“Hey, New Girl. Christa, Christa, Christa…hang on, come on back, hun.” He was suddenly there, in my space, hands on my shoulders, as if he had a right to touch me. “Let’s figure out—” I yanked my arm from his hold and his expression morphed from good-natured to something sly. I stepped away. A shiver went through me as I followed the direction of his gaze. “Oh, look.Mistletoe.”
That’s when he put his hand on my boob and tried to kiss me.
I’d always asked myself how I’d react if someone attacked me. Well, now I knew.
I lost it. My chest rose and fell on wordless grunts, as my hands flailed, slapping his face and chest. I shoved him into the corner, kicked him hard between the legs, threw open the front door, and took off down the walk, over the stupid little rocks—it was a wonder I didn’t break an ankle, or a heel—and into my car. The Jetta started on the first try, a total miracle given how freakingcoldit was out here. Shuddering like crazy, I barreled down the precarious drive, fast.
Don’t follow me, I begged the whole time, eyes flicking to the rearview.Please don’t chase me.
It wasn’t until I left the gravel and hit the pavement of the main road that my car swerved. It took about ten seconds for the wordsblack iceto enter my brain but by then, I’d lost control. Everything spun, dark shapes sped by, something squealed.
My tires? No. No, the sound was coming from me.
I pushed my foot hard to the brake pedal and in a flash remembered some lesson from a driving class about pumping, not stomping. I did it, somehow; tapped that pedal over and over again, worked it like a jackhammer.
In eerie slow-motion, I skidded for what felt like ages, straight toward the cliff’s edge, pivoted left and…
Stopped.
Oh, thank God.
My hands wouldn’t come off the steering wheel, as if, no matter how hard my brain told them it was safe, they couldn’t quite believe it.
“That’s okay. It’s okay.” I said the words aloud, trying to calm myself, I guess. To still my jittery hands.
But man, this was alotfor one night.
The shivering took over, clacking my teeth together as fast and wooden as Pinocchio on speed. Okay, that was a weird analogy, even for me.
I should probably calm down, wait here for a few seconds, catch my breath, regroup, maybe call Gran to explain what had happened, that I was scared, that this whole night was a clust—
The car shifted, tilted, screeched so loud I flattened my hands to my ears.
Sudden quiet. Stillness.
Oh, God, my chest. Why can’t I breathe?
Something was very wrong.
I blinked, opened my eyes, focused on my hands. I’d moved them again, apparently. One gripped the gear shift, the other had a tight hold on the door handle.
Okay. Okay.Focus.
Oh…shit.
Slowly, like a spotlight illuminating a dark set, engulfing one new detail at a time, my brain took in the situation.
I was hanging, my body listing to the right, held in place by the seatbelt. I’d wedged my legs into the space under the wheel. The entire world tilted at a crazy angle. The high-beams tunneled through air. Nothing but air.
Slowly, barely shifting at all, I looked left, first with my eyeballs, then craning my neck. Was I imagining that light or was it real? Was someone coming?Let it be someone coming.
When it disappeared, despair melted through me, turning my limbs to lead. Not a light. The night sky, glowing pink, like just before a snow.
I whimpered, shoved down my desire to thrash like a bug in a web, and swallowed hard.
Okay. Okay, this wasn’t so bad. I could call someone. I unpeeled my right hand from the stick, reached out, patted the console, gingerly.
No phone. Further to the right, over the passenger seat, I let my fingers travel, more and more certain that I was screwed until…
