Page 43 of Rescue
A wave of guilt washes over me as everything that happened this afternoon plays out in my mind. If only I had stayed and talked to her. If only . . .
“I walked in on what I thought was her kissing her ex. But I’m realizing it was probably him kissing her and she was pushing him away. I should have stayed and listened, but I was just so angry when I walked in and saw that. How could she do that to me when I just learned how to trust again? So I left. I didn’t even really think about it. I just went directly to my truck, threw my phone in the back seat, and got on the highway to drive home. I had to think, had to process what the hell I had just seen. But then I didn’t have my phone on me when she tried to call me and explain. If I had just paid attention to the weather, I’d have seen what was going on. I would have known that we shouldn’t make the drive and we would have just gotten a room for the night. Now she’s been in an accident and it’s all my fault.”
Mason shoots me a quick worried look from the corner of his eyes and then they're right back on the road. He lets out a puzzled sounding “Hmm.” I can see his mind working over there, but his face is giving nothing away.
“We’ll find her, Miles. You can’t control the weather any better than anyone else. Don’t beat yourself up over something that this storm is responsible for. She hasn’t driven these roads in years, never mind in a storm like this. She probably just went off into a ditch somewhere. Why don’t you get set up in that window with the light? Who knows how close she was?”
We’ve been looking for nearly an hour and half and still haven’t found her. Mason has a CB radio installed in the jeep so he’s tuned it to the EMS channel. So far, they haven’t found her either. We can hear their search, though, and it’s somewhat comforting knowing other people are helping.
My fingers are starting to cramp from the cold, but I fight off the pain and continue leaning out the window trying to see as far into the darkness as I can. The roads are completely covered in ice and snow now, and I’m thankful for Mason’s jeep. My truck never would have been able to climb all over the mountain in this mess.
Living in the mountains most of my life, I’ve seen my share of early winter storms, but this one takes the cake. We’ve got near white out conditions, the wind is howling through the pine trees, and the temperature is well below freezing. If she’s out here in this with no phone and no heat, and who knows what injuries, she isn’t going to last much longer.
I get lost in the rhythm of the back and forth of the big beacon I’m shining out into the night. The pelting snowflakes and frigid temps do nothing to distract me from my focus on finding Penelope.
I hear some chatter on the CB, but it’s just them confirming that they’re still searching. Just as I’m about to tell Mason that we should turn around and double back to check our track, I catch a brief glimpse of something bright red illuminated against the fresh white snow.
“STOP!” I yell out as I sweep the light back to where I saw it. There, just off the edge of the mountain, I can see the back glass of a small white vehicle.
“Is it her?” he asks with hope in his voice as he slowly brings the jeep to a stop, knowing that if he slams on the breaks we’ll go off the side of the mountain as well. I’m thankful for his foresight, but he’s moving a little too slow for my liking.
“It’s gotta be,” I say as I open my door and jump out into the snow before he comes to a full stop. There’s more than 6 inches accumulated here, and it’s still falling fast. As I get closer to the car I can see that the undercarriage is caught on a boulder, and it’s all that’s keeping Penelope from sliding further. The front end of her car is teetering perilously, and any sudden shift might send her car completely off the side and down a steep ravine. I hear Mason in the background calling for Search and Rescue on his CB and I send up a little prayer that they’ll get here quickly.
As I slowly approach the car, I try to assess the situation. I still haven’t seen Penelope. With the way the car is pointed, I can only see the back end of the vehicle, but I don’t want to rush up to the car and cause the rocks to give way below us. As much as it kills me, I’m going to have to wait on more help.
