Tangled Up Hearts (17 page)

Then a little brown rabbit hopped out in front of her.

Alyssa’s reaction was reflexive and automatic. Knowing she couldn't stop in time, she jerked the wheel in an attempt to go around it. The sudden change in direction, however, was not a good move either. Her car swerved unto the soft shoulder of the road and fish tailed. She jammed her foot onto the brake pedal but it only made her swerve worse and just like that her car was out of control. Time slowed down, her mind froze and she watched in fascinated horror as the world went into a spin. Although she should have been terrified, a strange, curious calm descended over her. She was aware of everything, the screech of tires, the sickening crunch of metal, the shattering of glass. Then absolute silence.

Once it fully registered that she had come to a violent, abrupt halt, Alyssa took note of many things all at once. The first being the fact that her head was resting against the steering wheel which, to her dismay, was a lot closer than it should be. The thought then ran through her head that if she had a new car instead of her grandparents’ old Escort, she would be resting her face in an airbag right now. That thought was followed by bone-deep regret for she was pretty sure her reliable little car had just met its end. Sorrow speared through her. As her grandparents weren't ones to travel and they no longer had use for it, the Escort came to her as a gift. It's incredibly low mileage combined with their excellent care made for a vehicle that was nearly as good as new. Although her parents offered to buy her a new one upon her graduation from high school, Alyssa had talked them into funding a cruise instead. Her old but well-maintained Escort was more than adequate for her needs. And so, thanks to this car, she went on a lovely cruise to the Bahamas. Trisha went with her. They'd had so much fun. And pleasant though the memories were, she needed to focus on the here and now.

Taking care to remain still, Alyssa conducted a mental scan of her body. She felt bruised, sore, but everything seemed to be functioning. When her lungs began to burn she realized she was holding her breath and slowly, cautiously, she drew in some air. Yup, working fine. So far so good. Her heart was fine, she could hear it pounding in her ears.

Still she didn’t open her eyes. Not yet. She just wasn’t quite ready to face what happened. Instead she focused on the sensations her other senses were giving her. For instance, aside from the fact that the steering wheel was almost crushing her, she could hear a hissing sound coming from her car’s engine. The pungent odor of burned rubber stung her nose but didn't stop her from detecting the strong smell of spilled fuel. No smoke though. That was a good sign.

Her heart was pounding so hard she could actually feel it beating. Surely that was another good sign. If her heartbeat was that strong, she was probably not in danger of dying.

Finally she opened her eyes.

The dashboard was unrecognizable and the windshield was shattered. Alyssa stared in shock, not moving until her attention was drawn elsewhere.

Something was trickling down the front of her face, getting into her eyes. She lifted a shaking hand to touch it and felt something warm and sticky. When she drew her hand away, it was covered in blood. Panic rushed through her. Pure, unchecked panic. But then that practical, controlled side of herself came to her rescue, offering a calming voice of reason.

Okay, Alyssa, get a grip. First thing to do is get out of the car
.

Obeying that internal voice, Alyssa fumbled with her seatbelt. Her hands shook so badly it took a couple of tries to release the catch. Next she tried her door. It wouldn’t budge. The impact had forced part of it to fold inward. She moved her legs experimentally. No problems there. Good. So far so good. She wiggled and squirmed her way out of her seat then continued her struggle for the passenger door. There wasn't a lot of room to maneuver about but she managed it somehow and although she had to give the door a few hard pushes, she eventually got it open and slid out onto the ground.

Once she felt strong enough to do so, she staggered to her feet then was immediately overcome with nausea. Using the crushed metal behind her for support, she turned to survey the destruction with tearful eyes. It was totaled, no question there.

The nasty metallic taste of blood wiped all other concerns from her mind. A steady stream of it was flowing from her forehead. Funny that. She felt no pain at all. Not sure if that was a good sign or not, she watched with horror as the front of her white sweater grew gruesomely crimson. Then, as the taste began to make her gag, she swiped at the blood and covered her mouth with her hand.

