We Were Once by Scott S.L

Author:Scott, S.L.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-940071-94-7
Publisher: S.L. Scott
Published: 2020-05-26T00:00:00+00:00

26

Joshua

My head throbs to a familiar chime I can’t place—the sound or the song. My eyes sting as I squeeze my lids closed to make the pain go away. But even that can’t fight the dull ache, so I venture to find the light and track down that fucking sound.

Opening my eyes is a struggle and my right eyelid doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. As life comes into focus, the chime becomes a dinging.

Fear quickens the beat of my heart when I realize I’m in the dark of the car.

Car . . .

The door.

The Mercedes key fob.

The steering wheel that should be in front of me.

Nothing’s where it should be.

The ding from an ajar door gets louder as the fog clears. Shit! I grab the side of my head as a sharp pain shoots through my temple, causing me to close my eyes again. Visions flash through the darkness . . .

Her smile.

Thump.

Those eyes that see beneath the townie.

Thump. Thump.

A deer. Her scream.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

When I look down, red stains the leather, which has me lifting my hand to my head again. I thought it was sweat running down my cheek. Sweat when my body shivers from cold? It takes a second for me to realize that doesn’t make sense.

Why is it red?

I push my palm to my forehead, the ripped sleeve drooping down, and pull back with blood coating my skin. My lifeline becomes a shallow river clinging to the liquid. “Chloe?” I call again, my pain becoming secondary as panic sets in. “Chloe?” My voice is weak, but my determination is strong.

My neck tweaks when I look right too fast. I’m greeted with a tree branch where Chloe should be. Oh, fuck. I try to push up, but my hand slips against the seat, and my body protests. “Chloe?”

A shattered windshield.

Broken glass. Shards glisten against my skin.

An ounce of relief is found in a small detail—I can feel my legs pinned beneath the airbag though the memory of what happened is failing me.

Her Mercedes.

Her birthday.

A missing heart holds no beat. My chest is hollow as I search the car for the only thing that matters—her. Her name comes in waves of shallow breaths being exhaled.

The car is crushed, so I start praying that she’s alive. I search for a way out, for a way to find her. “Chloe?” My voice is scratched, the sound not traveling to where I need it to be.

Leveraging my arm against the middle console, I put all my weight behind the effort. Fuck pain. Fuck tears. Fuck this whole world if I can’t get to her. “Can you hear me, Chloe?”

My heart. My whole fucking life. My soul. “Please answer me, Chloe.”

Wedging my way out from under the airbag, I fall out of the car, my back hitting the frame before I land on the gravel. “Fuck!” I cry, squeezing my eyes closed to stave off the pain. I don’t have time to waste, groaning until my legs fall beside me. Where is she? “Chloe?”

I hold on to one ounce of hope—my phone.

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.