Then the crunching of feet on stones and branches.
“Kaitlyn. Baby, Kaitlyn.” She tried to turn her head to see her daughter.
“Please help my daughter. Is she okay?” Her ears felt plugged.
She screamed in pain again when she felt the car shake.
“It’s stuck; the doors are stuck. Where are the goddamn ambulance and fire trucks?” The man was near her again.
“My wife has gone to put flares on the road. Try not to move, ma’am.”
“My daughter. The back doors are childproof. Can you reach inside and unlock it?”
“Yes, hold on a second.” Sierra felt the air move near her head, then a small click sounded.
“Hold on, I will go and check on her.”
She had stopped herself from laughing because where was she going to go. Instead, Sierra murmured, “Thank you.”
“Thank God, I hear the sirens now. They sound close.”
Despite this good news, he uttered a distressed sound. Fear tightened her throat. “What, is my baby okay?” She tried to move again and screamed.
“Ma’am, just stay calm.”
“What has happened to her?”
“She’s injured badly too, but breathing.”
“No, no, no. Please help her.” She reached for the belt and unclasped it, tumbling out of the seat and hit the inside of the car, hard.
She shrieked in pain and tried to hang on. Her head spun, but nothing could drown out thethis is all my faultthudding around her skull.
“Ma’am, don’t move! Thank God, over here!” He shouted.
“There is a woman in the front and a little girl in the back seat.”
In that moment, she had begged. “Please not my daughter, please make sure she is all right.” It was the last thing she remembered before passing out.
A loud bang of thunder interrupted her being lost in her memories. Sierra didn’t notice when the lights came back on—the generator must have kicked in. Her mouth felt dry, and as she sipped her tea, tears coursed down her cheeks. Wiping them away, the jingle of her cell phone pierced the veil of distraction. Shuffling back to her office, Sierra shoved a few papers aside and immediately held the phone to her face. Only two people had this number and knew this was the anniversary of her accident.
“Hi Sierra.” Hearing that husky tone over the phone was calming to her.
“Hi.” She cleared her throat and gripped the phone like a lifeline, continuing to wipe away her tears.
“How bad is it?”
“Bad. I want a drink and if there was one here, I would have taken a sip.” She confessed.
“Do you believe that?”
She sighed and ran her hand through her short hair. “I would like to think I wouldn’t, but I don’t know.”
“At least you are being honest and that we can work with.”
She bit her lip, wanting to burst out crying.
“Hey, it is okay and today is not an easy day for you. Do you want to talk about it?”