Feeling more panic rising, Alyssa glanced around her and realized just how isolated she was. Not a soul in sight, not a house to be seen. Good Lord…was she going to bleed to death?

Find something to staunch the blood flow, Alyssa.

Glad for her practical voice of reason, Alyssa told herself that head wounds always bled a lot. What she needed to do was find something to press against it.

Ok, Alyssa, just focus on what you need to do and stay calm. Panic never helped anyone.

Pushing herself away from the car, she turned to survey it with mournful eyes. She didn't commiserate long, though, because blood began to trickle over her lips. Sputtering over the nasty taste, Alyssa once again covered her mouth with her hand and got back to the business of taking care of her needs. There was a first aid box under the back seat. She had her father to thank for that. His cautious, prepared-for-anything nature had rubbed off onto her. Well to some degree anyway. Caution sure hadn’t landed her in this mess.

Thankfully the back door had sustained no damage and opened easily. The crash had sent the first aid box crashing against the back seat and most of its contents were strewed all over the floor. She grabbed a thick pad and some gauze and made quick work of it staunching the flow of blood. Judging from the tender spot on her forehead, she was pretty sure that was causing the problem. After pressing the cloth to the spot for a short while, the bleeding stopped.

That little chore taken care of, she pushed upright and took a shaky step away from the car. Talking to herself in a quiet, soothing tone, she made her way to the small embankment leading back up to the road and sank weakly down onto the grass. It was then that she allowed the tears to fall. Her head buried in her arms, her knees drawn up, she cried until too exhausted to continue. It was just nerves. Relief that she was alive.

After allowing a few moments of emotional release, she lifted her head and wiped at her face with the sleeve of her sweater. Glancing back at the road, she saw no sign of a furry body splattered to it. Well at least the rabbit was okay. She uttered a short, sharp laugh. Although she felt on the verge of hysterics, she had to keep a clear head and figure out what to do. A glance at her watch told her it was just after five. It would be dark in a couple hours or so. Surely someone would come by soon?

With a sense of detachment she looked at her car. Strange how life could change so suddenly. One minute she’s singing a happy tune, driving along a country road, the next she’s sitting in the grass looking at her scrunched up, mutilated car. She was lucky. She could have been killed. How many others had swerved to miss an animal and paid for it with their lives? How many others would have simply run over the poor, defenseless creature and not given it a thought?

Okay, now what? A cool breeze wafted over her and she shivered. Along with the dark would come the cold. Early spring evenings were still quite cool, even near freezing on some nights. She couldn’t just sit there. She thought about her cell phone and its dead battery and groaned again. Never would she ever go anywhere without a charging cord!

Although she felt a little dizzy, Alyssa forced herself to stand up. While she stood there waiting for the dizziness to pass, she looked up and down the road. What were the chances of a car coming along anytime soon? She hadn't seen one in a long time. Since long before the accident. There was nothing for it but to start walking and hope there was a house nearby.

She gave her car one last, regretful look. It was hard to believe she was walking away from such a mangled scrap heap and she sent up a prayer of thanks, glad that her guardian angel was watching over her. Things could have been a lot worse.

After giving both directions a considering look, she decided to continue in the same direction she'd been heading. There was no telling how far she’d have to go for help but there was nothing to be done for it than to start walking.

It didn’t take long, however, before she realized her high heeled shoes needed to go and she paused to remove them. Muttering a sound of disgust, she threw them in the ditch. The road was still warm from the day’s sun but that would change before long. Her calf-length black skirt was going to offer nothing in the way of protection. Why hadn’t she just put on jeans this morning? She gave her clothing a derisive glance and saw that her stockings were ruined so she stopped again and removed them. As she did so, her bandages slipped off. It was soaked in blood but had done its job. She didn’t feel anything trickling down her face so she left the bloodied bandage where it fell and tossed her torn stockings into the ditch. A smile appeared as a ridiculous thought entered her head.
At this rate, I’ll be naked by the time I find help
. Wouldn’t that cause a stir? She laughed at the silliness of her thoughts.
Get a hold of yourself, Alyssa, this could be a long night. Don’t start losing it now.

