“Sarah, wake up.”
Sarah struggled to force her lids open. Finally she managed a narrow crack. She smiled. “Matilda.” Sarah licked her lips. Her mouth was so dry. “I thought you were gone.”
“You needed me.”
Sarah tried to laugh, but the sound was more a grunt. “No shit. I think I might be dead already.” As if on cue, her lids grew too heavy to keep open.
“Stay awake, Sarah!”
Sarah jerked at the loud command. Her lids fluttered open again.
“You have to stay awake,” Matilda told her. “If you go to sleep, you won’t wake up. Ever.”
“Sorry ...” Sarah needed a drink of water. “I can’t ...”
“Stay awake, Sarah. I’ll send help.”
Silence echoed around Sarah. She focused on opening her eyes once more. She blinked. Where was Matilda? Had she imagined her?
Sarah tried to stay awake like Matilda said ... but she just couldn’t ...
Funny ... she was pretty sure she was dead since she couldn’t feel her heart beating anymore.
She couldn’t feelanything. . .
48
A steady beep, beep, beep filtered through the haze.
Was she in the fog?
Sarah told her eyes to open so she could see.
Didn’t happen.
Her head felt like it weighed a ton. She tried to lift her arm, her right, then her left. That didn’t happen, either.
Go for something little. She wiggled her toes, or tried to. She wasn’t sure if it worked or not.
Okay, focus.
Open your eyes!
Bright light.
Her lids clamped shut.
Oh, hell. She was dead.
Wait. There had been something in the light. Working up her courage, she forced her eyes open one more time. Damn, that light was bright.
She blinked a couple of times. Something blocked the light. A face.
“There’s my girl.”
Don?
Okay, she wasn’t dead. Don was too mean to die.
