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Beautiful.
There was only one person—oneman—who called me that.
Cole.
Cole was with me. Somewhere. Here in this tunnel, maybe.
“Wake up, hon.” Another voice. Prescott? Closer now. Was I still in the tunnel? Were they? I couldn’t tell. “Open your eyes for me. We’re right here with you.”
I tried to open my eyes, but they were still so heavy.
But no.
I had to try again.
For Prescott. For Cole. Formy guys.
“I think she’s waking up,” one of the voices said.
Was I?
I still couldn’t see anything, but I was slowly becoming aware of my body. My mouth was dry. I was cold. My head hurt. Alot. Oh, God, where was I, and what had happened?
My eyelids fluttered and I could see a crack of light. It was just a sliver of dim, orange light—the sunset? Brake lights? I wasn’t sure, but it was better than the dark tunnel I’d been trapped in since… I didn’t even know how long I’d been there.
Slowly, carefully, I finally opened my eyes. Even that tiny action made the pain in my head worse—like I was being hit with a million tiny hammers. Or maybe one big hammer.
“My head,” I said, barely recognizing my own voice. It sounded like I’d been gargling with gravel. “I need…”
I wasn’t sure what I needed aside from an end to this excruciating pain.
“We’ve got you,” the voice—Prescott’s voice—said as he slowly came into focus above me. “Just hold on. Don’t try to move yet.”
Oh, right. I needed my guys, too. Needed both of them right now. And then, as if God was reading my thoughts, Cole’s face appeared in my line of sight. He was blurry, but it was definitely him. I would have recognized that big smile anywhere.
“What happened?” I croaked out with my new gravelly voice. It hurt to speak. Hurt to move. Hurt to think. But I was still regaining some of my senses and sensations with each passing second, so that had to be a good thing, right?
“You went into a ditch,” Prescott said. “You hit your head pretty hard, but you’re… you’re going to be okay. I promise. The ambulance will be here in no time, and they’re going to take good care of you while we clean up the crash site and help put out this fire.”
Right. The fire. I could remember something about a fire. Or smoke, at least. God, that smell. Yeah, it was hazy, but it was coming back to me now. The fire, the smoke, the… the person? Animal? Thething? Whatever it was that had run in front of the truck.
I wanted to tell them about all of those things, but I just didn’t have the strength. And anyway, there was something more pressing I needed to ask. “Do I have to leave? Can I stay here with you?”
I could see them both clearly enough now to see them both wince at my words. “We’ll be there before you know it, beautiful,” Cole said. “You’re just going to get a head start in the ambulance.”
“I’d keep you right here in my arms all night if I could,” Prescott added. “But we have to be sure you’re okay. You were pretty banged up when we pulled you out of that truck, and our number one priority is making sure you’re safe.”
From the corner of my eye, I could see the smoking, mangled front end of the truck sticking up at a weird angle from the ditch. I could barely wrap my head around the idea that I’d been somewhere in that wreckage.
Thank God for my guys. Thank God they were watching over me.
I could hear a siren and see flashing red lights. The ambulance? It must be. It was so loud. Too loud for my aching head to handle.
“I need to close my eyes,” I said. I was pretty sure I said it out loud, anyway. With the siren getting louder and louder with each passing second, it was hard to be sure. “Just… make it stop.”
Prescott’s lips were moving as my eyelids started to close, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
And then my whole world went dark and quiet again.