She walked for another mile (or so it seemed to her) before fear began to set in. No cars, no houses. She sure did pick a good road to have an accident on. As the fear increased, so did her heart beats and her mind began racing with a myriad of complaints. Her head ached. Her feet were sore. She was cold and tired of walking. Her stomach was upset and she was thirsty. Well, now that she had her complaint system in full working order, there was nothing left to do but pray. She had no sooner finished a heartfelt plea to the higher forces when she saw a mailbox up ahead. Grinning with relief, she glanced up. “Thanks.” Where there was a mailbox, there was a house to go with it. With hope in her heart, her pace quickened.

The trees gave way to a fenced-in pasture where several cows idly grazed. Far up on a hill and adjacent to the pasture was a house. A car was parked in the driveway and she took that as a pretty good sign that whoever lived there was home. A long driveway wound itself from the road to the house. Although it wasn't far, perhaps a hundred yards or so, Alyssa wondered if she'd make it. She was tired and sore and wasn't sure how much longer she was going to manage to hold herself up. The shorter route would be to cut through the pasture.

She paused only for a moment before making up her mind. It was getting cold and the pebbled driveway would be worse on her feet than the soft grass of the pasture. She crawled between the two middle lines of barbed wire and caught her hair on the twining. Hissing at the pain, she struggled to pull free while tears of frustration welled in her eyes. Finally, after some effort and lots of cussing, she managed to disentangle from the fence without losing too much of her hair. Damn the luck anyway. What next? She lifted a hand and grimaced when she felt the tangled mess balled to her head. She probably looked like some sort of wild banshee. Heaving a tired sigh, she dropped her hand and started across the pasture.

Picking her way carefully around sharp rocks and cakes of cow droppings, she made slow progress towards the house. The wind had picked up and her sweater offered nothing in the way of protection. If only she had known she would be wandering around cow pastures in the early evening hours, she would have dressed for the occasion. Laughing again at her silliness, she swiped at a tear. To laugh or to cry, that was the question. Okay, maybe she would just sit for a moment and rest. She couldn’t show up on the doorstep of complete strangers while in a state of hysteria.

So with that she took some calming breaths and plopped down on one of the larger rocks peppering the pasture.

Just relax, Alyssa. It’s going to be all right. You are almost there.

Telling herself to get moving, she stood up and swayed dizzily on her feet. That's the last thing she remembered until she opened her eyes to a night sky, the stars twinkling in the bright moonlight.

Wondering what happened, Alyssa looked around and realized she was lying on the ground, a cow nearby munching on grass and watching her with idle interest. She must have fainted. How long had she been lying here? After pushing herself up into a sitting position, she pressed the light switch on her watch to check the time. It was nearly nine! How was it possible that she’d been lying there for so long? Then she vaguely recalled being aware of her predicament but not having the will to move. So what then? She just rolled over and slept? Who did that? She was in a freaking cow pasture for cripe sakes.

Pushing to her feet, going slow and easy as she did so, Alyssa looked at the house just in time to see the lights go out. Blinking in confusion, she stood there and stared. Surely they weren’t turning in for the night? A few moments later she heard a car start up. No! She watched in disbelief as a pair of headlights came on. They couldn’t possibly be leaving? Where were they going at this time of night?

She began to run but directly in her path was an area covered with sharp poking rocks. Hissing at the pain as they stabbed into her feet, Alyssa had to stop. She watched the car back up and turn down the long driveway. “Hey! Wait!” She waved her arms crazily above her head and screamed as loud as she could. It was a fruitless endeavor she knew. They wouldn't hear her above the car engine. Besides she was too far away and they weren’t facing her direction. Even if they were, they still probably wouldn't see her. But she yelled and waved anyway. She couldn’t just stand there.

With a sense of helplessness she watched the car make its way down the long driveway, turn onto the road and head in the direction from which she had come. Why were they going that way? There’s nothing down there. Nothing but her crumpled up car. She started to laugh. Her shoulders shaking hard and jostling her head, making it ache. Her laughter turned to tears. Guess she should have stayed with the car. She wiped at her nose.