Page 81 of Life

“I’ll drink to that.” Eli lifts his glass and sucks down the liquid in one go.

“What the hell!” I follow his lead and down it all.

Just as I hold out my glass for more, a set of blinding lights cuts across my vision, coming through the side of the limo windows behind where Bree and Phillip are sitting.

I hold up my hand up to block the glare, attempting to figure out what I’m seeing when I realize the bright lights are getting closer and closer, until they’re almost on top of us. “No! No! No! Get down!” I yell, but it’s too late.

The sound of metal hitting metal screeches through my mind. Glass shatters, and Bree and Phillip are thrown across the limo as it skids. The tires squeal and everyone screams. My body slams into Eli’s. My right side is cushioned by his at the same time his head makes contact with the glass window. It breaks and crackles, leaving a bloody circle as we bounce around.

Everything happens so fast, but it seems like slow motion. The limo teeters back and forth until it slams into a concrete building, coming to a full stop. My arms and hands are cut from the broken glass, and my right side is throbbing. I blink away the blackness, willing myself not to pass out. In front of me, Bree is on her side on the limo floor. She’s bleeding from her nose, ear, and—oh my God, no!

“Bree!” I scream, but she doesn’t move. Blood is pooling between her legs, coating the entire bottom of her coral dress in sickly large washes of crimson.

“The baby…the baby.” I try to scramble toward her. “Phillip!” I yell, pushing over to his side. “Phil!”

He moans and blinks. “Please, Phil. Wake up. We need help!” I smack at his face. He’s also bleeding from his forehead, a big gash coating my fingers as I hold his head.

“Eli, help me. We have to help Bree and the baby!” I call out, but there’s no answer. I turn around to see he’s slumped against the crushed side of the car. His head touching the broken window. I make it to his side. “Babe.” I grab his head and turn it to the side. He’s bleeding profusely, and glass is sticking out of his head. “No, no.Cazador!Please wake up.”

I pet his forehead and scream. “Help! Somebody help me!”

That’s when the limo door opens and the cool night air rushes inside. The glare of lights blinds me, but I can see a lone figure standing there.

“It’s okay, ma’am. We’ve got you,” a woman’s voice says.

The flash of the medical symbol hits my psyche like a healing balm over burnt skin. A paramedic. Thank God.

“Please help my friends. She’s pregnant and bleeding. They’re unconscious.”

“Get out of the vehicle, ma’am, so we can get to your friends.”

“Okay yeah.” I kiss Eli’s temple. “Help is here. Please stay with me. Help is here.”

A hand appears through the door, and I grab on to it. My vision blurring and wavering with every move. I stumble out of the vehicle and into a set of large arms. I’m plastered against a man’s chest. I lift my head and blink away the dizziness with all my might to stare directly into the coal-black eyes of the devil.

Antonio.

“I warned you,mi reina. I own you.” His demon voice filters through my mind, and I go numb. No longer can I feel the pain in my head, or my side. Not even my fingers twitch.

“No, no. Por favor. No es Dios.”

“No one can help you now. Not even God,” he bellows with an evil sneer.

“Come on, brother. Time to go before the police get here. Put her in the rig,” says a woman’s voice I don’t recognize.

“Come,mi reina. Time for you to pay up for your transgressions. I think the light leaving your eyes forever will do,” he says in a tone laced with hate.

“Night night, bitch,” says the unfamiliar woman as a needle is stuck into my neck. And I’m out.

Icome to, my ankles and feet bound together. My arms are stretched back behind me and tethered to the rope around my ankles. Uncontrollable agony ripples down every nerve as my head pounds. My mouth is as dry as the desert. The putrid scent of raw fish is in the air. A squawking sound and ocean waves filter through the banging in my head. I’m by the Bay, somewhere sea gulls frequent. A warehouse, a dock. I don’t feel any movement beneath me so I couldn’t be on a boat.

The pain lancing through my healing arm and a new pain in my collarbone has the blackness threatening once again.

Slowly, I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth. If I’m going to get out of this alive, I need to be awake, cataloguing my surroundings to find a way to escape. Turning on my side, I wince as a new bout of burning pain shreds through my shoulder. I breathe through it, thinking about Eli, and Bree, and Phillip. They need me.

The accident.

I close my eyes and try to remember what happened when I came to. Eli’s head was smashed against the window. It looked pretty bad, but he had a strong pulse. Phillip did wake up and then passed out again when I reached him, so he’s probably going to be okay. Bree, God, Bree. The tears pour down my cheeks. I held her motionless body, the copious amount of blood between her legs staining her dress…

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