirely unwarranted. Itwassomething my father would do. If I remembered correctly, the last time he expanded the fields was when she left him for a similar weekend trip.
“It’s fine. You go! I’ll see you in a couple of weeks for the shower.” I smiled then got into my car, watching as Linnea and my mom got into hers. Once I had music playing, I backed out of the parking spot, and began the seven-minute drive home.
I drove down the road, hitting a bizarre amount of green lights, but that was probably because the streets weren’t as congested as they often were. March had Gettysburg seeing fewer tourists, the weather still too cold for most to want to visit all the historical landmarks, but it’d be slowly picking up over the next few weeks.
Singing along to the song playing, I grabbed my water bottle and took a sip as I approached another green light. The gym was down the intersecting street to the left, and I glanced out of habit to see how busy it was.
Which is when I saw the truck.
There was no time.
One second, it was twenty feet away going far too fast through the red light it should’ve stopped at. The next, it was crashing into the driver’s side of my car.Myside.
The impact sent my water bottle flying out of my hands, glass shattering and slicing down over my skin. My tires screeched as the truck drove my car sideways across the asphalt, and I gripped the steering wheel, trying in vain to keep it steady. It wasn’t until we crashed into a telephone pole, the metal of my passenger side bending forcefully around it, and my head slamming into the side of the door, that we finally stopped.
Ringing.
That’s all I could hear.
Ringing, and a faint hissing sound like water on a hot burner.
I lifted a hand to the side of my head, my fingers coming away wet with blood.
“Oh god! Oh god! What have I done? Ma’am? Ma’am, are you okay? I-I’m going to call for help.” The voice sounded a million miles away, echoing through the steady roar in my ears. I couldn’t see anyone. All I saw was the headlight and grill of the truck.
Black crept in around the edges of my vision, reality slipping further away from me as I fought to stay alert, but my head was too heavy. My body throbbed, all of my limbs feeling like they belonged to someone else.
Someone else.
My baby.
Panic lanced through me, my heart pounding in my chest, but I couldn’t move. The ringing in my ears had intensified, and the black had almost completely swallowed my field of vision, or maybe that was my eyelids shutting, I couldn’t tell.
No longer able to hold my head up, it collapsed against the steering wheel.
“Help!” I croaked, trying to yell as loud as I could, but it felt like I was screaming through sludge. “My baby! Please! Someone, help me!”
My body, which had previously felt warm, grew cold, and the last thing I thought before I lost consciousness was that I was going to die, and I’d be taking the baby I never met, never named, with me.
THIRTY
ARCHER
We were in the engine, headed back to the station from a call, when dispatch came over the radio.
