Page 3 of Burning for You

After a few moments, the driver seems to take the hint.

But instead of overtaking me, the SUV nudges the side of my leg, and then hits the handlebar of my bike. I have no comprehension of what happens next, apart from feeling like a disc spinning in the air.

I land violently, trapped under my bike, which is still moving. When the machine slides sideways along the embankment, the momentum takes me and the bike somersaulting down a ditch.

“Help!” I shout, trying to set myself free from the four-hundred-pound wreck.

No one’s there.

I can’t feel my legs, and a crushing pain in my stomach tells me I might not make it out alive. The outside of my mouth feels thick, and goo is forming at the top of my throat.

The headlight of my bike dims. Suddenly the darkness ceases to protect me—instead, it exposes me to thoughts I’ve never had before. My heart hammers against my pinned ribcage, as if wanting to clock in as many beats as it can before the end comes.

“Please help me,” I croak. Not even someone next to me could hear my voice, let alone anyone on the road.

Under the armored suit, my body swelters. I never imagined this is how my life would end—alone, and covered in the sweat of fear. I would trade anything to have someone right here, right now; someone to hold, someone to tell me I’ll be okay. Even if in the end I have to die.

The night is so black, eating me alive from the outside while on the inside, my organs are twisting, trying to end their own agonies. I spew out something, most probably blood. I give up all resistance and let the eeriness of the byway swallow my consciousness.

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