by Lee Strauss
I forced myself to not think of Wyatt and immediately my mind went to Marlow. I couldn’t win!
I couldn’t get the image of Marlow with his arm around Dakota out of my mind, or the way she clung to him like she had every right to, which she did. I envied her in so many ways—not least the fact that she was blissfully ignorant of all the wacky things that Marlow and I had experienced together. Scary and nerve-wracking and dangerous and adventurous. I didn’t understand what cosmic law had kept throwing Marlow and me together in those extraordinary circumstances. Maybe it would stop now. Maybe it was over. Maybe this last year was just a fluke of sorts and now that Marlow had Dakota and I was boyfriend-free, we would live out our second year at Detroit University like normal people.
Anyway, I didn’t need a guy. What I needed was an education, not a warm body.
With my mind still on the party, I was driving in auto-pilot, not paying attention to the road or my speed.
I registered the bright yellow eyes of a deer as it leaped out of the ditch ahead of me then froze in my headlights. I slammed on my brakes and my horn; the deer pivoted and darted back into the woods before I reached it.
My skin burned with a flash of fear and I started to shake, my left foot almost too weak to engage the clutch. The theater of my mind played out the image of what could’ve happened: deer cracking my windshield, bouncing onto the road, all bloody, broken.
I drove more carefully now, gradually increasing my speed again as my heart rate normalized.
What happened next happened so fast my mind barely had a chance to register it. A woman materialized out of nowhere in the middle of the road, her eyes wide and mouth screaming. I wrenched the steering wheel sharply to the side, my brakes squealing on the road, but it was too late. I heard a sickening thunk and a crunch, then skittered into the ditch and slammed into a tree. All went black.
Chapter Eighteen
Marlow
I hopped into the backseat of Ben's car, my door slamming at the same time as Janelle’s who had scooted into the passenger seat. I was no romance guru obviously, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to pick up on the frosty vibes going on between them. Something had happened—perhaps Ben had let his plans slip out prematurely—and Janelle’s previous over the moon happiness was squarely snuffed out.
She leaned her elbow against the door as she gazed outwards into the darkness of the parking lot. Ben snapped on his seatbelt with a heavy sigh. The air was thick, and my presence awkward. I hadn’t meant to step into the middle of a lover’s quarrel. Neither of them said a word, and it left me wondering if I should say anything. I figured Sage was a safe topic.
“I’m sure she's fine,” I said. “She seemed upset about something that Wyatt Banks said."
Ben hit the steering wheel with the heel of his palm. “Why can’t douchebags like him just stay away from my sister!”
The venom in Ben's voice made me glad that I wasn't on the antagonistic side of his acquaintance. Ben had a heavy foot and we scooted along the bumpy forest road. I wondered if I should mention that he needed new shocks. Janelle sniffled, then shuffled through her purse to retrieve a tissue.
Hitching a ride with Ben and Janelle hadn’t turned out to be a great idea, but I couldn't very well disengage myself now, in the middle of a dark Michigan forest. I checked the time—only 10:00 p.m.—and shoved my phone back into my pocket. We should be on campus in twenty minutes. I’d just have to suffer through the silence and the rough ride.
Janelle pointed out the window. “What's that?”
I leaned forward to peer between their two heads, and at first didn’t see anything but blackness. Ben swerved to the right and came to a stop, his headlights on a vehicle in a ditch. My stomach dropped. “That’s Sage's truck!”
Ben practically jumped out of his car before it was at a full stop. I clicked out of my seatbelt and sped after him, but there was no way I could keep stride with Mr. Athlete and I pulled up behind him seconds afterward, puffing like an asthmatic. Ben wrenched on the driver’s door. I peeked over his shoulder still trying to catch my breath. “Sage!”
The air bag was only partially inflated. Blood smeared her face; her eyes were closed and her chin drooped to her chest. My heart stopped. “Is she…?”
Ben had his fingers to her throat checking for her pulse. "She's alive. Call 911!”
He reached for her seatbelt.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting her out of there.”
“No! She might have a back injury.”
“Right. I…”
“It’s okay, man, just keep talking to her.”
My fingers trembled, but I managed to dial 911 and the call went through.
“You've reached 911. State your emergency.”
“There's been a car accident, someone's injured! Please send an ambulance."
“Where are you, sir?"
“570 B Forest Rd., North of Detroit University. Just south of the bush party spot,” I added, hoping that she might know where that was.
“Emergency vehicles have been dispatched, sir. Tell me about the injured."
“Her name is Sage Farrell. She's twenty years old.”
“Can you see the nature of her injuries? Is there blood?”
“Yes, yes, there’s blood. But she’s breathing.”
She asked me my name and relationship to Sage. “She’s a friend.”
The whole time I was talking to the dispatcher I’d been peering around Ben, watching Sage's face. I gasped with relief when her eyes fluttered, opening halfway. I’d swear she was looking right at me. Her mouth moved slowly. “I love you."
I dry-swallowed. Had Sage actually said that she loved me?
