Page 44 of Recipes for Life

Fucking ouch.

I took in the mess that lay around me and took a brief stock of my injuries, realizing they weren’t that bad. The majority of the damage was to the passenger side, and I was so thankful no one was in the car with me or Lux in the backseat.

My car crumbled like it should have in case of an accident, crumpling the car around me to absorb the impact, but I lay relatively unharmed. It seemed most of my injuries came from the airbag; a laceration to my head was bleeding a bit from where my head hit the bag. My chest was throbbing and had cut down the middle from the force of how hard my seatbelt dug into me. I wouldn’t be shocked if I had a few cracked ribs, whether from the airbag or the seatbelt, I’d probably never know.

By the looks of everything around me, I knew I was insanely lucky to be walking away from this. I needed to figure out how to get out of here. Both windows in the front were caved in, and it didn’t look like escape without sustaining some serious cuts would be possible.

The back window liftgate would be my best option. I was pretty sure I could kick it out with how it was cracked and looked likeit was barely hanging on. It took me a few minutes to free myself from the seatbelt—the locking mechanism was jammed due to the force of everything but ended up giving way. I did my best to ignore the pain in my sides.

Once free, I wiggled toward the back and angled my body in a way that allowed me to use my legs to push and kick the glass, hoping it would fall outwards instead of inside and shatter. If that happened, I’d probably be better off laying here until someone was able to get me out, but the thought of staying in here made my anxiety rise.

No. No.You have a daughter and a…Murphy to get back to.

Oh god, Wynn.I had seen my busted phone in the mess of broken car parts. I knew she must have heard the crash.I must get out of here.

I raised my legs and started kicking out the back window. At first, it seemed like my plan wouldn’t work, but when I widened my stance and put as much force as I could behind it, the window gave way.

Thank you, thank you.

I stumbled out of the car, and nothing could have prepared me for what lay outside my wrecked vehicle.

It was a massive accident.

It was clear that whoever hit me didn’t have an option. The pile-up reached farther than I could see.

I took in a car a few spaces in front of me and noticed the driver had passed out over their wheel. I made my way to her, and even from a distance, I could see the blood pooling in her blonde hair.

Far too much blood.

I reached her and yanked the door open, trying my best to assess her injuries but not wanting to cause further damage to her neck. Realizing I didn’t have a choice, I slowly tried to move her back, but once I had her facing me, I knew she was gone.

I choked on a sob and closed her eyes, laying her back down in the most peaceful way I could. People were finally starting to make their way out of their vehicles and first responders were starting to bleed through. Someone with a blue EMS shirt approached me.

“Ma’am, can you please make your way over to where you see the flashing lights? We are setting up a triage and evacuation point there; there’s also medical help…”

“No, please, I’m a physician assistant. I work at the hospital… Let me help here. I’m fine.”

“I can’t let you do that. You were just in a massive car accident; you need to be evaluated at the very least—”

“You need the help.”

His eyes filtered around to the mess that lay before us, then finally zeroed in on me and my scrubs. “Fine, but if you feel even somewhat dizzy or off, you go to the flashing lights. Understood?”

“Understood.”

I turned my back to him to start back into the wreckage. I let my training take over. Along the way, I was handed a hefty first aid kit that I was putting to good use. Directing people to help, placing a tourniquet on a man’s leg before he was lifted onto a gurney. Mourning those whodidn’tmake it.

“You don’t understand, youneedto let me pass.”

A voice I’d recognize anywhere broke me out of my trance and had my heart leaping and searching the crowd for him.

“Sir, I understand youthinkyour wife is here, but we don’t know that for sure. Please, just wait with everyone else.”

“No, you don’t understand, Iknowshe’s here. And she isn’t mywife; she'smy life!” he screamed at the police officer who was doing his best to hold the line.

I jogged over to them, and seeing Murphy pulling at his hair, I could feel his distress from here.

“Murphy…” I called out to catch his attention, hopefully to prevent him from doing something asininebefore I got to him. When my voice reached him, his head snapped in my direction, and I faltered, almost losing my footing at the devastation I saw on his face.

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