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His hands shaking, he took the paper from me and unfolded it, his eyes quickly scanning the writing. When he finished, he swallowed hard and put it back in the envelope before shoving it into his pocket.
“Get in the car, Rose. We need to go.”
The tone of his voice made me hurry and I lifted the box to sit on my lap. As soon as I was buckled in, Brett started the car and backed out, driving faster down the long driveway than I would have thought necessary.
It wasn’t until we were out on the open road and about twenty minutes from his mom’s house that I turned to him. His arm was rested casually on the center console, and I put my hand on his to get his attention. “Brett? What was in the letter?”
His eyes flicked over to me but then looked right back at the road. I watched as his hand tightened on the wheel, his knuckles turning white.
“Brett? I need you to tell me what was in the letter. Should I be worried? Are we in trouble?” The box on my lap suddenly fell oppressive and I lifted it down to fit between my feet. Now, more than ever, I wished that I had taken the letter from him and read it so that I could know what was upsetting him so much.
After a moment he sighed and then pulled over, the tires crunching on the gravel on the side of the road. The ground dropped off from the side of the road about five feet away, leading to a sharp hill with thick woods at the bottom. Brett didn’t turn off the car, but he did put it in park before turning to look at me.
“Rose, we have to get you back to Taylor Prep. At least, when you’re there, both Kaleb and Jackie will be helping me keep an eye on you. When we’re out here, just the two of us, I can’t guarantee that I can keep you safe. The council isn’t going to stop, Rose, not until you’re gone.”
My heart dropped and I felt myself get dizzy. Reaching out, I braced myself on the dash of the car. “Is that what the letter said? Did your mom write that?”
He nodded, reaching out to take my hand. It wasn’t until after he kissed my knuckles that he spoke. “Yes. She said that we need to go and that I need to keep you on campus. You can’t go home at Christmas break, Rose. I have to make sure that you’re safe, and I can’t do that unless I’m keeping an eye on you at all times.”
“I can’t go home? No, I have to, Brett. I don’t think that I can survive living at Taylor Prep without a break.” Panic began to well up inside of me, but I kept my eyes locked on his, searching them for something that would help me feel grounded.
“Rose. You know that I wouldn’t do anything that would put you in danger, and that I’ll do anything I can to keep you safe. I have to believe that my mom was serious and has your best interests at heart, especially since you think that she was really trying to warn us yesterday.” He chewed his lower lip, and I thought that he was going to keep talking, but he just shrugged and fell silent.
“I know, I just…” My voice trailed off and I tried to hold onto my thoughts, but before I could say anything else, we heard the screech of tires behind us.
I twisted around in my seat, trying to see what was about to happen. It sounded like someone was going to have an accident somewhere behind us. The thought gave me chills and I immediately thought back to the night that I lost my dad.
That night was terrible, but at least I didn’t see the car coming. I didn’t tense up my body and try to protect myself. Today was different. I heard the car, saw the car, and there still wasn’t anything that I could do about it.
The screeching turned into the sound of a gunning engine and I whipped back around to stare at Brett.
“Brett!” I screamed, but the sound was ripped from my throat as a car slammed into the back corner of our, crumping up the trunk and sending us jolting forward. The terror of our car being slammed forward was worse than I had felt before.
I knew what car accidents could do and who they could take from you when you were least expecting it. But to know what was coming? To see the car speeding towards us, reckless and unwilling to stop? That was far, far worse.
Brett reached for me, or at least I thought he did, but before he touched me, our car flew away from the side of the road, spinning in a circle as we slid down the embankment. Gravel spun up and under the car as we slid, banging and knocking against the undercarriage. Bits of rock spun up from under us and showered back down into the open convertible. Throwing my hands up, I tried to protect my head while at the same time I tried to keep my eyes on the trees as we got closer and closer to them.
“Rose!” The sound of Brett screaming out my name pulled me away from staring at the trees. I turned to look at him, surprised at how wide his eyes were. I remembered seeing the same thing with my dad before he died, and I felt my stomach twist as I fought the urge to throw up. It was the look of a man who knows that he is really and truly fucked and there is absolutely nothing that he can do about it.
The sound of twisted metal slamming into trees silenced him and he was thrown forward, his face smashing into the airbag that burst from his steering wheel at the same time as I raised my hand to block mine from hitting my face.
The rough fabric smashed into my arm, propelling it back into my face. I heard the sickening crack of my wrist as it smacked my forehead and I cried out, breathing in the gunpowder smell as the airbags deployed.
Just then, everything seemed to slow down. The car was still smashing into the trees and I heard the grinding of bark being peeled off of the trunk as it rained down on us. Small branches and twigs fell onto our heads and I lifted my arm to shield my head, but cried out at the pain that shot through it with the movement, then dropped it back into my lap. Everything in my body hurt. There was shooting pain up my legs and into my hips and my arm felt like it was on fire, but even though I thought my body was dying, I still needed to make sure that he was okay.
I had to check on the man that I loved.
“Brett!” Even though I screamed as loud as I could, I didn’t think that he could hear me. Brett was resting with his cheek on the airbag and he didn’t move when I called him again. A loud ringing in my ears made it hard for me to concentrate, but I reached out for him, ignoring the way my hand hung limply from the end of my wrist. I couldn’t control my hand to lift it, but I needed to see if I could touch him—could try to bring him back to me.
My hand rested heavy on his shoulder but he didn’t open his eyes. His head was turned to look at me, resting against the pillow of the airbag, but even though I was screaming, he didn’t look at me. He was breathing, though. I saw his cheek rise and fall once. Twice. Three times. Good.
For a moment, he was the only thing that I could see.
Then I remembered the truck that had hit us and run us off the road.
Throwing my head back, I looked up the embankment, noting where our car had slid down over the rocks and through the weeds to rest against the trees. There wasn’t a guardrail where we had pulled off the road, which is probably why we’d slid so easily and so far.
I squinted against the early sun, my eyes searching for the truck, but it had driven on.
