Chapter 1
Cassandra
“Are you okay?”
Cassandra may have said that she was okay, but she wasn’t. She felt like her head was hurt and everything was like tunnel vision and her hearing was off. She’d hit the steering wheel head-on, when the car hit her. It left a lasting mark on her forehead.
The driver of the other car had come to see if she was okay, but he didn’t make a move to help her, and he hadn’t said that he was going to call nine-one-one, either. Instead, he said he had to go, and she couldn’t believe it when he stood back up from his crouching position.
“I’m sorry, really I am. I am sure someone will come upon you soon enough.”
Just like that, he was gone. Cassandra hadn’t gotten a good look at him, but she’d seen a tattoo on the inside of his wrist. It was some kind of symbol. He’d handed her a napkin when he’d seen her bleeding, but that wasn’t going to do her any good. Cassandra didn’t know who it was that had come out of nowhere and hit her, and now was taking off.
She closed her eyes and time passed. The only reason she knew that was because it was now light around the car. She’d been driving into an interview early and it had still been dark. Now, though, the sun wasn’t completely up in the sky, but it was up more than it should have been. She checked her phone and cursed. It was not only about dead and had no signal, but it showed that she was already two hours late for the interview. It was one that she’d been looking forward to for some time, the perfect spot, but now Cassandra knew she was going to have to kiss it goodbye.
Cassandra cursed the tall man with dark hair and bright blue eyes. He’d had a calming voice and had even sounded concerned in the beginning. Once she’d realized that he was leaving her, though, Cassandra had felt completely different about the situation.
She looked around, taking stock of not only the car that was at least off to the side of the road, but her surroundings as well. She wouldn’t have to worry about getting hit if someone came down the hill where she’d just crashed into the other guy.
Cassandra felt like she was all in one piece, even though her head was throbbing, and she was sure that it was going to be cut and knotted for a while. It hurt when she touched a certain area, and the blood was an indicator that it was cut. Further inspection made it appear not that deep, but she was still troubled by the amount that had reached her shirt and down the side of her face.
She reminded herself that head wounds just bled more. It wasn’t bad. She tried the door, and it was wrecked. The metal wasn’t going to reopen. Cassandra had to climb over the passenger side seat and then push that door open. She was relieved when it gave way, and she was able to step foot back on solid ground.
Cassandra looked around again and saw no one. All she saw were dark woods around her, and she hoped that someone would pass, though she knew it wasn’t likely. Cassandra lived off the beaten path about twenty miles. She liked the solitude that it afforded her, as well as the sunrises that weren’t disturbed by any kind of noise, except animals that were stirring around. It was peaceful and she loved it, until that very moment. Cassandra wasn’t loving it all that much, anymore.
Now she knew she was either going to have to walk ten miles either way, with her head banging, or she was going to have to sit and wait. Other people lived out there, but they were like her, going into town when necessary. The job that she was interviewing for was going to be mainly remote. She was a writer and did better with quiet, and as long as she had a good wi-fi connection, she could do it anywhere. Now, though, she was going to have to look for another job.
Cassandra was sure that all of her worries were all on one guy. The man who had hit her, checked on her, and then left her. Who does that? she thought to herself.
It was a little chilly. She went to her trunk and was thankful that she had an extra coat in there. Her mind wasn’t made up on whether she was going to walk or if she was going to stay and wait. In the end, it was too cold to make her mind up either way, and she wasn’t even going to worry about it. She was just going to have to wait it out.
She got back in, warmed up, and tried to get her phone to have a few more bars. Cassandra was starting to really get cold and the anger for the man who left her was dissipating. She knew that she was trying her best to stay worked up, because it was warmer that way.
Cassandra needed to get up and move around. Staying huddled in the car wasn’t helping her and when she tried to turn it on to get the heater running, it made horrible sounds like it was going to explode, so she immediately turned it off and swore that she wouldn’t turn it back on.
No longer able to wait around, she got out of the car and hoped that her phone wouldn’t die before she found a place with a little bit of clearing of all the huge Redwoods that filled the area. It was hard to see the sky in some parts, so it wasn’t hard to imagine the difficulty of a signal getting through.
Cursing her luck and that stupid guy, Cassandra started walking toward her house. It was miles away, but at least there was a warm bed waiting for her. She just had to get there. At least it wasn’t too cold for the middle of November. It could be worse, Cassandra tried to remind herself. It didn’t help much at the moment, but she knew it to be true.
She wasn’t far, maybe a few hundred yards, when she heard something that she couldn’t imagine she would hear. Cassandra looked behind her, shocked really, when a tow truck started toward her. Cassandra didn’t know how the coincidence could be so good, but she wasn’t going to question it. It was one of those times in life where someone was looking down on her and had decided to help. In the current circumstances that she was in, it was time for her to accept the universe’s good-natured assistance.
The tow truck stopped by her.
“You look like you need some help.”
Cassandra looked at the name tag on the man’s shirt. There was something odd about it, but she read the name to herself and smiled.
“Yes, Nathan, I would really love some help. Would you mind helping me out? I don’t even need the car taken, just me out of here. You can drop me off at home and I will get someone else to pick it up. I doubt it will be able to move too far.”
“Well, it looks like I have some parts that might help you out.”
Cassandra scoffed, looking back at the beaten car and not seeing how in the world this guy would have what she needed. Anyway, was he going to do it on the side of the road?
“Unless you have a grey door to match, I don’t know how this can be fixed.”
“What if I told you that I happened to have one of those?”
“I would be shocked and wondering if you were some kind of wizard or something.”