I wanted to say, “I love you too,” but Ben beat me to it. My heart dropped with embarrassment at my own idiocy. Of course she was speaking to her brother.
“Sir?” The dispatcher’s voice brought me back to reality.
“She seems to be regaining consciousness. But I don't know if she can move."
“Keep her comfortable and awake as much as possible.”
I shouted to Ben, ”You're supposed to keep her awake. The ambulance is on its way.”
Stepping back, I reeled at the seriousness of what was happening. It seemed so surreal, and something was off. Sage was on the wrong side of the road and facing the wrong way. Something must've spooked her, causing her to yank on the steering wheel and pull a one-eighty.
Janelle had been crying softly the whole time, but suddenly her sobbing turned into hysterics. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!”
I rushed to her side. “What is it?”
“Over there. Look!” I followed the direction of her pointing finger and my blood swooshed to my feet. I had to bend over at the knees to keep myself from fainting. On the road not fifty feet away was a body.
Had Sage hit someone?
I roused up courage to move toward the still form. Maybe the person was still alive. I pointed the light of my phone. It was a woman, her eyes staring back at me blankly, her limbs twisted in unnatural ways. I didn’t need to check for a pulse to know that she was dead.
My mind registered familiarity—I thought I might know the woman. Was she a student at DU? Had she been in one of my classes?
Then it hit me. It was the media star, the girl all the guys in the dorm were gaga about. Crystal Something.
Sirens blared in the distance and as I pivoted to return to Ben and Sage, I caught a glimpse of something on the ground. It looked like my phone—it must've fallen out of my pocket. I scooped it up, intending to call 911 again to report the body. My hands were shaking and I must have hit a wrong button. Burning white heat shot through me from the top of my head to my toes. I pinched my eyes together feeling dizzy, and let out a yelp as I was sucked into the sensation of falling. What the hell was going on with me? Was I in shock?
My eyes finally opened and I couldn’t believe what I saw. I was no longer on the forest road, steps away from Sage.
I was somewhere else, somewhere dark, somewhere inside, but I had no clue where.
Chapter Nineteen
Sage
Darkness.
My ribs hurt. I tried to move but my breath caught. I groaned and felt it coming from deep within myself, a vibration in my mouth.
My eyelids were heavy, weighted: I could barely open them. There was thick moisture on my lips, the metallic flavor of blood. I was registering that I’d been in an accident but I couldn't determine where or remember what had happened. My eyes wouldn't open.
A voice. Someone calling me. “Sage!”
I struggled to open my eyes, but it was like trying to lift a hundred pounds. I fought until they were open enough to see him.
Marlow had come to help me. My heart flooded with emotion: relief that help had arrived, and affection for my rescuer.
I wasn’t dead and Marlow was here.
“I love you.” The words came out raspy and dry with barely a sound, yet they pounded like ocean waves through my skull. My declaration of love. Now Marlow knew. If I died, I’d die knowing he knew the truth.
“I love you too, Sage.”
His voice confused me. It didn’t belong to Marlow.
“Ben?”
“I’m here, Sagey. You're going to be okay.”
Outside I heard a blaring whine of sirens accompanied by flashing red and blue lights.
“The ambulance is here,” Ben said. “You're going to be okay.”
Suddenly there was a lot of activity.
A strange face replaced Ben’s. “We’re here to help you, ma’am,” the man said with a firm note of authority.
There were faces—first one, then another—they were struggling to get me out, and I couldn't help but yell out in pain. They landed me on a gurney, and blackness pressed in around my eyes, and I thought I was going to pass out from the pain. A prick in my arm felt like a tickle compared to the agony spreading through my torso, but then the drugs started to kick in and the pain subsided.
Ben tried to comfort me. “You’re going to be all right, Sagey.”
The paramedics carried the gurney awkwardly out of the ditch. I was strapped down so only slipped a little, but enough to remind me that my body was injured. My eyes darted about searching the darkness for Marlow. I was certain I had seen his face, but I must've been confused. Marlow wasn’t here. It had been Ben all along.
I was shoved into the back of the ambulance and Ben crawled in beside me. He shouted at someone before the doors closed. “… are on their way now. Just wait with the police.”
“What about Marlow?” It was Janelle’s voice. “I can't find him. He's just disappeared.”
I hadn’t been seeing things. Marlow had been here. But now he was gone. Why would he leave me?
Chapter Twenty
Marlow
What the hell! What just happened? I’d been in the middle of a forest road with a starless sky, filling my lungs with fresh pine-scented air, and now I stood in the darkness in a dank and stuffy place. I was outside and then I was inside. My mind raced for an explanation, but found none. Rows of tiny red and green lights pierced the darkness, looking like a computer console or science equipment.
“Hey,” I called out. I thought I saw movement and turned to see the back of a man rushing across the room. My heart lodged in my throat. I had no weapons. If he attacked me, I had no way to defend myself. I stepped back into a fighting stance, my hands automatically forming into fists to guard my neck. It was like my psyche knew what to do, and my body knew what to do, even though my intellect had no idea.
