Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91434 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Oh my,” she replies, and I can hear her moving and then walking.
“She said she didn’t feel well. I can’t call 911 from here.” I take the phone off my ear and then open the browsing app and type in the emergency number for Montgavin. My hands are shaking so much it’s a miracle I can even type. “She needs help.” I sob out the last words, feeling more helpless than I’ve ever felt in my life.
“On it,” Mrs. Gregory confirms. My head spins as I run around my bedroom, throwing things in a bag. I look down at the phone and see she’s hung up on me. The tears pour down my cheeks, and I feel like I’m going to be sick. The idea of not knowing what is going on with my mother while I’m so far from her is killing me. I zip up the bag, running around to my office and unplugging my laptop, putting it in my backpack along with all the papers on my desk.
I’m out of the house ten minutes later, knowing I forgot something but also not giving a shit. I’m in my car and rushing out of the parking garage when my phone rings. “Hello.”
“Sweetie.” Mrs. Gregory’s voice is soft and low. “Honey,” she says. I can hear her sniffling from her side of the phone, and all the blood from my body feels like it’s being drained out. My hands grip the steering wheel as the tears pour down my face like the rushing of a stream down a hill. “They just took her,” she chokes out as she silently cries. “They think it was a heart attack.” I close my eyes. “They got her heart started again right before they left.”
“I’m on my way,” I say. “I should be there in about nine hours.”
“I’m going to the hospital right now,” she declares.
“Can you call me,” I whisper, “and give me updates?”
“I will call you on the hour every single hour, even if there isn’t anything to report.”
“Thank you,” I reply, grateful she was there to help me and save my mom. “Did she regain consciousness?”
“No, sweetie,” she reports. I put my head back, and my bottom lip quivers. “She didn’t.”
“Okay, I’ll speak to you in an hour.”
“Yes.” She disconnects the phone, and I put the hospital address in my phone and head on my way, going way over the speed limit. I just hope that if I get pulled over, they will have a little bit of sympathy for me.
Every single hour, Mrs. Gregory calls me to tell me the latest news. Mom was rushed into surgery for a blockage in her heart. For the past six hours, I’ve been on autopilot as I wait for her to tell me she is out of surgery. I spent the past six hours talking to her about how much I missed her. About how much my life would never be the same without her in it. About how she is the only person in my life who has never let me down.
I drive into town after eight hours. The town name lights up, and if you didn’t know any better, you would think this is a peaceful town. A town where everyone is friendly, and I have to say when I was growing up, it’s where I knew I wanted to live forever. But now, now it’s the place I want to run away from. It’s as if my body knows I’m back because the minute I cross that threshold, the memories come back with a vengeance, and I can’t stop them no matter how much I’ve locked Pandora’s box.
“Baby.” I hear the soft voice in my ear, and I want to open my eyes, I really do, but I can’t. My eyes are just too heavy. “Baby, please,” Brock pleads with me, but then I hear more voices all around me.
Voices that seem far away but in abundance. “Holy fuck,” a man says right before I’m sucked back in. “We’re going to need the Jaws of Life.”
The shouting makes me try to open my eyes again. “Jennifer!” Charlie calls her name frantically. The approaching sirens make me want to force my eyes open, but they feel like they are sealed shut. Someone says something as my eyes flicker open and the buzzing starts in my ears right away. I try to lick my lips, but the taste of metal is on them, and I feel like I’ve been punched in the face. I wiggle my fingers and try to move my hand up to my face, but it’s stuck under something. “Brock,” I whisper. “Brock.” I try to move my head, but it’s lodged against Jennifer’s.
My eyes shut on their own as the darkness takes me away again. The sound of crunching metal drags me back from the darkness. I try to say something, but everything hurts. My face feels like it’s on fire. “How the fuck did this end up upside down?” someone asks once the crunching metal stops.