“You can,” he said in a much calmer voice. “You can do this.”
“I can do this,” I repeated, swallowing past the lump in my throat.
I tugged her harder.
Visions of Monica and Brooks filled my head.
Of them fighting for their lives.
Of sirens and the sound of metal crushing metal.
Something cut through my thigh as I kept pulling this woman out, this mother, this mother who was just like Monica, who deserved a second chance.
Another popping sound had me shrieking as I gave another tug and then another, we were almost halfway out when the loudest boom I’d ever heard sent us sailing away from the car and across the pavement.
In a daze I looked over and saw that the woman was free, but my body felt off, different, my arm wasn’t in the right place, my legs felt like they were on fire.
I looked up into the sky, wondering if this was it.
If I’d finally found my forever.
Only to lose it forever.
“Rip.” I whispered his name. I had to. I had to say his name, to know that if I was going to die right now, at least I’d die with his name on my lips.
I was falling in love with him.
I was terrified to tell him.
But I loved him.
This wasn’t supposed to be our ending.
Hot tears slid down my cheeks as I started to sob.
And then, magically, my purse was next to me and my phone was in my hand, and the man who’d helped me before looked down and smiled. “You’re going to be OK.”
“I think I’m dying,” I whispered. “I know I’m dying.”
“No. You aren’t. You’ll be OK, Colby. Have a little faith…”
My vision was blurry, but the last thing I remember is his smile.
It was beautiful.
So beautiful I smiled back.
“Stay with us!” a new voice said. “Stay with us!”
Sirens sounded around me. “Wh-where am I?”
“Ambulance,” a male voice said as I tried to shake my head clear. “You’ve been in an accident…”
“But what about the man? That postal worker?” I groaned. “Did he call you guys? What about the family?”
“Ma’am,” a female voice said sternly. “There was no post office truck or man at the scene, only you and the mother and child you saved.”
“No, no, that’s not right. He was there.”
“Ma’am… there was no truck and no man. You’re injured, try to stay still.”
I thrashed a bit more and squeezed my eyes shut, only to realize that the name on the man’s uniform… had been Brooks.