Like Gravity(16)
I nodded and released the booster buckles with shaking hands. I tugged on my door handle but it wouldn’t budge, and before I could crawl over to try the opposite side, the man had lunged back and grabbed me.
Dragging me over the console into the front seat with him, my bare arms scraped against the glass shards littering the driver’s side. I screamed when a huge, sharp piece got lodged in my collarbone, slashing deeply and releasing a torrent of blood.
“Shut up!” he growled. His face was bleeding and he was gripping my arm so tightly I knew it would leave behind a big bruise.
I whimpered.
“I said shut up! I wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you, you little shit. I was home free, they weren’t gonna catch me. You f*cked it all up. You made me crash.” He shook me roughly and my teeth clacked together from the force. I didn’t dare whimper this time, though.
He opened his door slowly, holding me in front of him like a shield.
“I’ve got a kid here,” he screamed to the waiting police officers. “Back the f*ck off!”
He slowly eased out of the car, keeping a vise-like grip around my midsection. My feet dangled in the air, unable to reach the ground. I felt something cold and metallic press against my temple.
When we were out of the car, I saw that there were at least ten police cars parked in a circle around us with their lights flashing. The front of Mommy’s SUV was smashed in from where we’d hit the highway guardrail.
It was getting harder to breathe; his arm was squeezing too tight around my chest. My lungs burned, my hair was wet with blood, and my pink t-shirt was stained bright red around my left collarbone.
I could hear the police officers yelling at the bad man and him yelling back, but I couldn’t concentrate on the words. Everything slowly turned to black as my vision cut out and I faded into dark oblivion.
***
The scream tore out of my throat and I sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath and chilled to the bone. Taking calming breaths, I ran through my typical post-nightmare routine and gradually slowed my pounding heartbeat. A cursory glance at my cellphone informed me that it was almost seven in the morning. Thankfully, the nightmare had held off until dawn this time, allowing me a few extra hours of much-needed rest.
After making a cup of coffee, I grabbed my tattered copy of Gone With the Wind and propped open my bedroom window. A cool, early-morning breeze drifted in and I looked around my room for a sweatshirt to slip on before heading out onto the roof. Unable to find one amidst my stacks of unsorted laundry and far too impatient to search further, I swiped Finn’s leather jacket from its resting place on my desk chair and pulled my arms through the too-long sleeves. The jacket dwarfed me with excess material, hanging down to mid-thigh, but I knew it would keep me warm outside in the chilly autumn dawn.
Tucking my book under one arm and balancing a precariously full coffee mug, I maneuvered out the window and slid onto the roof. The morning sky was tinged pink with the sun’s arrival, and a light breeze stirred the leaves in the arcing branches of the maple. I bent my knees, drawing my legs up to my chest and wrapping Finn’s coat snugly around them. Fully cocooned in his jacket, I was enveloped by the scents of rich leather and the crisp apples of harvest-time. Distressed by the idea of Finn invading my senses, I brought the mug to my nose and inhaled deeply, letting the rich coffee aroma push him from my mind.
I took a sip and thought back over the events of the previous night. Miraculously, I’d escaped the typical aftereffects of a tequila binge and was hangover free. My cheeks flamed as I remembered the way I’d fallen asleep on Finn’s lap on the drive home. How was it that every interaction I had with that boy left me embarrassed and irritated beyond measure?
People didn’t usually get under my skin so easily. In fact, they rarely even made an impression. It disturbed me that a boy I’d known for about a nanosecond could leave me feeling so rattled and vulnerable after a few brief encounters.
Picking up my book, I traced a finger down its broken spine and flipped through the well-worn pages. I’d lost track long ago of how many times I’d read it. There was something about this particular story and the sweeping grandeur of the old south that called to me, allowing me to escape from my own time and lose myself completely within the pages. Books had given me an escape during the long years when I’d needed most to forget; when I read, Brooklyn disappeared and I became another girl, in different place, at some other time.
The sun crept slowly over the horizon, shooting warm yellow rays down through the abundantly leafed tree boughs and creating a kaleidoscope of shadows on my small perch. Flipping to a random page, I read until my coffee was gone and I heard the front door slam, announcing Lexi’s return. Angling my head to the sky, I let the emerging morning sun warm my face and hoped the coming day would be better than yesterday.
***
Wandering into the kitchen, I immediately spotted Lexi sprawled out on our sofa with one arm thrown over her eyes to block out the sun. I deposited my empty coffee mug in the dishwasher and made my way over to her, pulling her feet onto my lap as I sat at the end of the couch.
“How was the walk-of-shame?” I asked, indicating the red dress she still wore from last night. Lexi pulled her hand from her face and propped herself up on her elbows to look at me.
“Actually, he drove me home, if you must know,” she said, smiling, “And he said he’d come over tonight.”