Page 50 of Dearest Protector

Iknew I was dreaming.

Yet I couldn’t yank myself out of my slumber.

I was familiar with this particular nightmare, but I hadn’t experienced it since I’d first gotten out of the hospital.

The dream always began and ended the same way.

I was laying on the pavement, trying to breathe, right after I’d gotten hit by the taxi.

The ambulance was coming.

All I had to do was keep breathing until the paramedics arrived.

“Talk to me. Stay with me. Talk to me, Ariel,” a deep baritone voice cajoled, preventing me from falling into the darkness that was beckoning.

The pain was so excruciating that all I wanted to do was fall into the welcoming abyss.

But fear and that calming voice kept me awake.

“I can’t see. Everything is blurry. Can’t breathe. Am I going to die?” I asked, my voice weak and wheezy.

I’d voiced the question, but I wasn’t sure I really wanted an answer.

Somehow, even though I was confused and in more pain than I’d ever experienced, I could sense that I was teetering on the brink of death.

The sense of impending doom was undeniable.

The body that matched that soothing voice bent over me. I could feel his warm breath on my face as he said, “You’re hurt. I’m not going to lie to you. But you are not going to die.”

Strangely, I felt better because he was telling me the truth about my injuries.

Was he lying about the not dying part of it though?

I could hardly breathe, and I wanted to sit up to help get oxygen to my lungs, but gentle hands held me in place.

“Don’t move,” the voice demanded. “If your neck and back are injured, you could make things worse. Just breathe, Ariel, and stay with me.”

I wanted to tell him I couldn’t breathe.

I wanted to tell him that I’d never felt this kind of pain.

I wanted to tell him that I’d never been so terrified in my entire life.

In the end, I simply gasped, “Hurts! Bad!”

“I’d be shocked if it didn’t,” he said brusquely. “But the medics are coming. Just hang in there and breathe. That’s your only job right now. Understand?”

It helped, him telling me what I needed to do because I couldn’t put two thoughts together on my own.

I breathed.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

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