Chapter One
Casey rotated her shoulders to help the tension in her back. She knew she needed to stop soon and rest, so she’d been looking for the nearest town.
The light was starting to fade as the sun set, making it even harder for her to see. She wasn’t cut out to drive, especially a few hundred miles.
She had started to get nervous because the road had become scary. One side was a drop-off, and the other was a wall of rock. She slowed down until she felt she was barely making the car move, but she was tired. It was sunset, which made it hard to see, andthe road had become hazardous. Her hands were starting to cramp because of the tight grip she had on the steering wheel.
“Come on, come on,” she chanted as she took another curve and gasped. She stopped suddenly.
The sight before her didn’t seem real when a truck came the opposite way, swerving, and going too fast. She frantically looked around and saw no escape. The truck was going to run into her. It was up to God to determine if she lived or died.
“Oh, God.” The truck’s headlights flashed in her frontwindow, and she knew the truck was going to push her over the edge, and there was nothing she could do about it.
The collision felt like it happened inslow motion. She felt the impact and the way the truck pushed her toward the edge. She prayed the person would stop, but they didn’t.
Her car slid over the side and started to fall. She had no idea if she screamed or not. The sound of the crash and then the fall was all she heard—metal on metal and then metal on rock.
Casey was waiting for the car to start rolling, but it just slid down some more and stopped suddenly. She had no idea what stopped it and didn’t care. It swayed a few times and then halted.
She took several deep breaths to keep from passing out and tried to get herself under control because she was as close to having an anxiety attack as she ever had. They had plagued her whole life, but she’d worked so hard to keep them under control.
When she calmed down, she looked around and focused on her surroundings. She hadn’t realized all the windows had shattered, and there was glass everywhere. She glanced down to see blood coming from some deep cuts on her arms and then felt drops of blood sliding down her face and obscuring her sight.
She tried wiping it away, but her hands wouldn’t stop gripping the wheel. They were paralyzed. She tried to work them off, thinking she could relaxone of them enough to wipe the blood from her face, but it just made it worse. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She wanted to rest for a bit, and then she’d figure out how to get out of the car.
Casey heard something above her, but her heartbeat was so loud in her ears,she couldn’t decipher what it was.
“Miss.”
The person paused. “Miss, can you hear me?”
She blinked a few times but couldn’t see the person that stood just outside of her car. “I had an accident.”
A warm hand wrapped around her wrist. “I know, Sweetheart. We’ll get you taken care of.”
The person yelled up the hill. “Her pulse is rapid, and shehas injuries to her arms and head. A lot of blood loss. I can’t see anything else.”
A scream tore from her throat when the car swayed.
The man barked. “Get this secure now.”
“You need to step back. If the car starts sliding, I don’t want you near it.”
“Well, aren’t you a sweet one? My name is Simon, Sweetheart. What is yours?”
“Didn’t you hear me?”
“Yes, but I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be with you the whole time. What’s your name?”
“Casey. I’m really tired, and your hand is so warm.”
Simon yelled, and then his grip on her arm tightened when the car swayed again. This time, she was too tired to scream.
“Stay with me, Sweetheart,” Simon said. “We’ll have you out soon. The car has been secured, so it won’t go anywhere. The paramedics are making their way down now.”
“Can I go to sleep yet?” she murmured softly.
“No. I need you to stay awake. You can do that for me, can’t you?”