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Twenty-Eight
SAVANNAH
The song was playing again, and it was loud this time. Obnoxiously louder than before, even as the agony in my shoulder was joined by pain in my back and neck…
My ears were still ringing, the way they did after a loud concert. And there was a smell now too. Acrid and terrible. A sulfuric, burning smell, followed by a haze of grey smoke inside the car.
The car.
I looked up and everything was a blur of motion. I could barely make out one shape from another. And yet I was the one in control. I was still driving, and the responsibility that came with the sudden knowledge was absolutely terrifying.
“STOP!”
The word was a growl, and the growl a command. The voice was angry. Twisted. Familiar…
“FUCKING STOP!”
My brain screamed at me to comply, but my body refused to obey. My legs wouldn’t move. I was trembling. Screaming.
Crying.
My hands were iron claws gripping the steering wheel, my elbows locked tight. Down below, the gas pedal was touching the floor. Something hit my thigh. A fist maybe, or something harder. Then an arm came up, scrabbling desperately, grabbing for mine. Fingers trying as hard as they could, to pry my wrists from the wheel…
The smoke cleared a little, and suddenly I could see. The whole windshield was a fan of blood. So was the dash. So was my arm, leading all the way back up to the smoldering bullet-hole in my shoulder.
I screamed again, and my voice was drowned out by the blare of the music. The lyrics had started up now. Haunting and melodic:
Seasons don’t fear the reaper…
New pain flared, somewhere at the end of my hands. My fingers, being pried upward one by one…
Nor do the wind, the sun or the rain…
“STOP!”
We can be like they are…
“YOU CAN’T SEE ANYTHING!”
Come on, baby —
“YOU FUCKING BITCH!”
Don’t fear the reaper…
“JUST STOP!”
We’ll be able to flyyyyyyy—
My eyes flew open… just in time to hit the floor.
BAM!
The pain in my shoulder was gone, but now all of a sudden I couldn’t breathe. I was lying face-down, my arms pinned beneath me. All the wind knocked totally out of my lungs.
What the hell?
A small semblance of sanity returned, as I realized I must’ve fallen out of the bed. I’d been dreaming. Flailing…
