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“I will. Once I drop them off, I’ll go home and shower, then be right over.”
We say goodbye, then I head Brittany’s way.
Once I get off the exit ramp, I take a right and go toward Mobile. I haven’t been there since before prison, and I’m reminded of the time Katie and I went to their famous fall festival. I’d just gotten my license and wanted to hang out with her alone. Though Katie was only fifteen at the time, her parents adored me and allowed her to come with me. I remember it clear as day—the perfect weather, a band playing on a stage surrounded by hay bales and pumpkins, and the sweet smell of caramel wafting through the air. I had hyped myself up all week to finally confess my true feelings and ask her to be my girlfriend.
Then I got cold feet.
I shake my head just thinking about it because I even had the perfect opportunity and blew it.
Katie literally took my hand and held it during a hayride.
I’m so stupid.
Laughing to myself at the idiocy of my teenage years, I turn down the music and reach for my phone to call Brittany. I think I’m getting close to where she said she was, but I don’t see any hazard lights flashing.
I click on her name and wait for her to pick up, but it goes to voicemail after three rings. I try again but have no luck.
Well, shit. I hope her phone didn’t die.
Just as I’m about to text Katie, I hit a bump in the road and lose my grip. My phone flies to the floorboards on the passenger side where I can’t reach it.
“Fuck.”
I try to reach for it, my other hand sliding down the wheel as I struggle to find it. I hear it ring with Katie’s ringtone and decide I better pull over to grab my phone and call her back. I peek in my rearview mirror to see if anyone’s behind me so I can slow down and pull over. The phone goes off again, and this time, I’m anxious as hell that something’s wrong since she knows I’ll be right back. Just as I put on my blinker to turn at the intersection, something smashes into me.
Metal scrapes against metal, the airbag deploys, and I smack my head. Confusion envelops me as a metallic taste fills my mouth, and blood drips from my head. I can’t seem to physically move, and darkness eventually takes over.
I’m not sure how much time passes before I hear a door open. Katie’s voice instantly soothes me, though I don’t understand what she’s saying. She grabs my hand and shakes me, but the pain makes me groan.
“Stay with me. I’m calling 911.”
I immediately wonder about the other vehicle and who’s inside.
“I think his legs are stuck. The whole door is bent in.” I hear her say. Oddly enough, I can’t feel below my waist. The only pain is the throbbing in my head.
“Noah, can you hear me?”
I don’t have much energy, but I try to squeeze her hand. “Katie,” I murmur.
“Yes, it’s me.”
I hear the tears in her voice and hate how worried she sounds.
“You’re gonna be okay, baby. The ambulance is on the way,” she reassures me.
“Katie…” I repeat, squeezing her hand with a little more strength. Though I feel my mind losing focus and I’m not sure how much longer I’ll be able to stay awake, I try to open my eyes to look at her. “I love you.”
“Noah. I love you, too. I always have.”
I smile for a beat before everything fades away.
I don’t know how long it takes before I become alert. When I try to open my eyes, my head throbs, so I don’t attempt it anymore. Whispers around me grow louder as I try to move my body.
“You were supposed to kill him! I paid you for a job, and you didn’t do that job,” a woman snarls.
“I T-boned him with an F-250! That should’ve taken him out or at least put him in a coma,” a man grits.
“If you’d listened and been going faster…”
