“Unlock the door.” Based on the way he jumped, I must have frightened him. He stared at me without moving.
“Can you unlock the door? Are you hurt?” I shouted at him as I went back to the passenger’s door.
He slowly lowered the window as he reached up to remove cordless ear buds. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t hear you.” That was when I noticed the blood trickling down his temple.
“Okay, uh, that’s fine. Turn off the engine and stay right here. I’ll get one of the paramedics.” I started to hurry away when he began to stammer. “No! Please, no! I’m... I’m—” he reached up and swiped at the blood. “I’m bleeding.”
“Stay still. Roll up the window. I’ll be right back.” Without waiting for a response, I trudged up the hill through about ten inches of snow and ice. I wished to hell I hadn’t left my cap in the cab of my truck because my ears were freezing.
By the time I got to the emergency vehicles, a tow truck was making its way to the accident site. I stopped a cop who walked by.
“I think this accident knocked a little car off the road. It’s over there, down the hill. There’s a guy inside with a cut on his head.”
“Shit,” the cop said. He hurried over to an ambulance and quickly spoke to a female paramedic, who grabbed a bag and returned with him. “Show us.”
I led the way back, taking the petite paramedic’s bag so she could get through the snow easier. When we got back to the car, it was turned off as I’d requested. The driver was holding a bunch of fast-food napkins to his head to stop the flow of blood.
The paramedic took the bag from me. “Can you open the driver’s door?”
“It’s jammed, I think.”
I hurried around the car and pulled at the passenger’s side door, finally getting it open. “Here! This side is open.”
The paramedic hurried around the car and got into the passenger seat with a cervical collar.
“Can you help stabilize his head while I put this on?” she asked the officer.
The cop turned to me. “Can you help her out? I need to get back to the other accident so we can get the highway open.”
I rushed around and held the young guy’s head as the paramedic instructed. “I’m Holden. Do you know what happened?”
I moved my hands once the paramedic had the collar around his neck to keep him from moving his head. She asked him several questions as I listened, seeing his head was still bleeding when she pulled his hand away.
“That truck was passing me, and the trailer began sliding, swatting me off the road. The car spun a lot, and I couldn’t steer into it. I think I hit my head on the window. When Mr. Holden came up to the car, I was still trying to figure out what happened.”
It made sense to me. Plus, if he was wearing earbuds and listening to music or a podcast, he probably couldn’t hear me. He removed his seatbelt and shoved the door on the driver’s side with his shoulder. “Son of a—.”
The man glanced at the paramedic, who was babbling about him not moving as she reached for her radio and requested a backboard. “Stop moving. We don’t know if you have a spinal cord injury.” She was yelling pretty loud.
The guy slid out the window, and I caught him before he fell in the snow. “Thank you.”
“You okay?” I asked as he got his legs under him.
“I’m fine, thanks, uh, Mr. Holden. How’d you see me down this hill?” He reached for the collar and pulled it off, tossing it to the woman through the car window.
“I slowed down because of the truck, and as I was inching along, I noticed skid marks partially covered by the freezing rain. I saw your headlights, so I pulled over and came to check whether anyone was hurt.”
He blew into his hands, which was when I noticed he didn’t have any gloves, and he was only wearing a thin jacket, unlike me in my puffer coat.
“Here, put these on.” I gave him my gloves and shoved my hands in my pockets.
The paramedic snarled at him and said, “Come up to the bus and sign a refusal of medical treatment form. I don’t want you suing me.”
I chuckled at her snarky attitude, though I was sure she meant well. I reached for her large case.
“Come on. Let’s go help the lady out and see what the cops want to do about your car.”
The man nodded and followed the paramedic and me to the roadway. The truck driver was sitting in the back of a squad car. It was all too familiar a scene, though I only saw photos from the accident where Holly was killed. I was pretty sure that what I was witnessing, glancing at the jack-knifed semi, was close to a repeat of my sister’s accident.
