The Sound of Broken Ribs(8)
The woman’s torso came into view as Belinda rounded the tree.
Jesus Christ…
*
There is this popular idea that, when accidents occur, time is wont to stand still, or stop altogether. This idea is a load of shit. If anything, time speeds up.
In Lei’s memory, she was one moment at the edge of the road, tying her shoes, and then next, she was lying in a pile, between a pair of trees. But even though it seemed as if she had been teleported from one location to the other that was not the case. Something had happened. Something had turned her inside out.
She gazed up at what first appeared to be the remains of some great animal. Perhaps an unearthed dinosaur or elephant. Its glistening ribs stretched for the sky like medieval sun worshippers. She made to reach for the ribs, but her left arm wouldn’t work. She tried to move her right. It moved, but not much. She thought that it was bent underneath her, but she couldn’t be sure.
She took a shuddering breath and the jutting ribs trembled.
Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. Those are my ribs. My goddamn ribs are outside of my body.
In her panic, Lei tried to move anything that would move, but nothing responded to her commands. Her breathing quickened and something rattled inside of her like dice in a cup.
Inhale: Clickety-click-click…
Exhale: click-ick-ick…
Inhale: clickclickclickclickclick…
The next exhale came out in bubbles, which burst and splattered. Wet flecks landed in her eyes. Her vision ran red.
Along with the realization that she’d been in some kind of terrible accident came the pain. An ever-growing ball of white-hot fire spread from her chest to her back and then down into her stomach. At the same time that the super-nova of agony was growing in her torso, the pain in her left arm struck like a strummed chord. A bolt of unbearable lightning shot from her wrist to her shoulder and exploded in her neck. One bolt was followed by another… and another… and another…
To further add to her ever-increasing panic, she found it was almost impossible to breathe. She wheezed and spluttered, each gasp wetter than the last.
And then someone was standing over her—a great shadow that seemed to have been cast by God himself. Or, in this case, herself.
A woman with the ash-blonde hair and large breasts stared down at her. Her face was not worried, not concerned in the least. She seemed more curious than anything.
Lei wanted to scream and wail and beg for help, but she could manage none of that. She could barely breathe much less speak. She mouthed “Help me” but the woman didn’t seem to notice. Or perhaps she just didn’t care.
The stranger met Lei’s pleading gaze and said, “I wanted to know what it felt like to destroy something. What it felt like to ruin a life. You were… you were just in the right place at the right time.”
Lei thought the woman had it wrong. The saying went, “You were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” But the longer she looked into the woman’s eyes, the more Lei thought that she herself was the one who was mistaken. The woman meant it just as she had said it. Lei had been in the right place at the right time to be destroyed. To be ruined.
“I guess I should get you out of view of the cars—huh?”
What is she talking about?
Without another word, the stranger stepped over Lei’s broken body. There was a moment when she was out of sight before Lei felt herself being lifted under the arms.
If she had been in pain before, this new pain nuked the previous pain. What seemed like every bone in her body ground together. Her shattered ribs especially, which clicked and clacked in her chest like maracas. She could feel her protruding ribs as they slid through the flesh of her breast. It felt like an overlarge sewing needle stitching at her chest. She coughed and blood exploded from her mouth in a fine red mist.
And then she was being dragged. Dragged farther into the tree line. Into the woods where no one would be able to find her. Where she would likely die.
For the first time in her life, Lei prayed to a god she didn’t necessarily believe in. Better safe than sorry.
*
The woman in the yoga pants was a mess. Her ribs looked to have clawed their way out of her chest. Her left arm had burst like a party favor. Splintered bone peeked from several gashes like porcupine quills. The woman’s mouth lay open and slack at an odd angle. Belinda thought maybe the woman had broken her jaw bouncing it off the hood like she had. Her left eyebrow was swollen and deformed, and Belinda thought it looked like the woman had a raw bratwurst glued just above her eye.
Add to that the woman’s obviously broken knee and various other compound fractures and internal bleeding and Belinda couldn’t believe the lady was still alive. Jesus Christ, what a resolve she must have. Several times the woman uttered cries that resembled words, but without the use of her jaw, the woman could be singing the national anthem and Belinda wouldn’t have been able to tell. She thought it was better that way, anyway, because she figured that, more than likely, the soon-to-be-dead woman wouldn’t have anything nice to say.
As she dragged the broken woman deeper into the woods, Belinda considered apologizing. In the end, she decided not to. Because, in truth, she wasn’t sorry. Not really. She’d accomplished what she’d meant to do, and there was nothing to apologize for. Fate had dealt Belinda a shitty hand this morning, and she had shared her shitty luck with someone else. She actually felt a bit better now, having completely ruined another human being.