Marin should be doing something. She needed to help! She flexed her hands and blinked water from her eyes, rain or tears, she wasn’t sure. Maybe both. Then she forced her foot forward. One step, then another. Her shoe sank into the muddy water. The cold was instant and shocking, probably only a few degrees above freezing. So cold ithurt. She could only imagine what the other women were experiencing, being fully submerged in it.
But they’re alive!
As they approached the shore, she saw that Audrey was crying, her face contorted with misery. Beside her, Michelle was stoic but pale. Charlotte brought up the rear, guiding them in. Soon, they reached water shallow enough for them to stand, and they struggled towardthe bank through deep mud. Marin took another step into the lake and reached for Audrey’s hand, tugging her gently toward the shore. Audrey’s fingers were ice cold in hers, and her skin had a bluish tinge.
As soon as Audrey was out of the water, Marin reached for Michelle, who had fallen to her knees in the mud. Charlotte joined her, and together they lifted Michelle to her feet and helped her out of the water. Marin saw a red bump on Michelle’s forehead where she must have hit it in the crash.
“Can everyone make it up the bank to the road?” Charlotte asked, sounding remarkably calm despite the way her teeth chattered and her body shook. “Hopefully the pickup truck driver has already called for help, but I think we need to get into our car and get the heat going to try to warm up while we wait for the ambulance.”
Indeed, hypothermia was a real concern. They were all shivering, lips purple from the cold. Audrey wrapped an arm around Michelle, who seemed to be struggling a bit.
“Let’s hurry,” Audrey said, her voice tight and shaky. “She hit her head pretty hard. I think she blacked out for a second when we went into the water.”
Marin wrapped her arms around Charlotte as her paralyzing terror began to fade into a more manageable level of fear. Yes, they all needed to get to the car, and fast. Both couples held on to each other as they began their climb up the embankment to the road.
It was much harder to climb than it had been to descend. Each step was a struggle, brambles and vegetation clawing at their clothes as mud mired their feet. Rain still fell heavily, and it was cold,socold. Marin was soaked and shivering uncontrollably, her hands and feet numb, and she hadn’t even gone into the lake.
They were all a muddy, soggy mess by the time they made it to the road, but Marin didn’t spare a thought for the interior of the car as they piled in. Heat was the priority. Heat, and then help. She started the car and cranked the heat to full blast, adjusting the vents to reach Audrey and Michelle where they clung to each other in the back seat.
“Jackets,” Marin managed to say, gesturing somewhat wildly to the garments she and Charlotte had discarded on the back seat after dinner. Audrey and Michelle reached for them to wrap up in something dry.
A sharp rap at the window nearly made Marin jump out of her skin. Adrenaline flooded her system all over again. She looked out to see the pickup truck driver standing there. Marin’s hand shook as she lowered the window to speak to him.
“I called 911.” He glanced anxiously into the back seat. “Everyone okay? I’m real sorry about this.”
“Everyone is alive,” Marin told him curtly. “As for okay, I’m not sure yet. The two who were in the car that you ran off the road need to be seen by EMTs as soon as possible.”
“Help should be here any minute,” he said, expression contrite. “Again, I’m so sorry.”
Marin nodded. “We appreciate that. Could you please wait in your truck until the authorities get here?” Because the lowered window was letting cold air into the car, and while she wanted to raise hell about his dangerous driving, this wasn’t the time or the place.
He walked away, and Marin raised the window. Beside her, Charlotte was quiet, arms wrapped around herself and shivering. In the back seat, Audrey was still crying while Michelle leaned against her, resting her head on Audrey’s chest.
They were still sitting like that when sirens approached a few minutes later. A fire truck arrived first, followed by a sheriff’s deputy. Charlotte and Marin got out of the car to explain what had happened, and Marin was relieved to see the ambulance pull up soon after.
She watched as Michelle was loaded into its interior with Audrey at her side. They were on their way to the hospital. Thankgod. The ambulance lurched down the muddy road, and Marin’s body seized again. The flashing lights. The siren. She’d thought she had no memory of her time in the ambulance. She’d been mostly dead at the time. But now ...
Marin heard Charlotte’s voice against her ear, telling her it was going to be okay. She was vaguely aware that she was clutching Charlotte against her. Then a sheriff’s deputy was approaching them, and Charlotte pushed hastily out of Marin’s arms.
What an awful night.
Charlotte and Marin had gone to the hospital, where they sat for hours in the emergency room while Audrey and Michelle were examined. Someone brought Charlotte a clean set of scrubs so she could change out of her wet dress, but she still couldn’t seem to get warm.
As witnesses to the accident, they spoke to the sheriff’s department, and Charlotte tried not to mind the way Marin kept clinging to her without paying attention to who was watching. Charlotte hated that she minded, but shedidmind, because this was a small town where everyone knew everyone, and her dad had lived here his whole life.
Marin was an out lesbian on campus, so if Charlotte was seen holding hands with her, it might get back to him. And much like Marin had wanted the chance to tell Nancy herself, Charlotte wanted to tell her dad ... when she was ready.
They left the hospital just before midnight. Michelle had a mild concussion, but she and Audrey were otherwise unharmed, which felt so goddamn lucky. Marin drove them home before she and Charlottefinallymade it back to Marin’s house, where poor Ember was practically bursting to get out of her crate.
Marin took her out, and then they got into a hot shower together. Charlotte still couldn’t stop shivering, even as hot water rained down on her. She’d been so scared when the car went into the water. She hadn’t been that terrified since ...
The fateful day on the bus.
Marin had been weirdly quiet all evening, and Charlotte might have just realized why. She tipped Marin’s face toward hers, thentucked wet strands of hair behind her ears. “Did tonight’s accident bring back memories of your own?”
Marin nodded, her bottom lip trembling. “I froze ... there at the lake. I didn’t do a thing to help.”
“That’s perfectly understandable. It was a trauma response.”
