Out Of The Dark by Sharon Sala

Author:Sharon Sala
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-03-18T04:00:00+00:00

Fourteen

Luke and Jade were only minutes away from the hospital when they began approaching a busy intersection. Luke tapped on the brakes to start slowing down but felt no resistance. He hit the brakes again, this time pumping them rapidly, and felt the brake pedal go all the way to the floor.

"Hell."

"What's wrong?" Jade asked.

"No brakes," he said. "Hold on."

Jade didn't have time to be afraid, but from the look on Luke's face, he was plenty afraid for them both. She braced herself against the dashboard with both hands and closed her eyes.

Luke swerved to miss a car already stopped at the light. Steering through the space between two other vehicles that were still moving, he let the car bump up onto the curb and begin dragging high center. Luke yanked on the emergency brake and slammed the car into park just as the gears on the transmission sheared smooth. The moments after the screech of metal and rubber were surreal. The silence was as comforting as the noise had been frightening. Before there had been no certainty that there would be another breath to draw, and now they sat, listening to the rapid beating of their hearts and seeing the hiss of steam coming out from under the hood.

Suddenly there were people everywhere, tapping on the windows and shouting to them, "Are you okay? Are you Luke reached over and grabbed Jade's arm.

"Jade…honey…are you all right? God, please be all right."

Jade leaned back against the seat, then took a deep breath. Nothing hurt. Nothing bled.

"Yes… I think so. What happened?"

"I don't know, but you can bet I'll find out. Don't move. I'11 help you out on the other side."

He got out in a hurry, circling the car on the run. There was so much smoke and steam coming from under the hood, he feared something leaking might cause an explosion.

"I called 911," a man told him.

Luke nodded his thanks as he grabbed the passenger side door and yanked it open. Seconds later, he was pulling Jade out of the car and into his arms. He carried her a distance away from the accident.

"I can walk," she said.

"Humor me," Luke said, as he sat her down beneath some trees. "Don't move around until a medic can look you over, okay?"

She grabbed his arm, trying to still his panic.

"Luke. Listen to me. I'm okay."

Luke stopped, then, for the first time, really looked at her. When she smiled, he exhaled slowly.

"See?" she said. "All my fingers. All my toes."

He shook his head, then leaned forward and kissed her squarely on the lips. Before she could react, his cell phone began to ring.

Jade was shocked by what he'd done but thought she understood me reason. He was just relieved that they were all right and had showed it with a kiss. Nothing personal about it. Just a gesture of relief. Still, as she watched him answering the call, she couldn't help but touch her fingers to her lips, just to see if they felt different.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.