Page 4 of Colt
He tells me, and I put the directions in on my phone. Gentry and I stay on the phone, silent as we both drive in our separate vehicles. When we get there, everything is chaos. We can’t see him, because he’s been rushed straight to surgery.
He’s not conscious.
Not conscious.
I can’t bear the thought of it. He’s twenty-five years old. I can’t bear the idea that the most fraught, complicated relationship of my life might just be over. With no resolution, no gain, no… Nothing.
I can’t fathom that a bright spark like Colt Campbell might be snuffed out forever.
Chapter Three
Colt
I wake upviolent. The air rushes into my lungs like a shock. I gasp, trying to sit up in a hospital bed that won’t let me move. “The fuck,” I shout.
Everything hurts like a son of a bitch from my head on down. It’s like I’m made of pain.
“Colt! Oh my God.”
I look to my left and see my mother staring at me, her face pale and streaked with tears. She rushes over to the bedside and begins to push a button next to my hand. Over and over again. “I have to call the nurse.” She’s shaking, visibly upset, and I can’t stand to be the reason my mom is crying.
Everything feels turned around in my head. I’m in a hospital but I don’t know why. My mom is here and that makes me feel – for a second – like maybe I’m here to see her but…
No. Everything hurts. So it’s not her who’s admitted to the hospital.
And then I remember, because suddenly I feel my body. Really feel it.Shit.
I know what happened…
Yes, I do.
It all comes back. Getting ground into the dust. Torn asunder, actually.
It’s a fucking miracle that I’m awake. Unless I’m dead, and this is my version of hell.
My mom crying while I’m bed bound and hooked up to wires, needles and beeping machinery.
I wiggle my fingers, my toes, and they move. I also don’t see any imps or demons hopping around the room so maybe I’m not dead.
My fingers and toes work, so that’s good to know.
I don’t know what my injuries are, though. I don’t know…
“What day is it?”
“Friday,” my mom says.
The last thing I remember is Saturday night at the rodeo. So either I went back in time or it’s been nearly a week.
“I’ve been out that long?”
“Yes. They were keeping you sedated to watch for swelling in your brain, and you’ve been heavily dosed with meds.”
“Thisis heavily dosed?” My entire body feels like it got dragged to hell by a freight train. If this is what it’s like on pain meds, I don’t want to have anything to do with them.
I let my head fall back for a moment, then turn toward the door.
And I see her. Like an angel. Of death, most likely. Standing there with the light shining on her red hair.
