There wasnothing.
“Come on!” I grumbled, my grip tightening on the wheel even more.
As I neared Gilded Hill Bridge, I slowed, and that’s when Inoticed the corner of the concrete rail at the start of the bridge was clipped and broken.
As I got closer, I saw blurry red taillights illuminated against white paint peeking over the edge of the small hill.
“Shit!Fuck!”
I slammed on my brakes, my tires screeching as my Jeep skidded to a stop, and I blindly reached for the button in my car that dialed emergency services. I didn’t even let them finish the 911 greeting. “This is Dr. Blake Pierson! I’m at the east end of Gilded Hill Bridge with an MVA, one vehicle flipped at the bottom of the embankment, injuries unknown! I need an ambulancenow!”
I didn’t hang up. I didn’t listen to what they said next either. I flung my door open and jumped out. Wind and rain pelted my face as I ran around the front of my car and onto the grassy edge, starting down the small hill.
“No. No, no, no, no!”
My heart thundered against my ribs as I stumbled. The mud from all the heavy rain made my feet slip beneath me, and I slammed into the roof of her car, catching myself with my hands. Her Jeep was flipped onto its side, driver’s side down.
“Haley!” I shouted as I ran to the front. Through the cracked windshield, I saw her blurry figure. “Haley!”
I hoisted myself onto her car, holding the roof for support as I climbed my way over to the shattered passenger window.
Peering inside, my heart lodged in my throat. “Jesus, baby, talk to me!”
Haley didn’t speak. I noticed her rapid, wheezing breaths, then her eyes met mine—pained, tired, and panicked.
Suddenly, everything froze.
Every raindrop suspended, every sound flattened, and the storm outside fell away.
My mind glitched, the images shifting.
I was no longer in the heavy rain but kneeling in dry dirt.
And I wasn’t looking at Haley but at Noah.
I saw the panic in his eyes as he stared back at me, hearing him gasp for air. I could feel the grip of his trembling fist against the front of my uniform.
My chest seized, a vise of dread crushing my ribs. I couldn’t breathe, fear locking every muscle, choking the air from my lungs.
A gust of wind and a rumble of thunder shook me from my daze. Suddenly, there was Haley again, staring up at me from where her seatbelt trapped her.
Not again.
I clenched my fist so tight my nails scored my palm, determination scraping against the panic that threatened to swallow me whole.
I couldn’t do thisagain.
I couldn’t lose someone else.
I couldn’t loseher.
I exhaled, then crawled across the side of her car, turned, and slipped through the other broken window, dropping into the back seat.
“Baby girl,” I said, shifting as close to her as I could.
I moved to straddle the driver’s seat without jostling her. My back partly shielded her from the rain coming in through the broken window above as I looked down at her. Her clothes were soaked through beneath her thin coat, her skin and hair wet. She looked faint and had a small gash along her brow line.
“Can you talk to me? Can you tell me where it hurts?”
