Prologue - Kelly
“You did a great job pitching at practice, buddy,” I said as we drove down the rain-soaked highway. It was coming down hard, in sheets slashing against our windshield. “I’m sorry the rain cut it short.”
I saw Jake shrug out of my peripheral vision, but knew he was disappointed. The coach was teaching him how to throw a curve ball, and he was desperate to perfect the new pitch.
“Hey, what do ya say we go to the movies after Dad gets home? Something with lots of action.”
When my suggestion was met with silence, I pulled my hand off of the steering wheel and patted him on the leg.
“C’mon, it’ll be fun...”
Finally, he gave me a small smile and said, “Okay, that sounds good.”
I was about to say something sarcastic, like “I don’t want to force you to have fun,” but was distracted when a shiny black sports car came quickly up behind me, then swerved over to get in the other lane.
As it sped past us I muttered, “What an idiot … He’s going to get in a wreck driving like that in this weather.”
No sooner had the words left my mouth when I saw a flash of black swerve then flip over, landing in the median ahead of us.
“Oh my God!” I shouted, then began to slow my car down and pull over to the left shoulder. I squinted, trying to see signs of life through the downpour as I pushed in my hazards light.
I turned to Jake and handed him my cell phone.
“Here, call 911 and don’t leave the car, no matter what happens.”
“No, Mom,” Jake argued, and I saw a flash of fear cross his face, something I hadn’t seen since he’d turned twelve and worked hard at maintaining his cool.
“I have to, bud, what if someone’s hurt?” I explained, holding his shoulder as I said again, “Stay in the car … Promise?”
“Okay,” he responded shakily. “I promise.”
He was already dialing the phone as I unlocked my door and jumped out into the rain. As I raced to the overturned car, I was vaguely aware that I was already soaked through.
I could smell the putrid stench of gasoline as I slid toward the car. I fell to my knees in the muddy grass and tried to peer through the passenger window. Unable to see more than shapes, I pulled the door handle, but found it was stuck.
“Shit!” I sat quickly on the ground and braced myself against the side of the car with my feet, then pulled with all my might, screaming, “C’mon!”
It opened suddenly, causing me to fall onto my back, but I sprung back up and crawled to the open door. Once my head was in, out of the rain, I wiped the wet from my eyes and looked around the interior of the car as they adjusted to the change in light.
I saw a child in the back seat, startled but awake, and a man unmoving, with his head resting on the steering wheel.
I reached around the seat, fumbling for the lever to bring it up, and I wondered how I’d get the child out of her seat without dropping her on her head. Finding the lever, I pulled and brought the seat forward, then twisted my body around the side, lifting one hand to unbuckle her seatbelt, and thrusting the other out in hopes of catching her once she was free.
What was only a matter of seconds felt like a lifetime, and it seemed as though I watched it all happen from somewhere outside of the car, rather than actually being the person pulling the child out to safety.
She started crying once she was in my arms and the cold rain began to hit her tiny face.
“Daddy!” she yelled over and over again, as I ran what I hoped was a safe distance from the car and set her on the ground.
“Shhhh, baby, you stay here, I’m gonna go get your daddy.”
I didn’t have time to offer more comfort than that; the smell coming from the car made me nervous, and when I saw a fire begin to flicker in the front of the car, I ran as hard as I could toward the driver’s side.
Without trying the handle first, I braced myself like I had on the other side, yanking at the handle as I pushed against the car with all of the strength my legs could muster.
“How is that fire still going in this damn rain?” I muttered in frustration as my attempts did not open the car. I stopped for a moment to take a deep breath and give my aching arms a rest, then began to pull again. “Please, God, help me…”
I yelled out in triumph when the door knocked me on my ass once again, then scooted forward to check the pulse of the man in the driver’s seat. I thought I could feel a faint heartbeat, then moved to unbuckle his seatbelt. Knowing there was no way I could catch the man who was much larger than myself, I moved my body out of the way and pushed the button, mentally apologizing to the man for any damage I unwittingly caused.
I looked over the car quickly to check on the girl, and saw Jake pushing her into the back of our vehicle and running around to let himself in on his side.
I was torn between pride that he’d gotten out and helped the girl get to safety, and anger that he hadn’t followed my instructions to stay in the car.
Realizing I’d have to worry about that later, I grabbed the man by the arm and pulled with all of my might. When he tipped out and splashed to the ground, I turned him and shoved my hands under his armpits, then began to drag him, watching warily as the fire started to spread.
“Damn, you’re heavy,” I heaved as I hauled him away from the car.
I worried as I realized we were on the opposite side of the car from the kids, so I dropped the man and murmured that I’d be back, and took off in a run, thinking I would get in my car and drive it farther down the road to wait for the police.
Unfortunately, that meant I was running right past the wrecked sports car when it exploded.
One second my feet were on the ground, taking me closer to Jake, and the next I was flying through the air, my ears ringing. The last thing I saw was asphalt as my face careened toward the highway.
Five Years Later
One
Jacob
The touch of your skin helps me breathe. Any time the pain feels like it’s gonna take me under, all I have to do is look at you, and I’m whole again…
I looked up from my guitar strings and brought my eyes shyly to Alison’s, curious to know what she thought about the latest song I’d written. It was still a draft, but she was always the first person to hear what I wrote.
“That’s beautiful, Jake.” Her sweet smile tugged at my heart, just like it had every day since the moment she’d come up and asked me if I was okay five years ago. Although we’d gone to the same school all of our lives, that was the first time we’d had a real conversation.
I’d been in love with her ever since.
“Thanks, baby,” I said genuinely. I honestly didn’t know how I would have made it through the last few years without her by my side. Lord knows my father hadn’t been much help.
First, he’d been too torn up with his own grief to worry about mine, and then he’d been too busy trying to move on and forget the life we used to have. It seemed like the second he found out Mom was in that accident, our family had been lost.
I might as well have been in that explosion along with her, for as much attention as he paid me over the last five years.