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I’m at Ricco’s wedding. We’re toasting the bride and groom.
The rest happens in milliseconds, flying by like cars on a freight train, faster than the speed of light.
A trip to Corsica. Dinner with the Rossis in Gloucester. Securing the location toBella Notte.
The first day I saw Eden.
The way the sun filtered through the window as if she was an angel…my angel.
Mario screams in fury as he maneuvers us as far from the truck as he can.
Metal strikes metal like a giant monster smashing an anvil.
Squealing tires.
Crashing glass.
Something hits me in the solar plexus and I can’t breathe.
The knowledge that this is it. I’m going to die.
I’m going to die, and I haven’t even lived yet.
I hit my head and the world goes dark.
When I open my eyes, brilliant white clouds float above me. I’m disoriented and confused. There’s grass and something wet beneath me. The ringing in my ears blocks out all other sounds. My heart races and I’m breathing rapidly, but I feel as if I’m floating above my body, like I’m numb and detached from the present.
No.
No.
I don’t want to die. Not now. Not when there’s a whole life ahead of me.
Did I die?
I blink. I blink again. The ringing in my ears begins to dissipate and I’m aware of a throbbing pain in my shoulder.
The first thought I have is a blissful surge.I’m not dead.
The second thought wipes out any joy the first brought.Mario.
I push myself up to a sitting position, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. Far, far ahead of me there’s a guardrail bent as if a sci-fi movie monster came and twisted it. Smoke rises into the blueness of the sky, and sirens wail far, far in the distance.
I look around me, my vision blurred, trying to find Mario. My heart races in my chest when I see the twisted metal that was his car. I stand, shocked that I can still walk, but my legs don’t hurt, and I can walk just fine. I propel myself forward, through the smoke. The car could explode at any second, but I don’t care, Mario’s in that rubble and I’ll find him if it kills me.
“Mario!” My voice is hoarse. I try again. “Mario!”
I almost give up hope when I see him. Under a pile of mangled rubble, it looks as if the entire roof of the car’s pressed onto his chest.
No.
“Mario!” The sound of sirens comes closer. The ringing in my ears starts again and I hear nothing but the beating of my heart.
“Mario!” I scream his name, hoping for a sign of life. I’ve seen my father and my brother die. Not my cousin. Not my best friend.
No.
I fall to my knees and reach for his wrist. The faintest beat pulses against my fingers.