Before the man reached me, the light flashed again and I felt a shock like I’d just stuck my fingers into a light socket.
Cold wind slapped my face. I was outside again. My mind stumbled over the impossibility of what I’d just experienced. Had it really happened or was I delirious? Maybe I’d been injured and this was all a figment of my imagination, a bad drug-induced lucid dream. Having something bad happen to Sage was my biggest fear. It made sense why I’d dream this. That had to be it.
Emergency lights flashed from police vehicles and I knew I was back at the scene of the accident. Sage’s truck was still in the ditch but she was no longer in it. Janelle was still here, looking frightened and lost.
“This isn’t real,” I said. “Wake up!”
“I know right?” Janelle said. “This is a nightmare.”
It was a nightmare, but was it real?
I touched Janelle’s shoulder. She felt real.
"The ambulance took Sage to the hospital,” she said. Ben is with her. Nora and Jake are coming for me. You can catch a ride. Where did you go, anyway? Did you get sick in the ditch or something?”
I didn't respond but instead took out my phone and called Zed. “Something weird is happening!”
He snorted. “With you, something weird is always happening.”
“No I'm serious. It's Sage. She was in an accident, about five miles from the party. She's hurt bad. I need a ride to the hospital."
“Oh man, okay. I came with Dakota, remember. I'll get her. We’ll be right there.”
I waited to wake up. But when Zed and Dakota showed up and Dakota gave me a big hug, I knew it was real. I couldn’t explain what happened. All I knew was I had to get to the hospital—and quick.
Chapter Twenty-One
Sage
“What’s her blood type?”
“I’m not sure. B negative, I think.”
“You’re her brother, right?” the paramedic said. “What’s your blood type?”
“We’re both adopted. I’m Type A Positive. Not compatible.”
Strange flashes of light. Anxious voices. Pressure on my chest. Tremendous pain I was unable to express. Something over my mouth. I wanted to open my eyes, but they were sealed. I couldn't see and I couldn’t move. I was in trouble. I could hear my heart beat in my ears, but not like a normal pulse from inside my head. I heard it from a machine beside me.
“Blood pressure down!”
“Heart rate rising!”
Filled with a strange yet beautiful peace, I floated over the whole scene. I looked for the tunnel of light, wondering if this was the end of my life, and was surprised that this thought didn’t worry me. I didn't see a light, only a group of people with faces hidden behind surgical masks, wearing powder blue scrubs, and working frantically over my body. The sign on the door read, “Detroit University Clinic.”
“Get a bag of B Negative.”
“No B Negative.”
“Then O Negative, dammit!”
The heart monitor began humming.
“Quick, we need that blood now!”
“We don’t have any O Negative, either!” The nurse’s voice was pitched high with stress. “Wednesday’s Interstate accident depleted our supply. Backup shipment arrives in the morning.”
The lead surgeon grew incredulous. “None at all?”
“We’re a small underfunded hospital clinic,” the nurse said tersely. “You know that. Our supplies are always low.”
I wondered at the irony. Synthetic blood could be used in situations like this one. Was I going to die because I missed its development?
“I can donate."
I gasped at the sight of Marlow entering the room. How he found me, I could only guess, but I was so happy to see him.
“You’re not allowed in here!”
Marlow’s eyes darted to my body and back to the aggressive nurse. “I’m O Negative. I'm universal.”
“We don't have time to test you for HIV."
“I’m healthy!” Marlow said. “I’m still a virgin.”
A moment of silence fell in the room as everyone considered how that could be true in this day and age.
The surgeon sighed. “This is really unorthodox.”
“Would you rather watch her die?”
A nurse raced toward the door shouting, “I’ll get the paperwork,” while another one ushered Marlow into a chair, close beside my body, and
prepped his arm.
Marlow reached for my hand and I felt it. From my position hovering over the room I stared at my palm and wondered at the sensation. I could feel the weight and warmth of Marlow’s hand. A bag connected to a line running from Marlow's arm filled with his blood. When it was half-full, they switched it to my IV stand and pumped it into me. Marlow was hooked up to a second bag.
Suddenly my perspective from above disappeared and I was back in my body. I couldn’t see except for the light that filtered through my lids, but I felt the energy in the room. I heard Marlow’s voice. “Stay with us, Sage. I'm here."
I planned to do just that.
Chapter Twenty-Two
What had meant to be a lesson to Crystal had turned out horribly, horribly wrong. He had hated her, but now he grieved for her. He never meant for her to die. She was supposed to have come back to him and apologize for using him. He was going to forgive her and they were to have become a real couple. And now she was dead.
The police had come to investigate her apartment. He watched out the window, entranced, as Lambert talked with large hand gestures answering whatever questions the police were asking. He thought they might come to his door, so he was ready for them when the knock came. He took his time to answer, but not too long—he didn't want them to suspect he was hiding anything, but he didn't want them to know he'd been watching them either. He opened the door keeping his expression blank. “Is something wrong?"
