Page 3 of Savage Scream

Her voice.

I had totally planned to leave her there at the falls. I wanted out. I felt like if I couldn’t have her voice that I’d rather fucking die.

How fucking pathetic am I!

Dee had other plans though, getting into the car even though she knew how reckless I was in that moment. She knew I was unstable and ready to end things, yet she got in with me.

Did she want to die too?

I don’t think so. Not with how scared she looked. And fuck, when she reached out and squeezed my thigh, something in me snapped. It was like the veil of anger lifted, and I could finally see that I’d been wrong.

I didn’t need to hear Dee’s voice.

I just needed her.

My attempt to stop the car still ended badly, though, despite trying to avoid a wreck. I guess I should be thankful there was a guardrail there since it stopped the car from rocketing over the edge. For a few minutes at least.

And those few minutes were everything.

Finally, with the fear of the situation, Dee showed her true colours.

She cared.

About me.

Fuck, and that kiss. The willing kiss that I didn’t have to force or coerce from her made me both elated and heartbroken.

Heartbroken because I was sure I was about to die and I’d never get to taste her lips again. But I accepted it, in that moment. I accepted that I was about to die, and I only knew one thing.

I had to save Dee again.

So I pushed her out of the open car door, and fuck, I can still see the untamed fear on Dee’s face as she watched helplessly as the car slid over the edge.

But mostly, the thing I remember as if the volume of the world turned up to maximum, was the scream that ripped from her as the car slid, rolled and crashed down the steep embankment into the thick bushland near Ebony Falls.

Everything after that is a bit fuzzy. I must have come in and out of consciousness multiple times, so my brain could be conjuring up things that didn’t really happen, but I’m almost certain that what I heard during a couple moments of consciousness, was Dee’s voice.

2

DEE

Ican’t seem to bring myself to let him go. I thought I lost him for a bit there. I thought I’d never get to feel his arms around me again. The pain was unimaginable. Excruciating. Something I never want to feel again.

I watched the black Audi slide down the embankment before it rolled a couple of times, snapping through thick scrub and finally coming to rest on its side in the gully, surrounded by dense Australian bush. I didn’t hesitate once it stopped, leaping over the edge of the incline, gripping bushes and exposed roots as I half slid, half stumbled down to the mangled car.

Everything was silent. It’s like even the birds didn’t want to make a noise. But then I realised there was noise. There was someone screaming.

Me.

“Let me look at you.” Jared rasps as he pulls back from our embrace on his hospital bed. I should have left him with his parents hours ago, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave. I needed to see him awake and talking. I needed to know he was going to be alright.

As Jared eases back from me, he cups my hood covered head and tries to tilt my head up, but I keep it down, not wanting to show him the mess I’m in.

“Stop hiding from me.” He rasps again, his voice sounding scratchy, like he must have a sore throat. “Let me see those beautiful chocolate eyes.”

Reluctantly, I lift my head just enough to peer up at him from beneath my dark lashes. My eyes lock onto his blue pools, the honest care flowing from them almost too much to bear.

I don’t deserve you.

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