by Susanne Beck
"There’s...um...c-canals on both sides." Nia’s voice floated up from the back seat, even more breathy and timorous than my own.
I could have slapped myself for forgetting that. Long, narrow canals took the place of the shoulders on both sides of the highway, bringing rain and reservoir water into the outlying regions. So, pulling over was most definitely not an option.
Rigid with fear, I tugged on my seatbelt, making sure the connection was secure. I was absolutely sure that, with each passing second—time measured by the rapid, if useless swish-thump of the wipers, beating in perfect synchrony with my panicked heart—we would either plow into Rio’s car, or someone else would hit us from behind.
We were flying blind, and we all knew it.
The radio crackled, and Pony’s voice filtered into the car. "We’re out."
Quickly, I retrieved the mike. "What do you mean? Out of the storm?" Hope flared, high and bright, in my heart.
"We’re stopped. A tree’s down, blocking the highway."
"How do you know?"
"We just hit it."
"Jesus. Are you alright?"
Static crackled as a bolt of lightening landed frightfully close. I almost screamed as the thunder nearly shattered my eardrums with its frightful intensity.
"Yeah. No damage. We were going too slow. You’d better stop, Ice. You’ll hit us."
Ice had already started slowing down, from the first moment Pony contacted us, and came to a gradual, safe stop in the middle of the highway.
"We’re stopped." The relief coursing through me made me feel limp and drained.
"Good. Anyone behind you?"
"Like I can see anything?!?"
"Alright, alright, Angel. Take it easy."
My attention was quickly diverted as I watched Ice’s hand go to the door lever and proceed to open it. "Ice, wait! You can’t... ."
My words were bitten off, literally, as my teeth came together sharply, pinning my tongue between them. The hot, metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, then was quickly forgotten as my entire body was jerked forward, my head on a direct collision course with the dashboard as we were hit, hard, from behind.
The impact never happened, though, because we were hit again, this time from the side. Unrestrained, Ice’s body flew across the interior and landed in my lap, pinning me against the door. Stars sparked in my vision as the back of my head collided with the window, but somehow my lover managed to prevent me from sustaining more damage by wrapping her long arms around me and tucking me against her snugly.
My indrawn breath of pain and relief was cut off midway as we were struck again, this time with twice as much force as the previous two collisions combined. The squealing groan of metal rending mixed in frightful cacophony with the splinter of fractured glass and Nia’s high-pitched, terror-filled scream.
We were hit again, and then again as the storm set off a destructive chain reaction with us as the focus-point. I clutched at Ice the way a drowning man clutches his rescuer, knowing my fingernails were scourging her skin, but terrified beyond caring at that moment.
The final crash came and I felt the world around me tumble as the car began to raise up off its wheels. The next thing I knew, we were floating free.
After that, I knew nothing at all.
* * *
Something soft and fragrant tickled against my nose, then tickled again as my eyelashes fluttered against opening. When the nuisance wouldn’t go away, I finally opened my eyes and scowled at the feathery stalk of grass that waved at me, courtesy of a warm, summer breeze.
My scowl quickly turned to a grin, though, and I rolled over on my back to look up at a pristine blue sky and a slight scattering of tiny clouds which trailed lazily across a friendly summer sun.
I felt...perfect, I realized as the sounds of the breeze travelling through grass and leaves played a lazy, peaceful harmony. The long nap I’d apparently taken had left me feeling uncommonly refreshed. The minor aches and pains which collected as I got older seemed to have vanished, as if they never were.
I was clear-headed and light-hearted and filled with an absolute, incredible joy.
Rolling up to a sitting position, I gazed across the flat expanse of a pristine lake with waters so calm and so blue that the sight brought tears of happiness to my eyes. The lake was surrounded on all sides by a forest of stately, deep emerald evergreens whose laden boughs swayed and danced in the ever-present and deliciously scented breeze which blew warm and gentle upon my skin.
Paradise.
Coming to my feet, I turned in a slow circle, the smile on my face growing so broad that I was sure it would freeze there. Not that I would have minded, of course.
Giggling like a schoolgirl, I watched the whimsical path of a beautiful butterfly as it flitted over a meadow filled with a million flowers in every color of the rainbow.
I was grasped with a sudden need to be in that meadow, to run through it and feel the soft, pollen-dusted petals as they brushed against my bare legs, and to smell the sweet fragrances of the flowers as I passed each one by.
With a joyous shout, I flung my arms wide and took off through the field, laughing until tears ran from my eyes, blurring the scene before me as if I were looking through a prism filled with a magical radiance. Temporarily blinded, I stumbled and fell, but the ground was like a soft, warm blanket, cradling me and cushioning me as I rolled, still laughing and covered with pollen, through the field.
Springing back to my feet, I continued my sprint, filled with an energy I’d never before felt. It was...amazing was the only word I could think to use. I could have been running for hours, or even days, but it was like the energy within me kept growing and growing until my body fairly buzzed with it.
The meadow’s end lay only a short distance away, bordered by more of those tall, fragrant evergreens. As the warmth of the sun and the exercise had conspired to lay a faint sheen of sweat on my body, the promised coolness of the shaded emerald forest was perfection itself.
With a last, grateful look at the flowering field, I stepped into the cool, fragrant shadows of the giant trees. Soft fronds brushed my arms like welcoming friends. It was cool, quiet and dim, yet tranquil and comforting the way a warm summer’s night is comforting.
Up ahead, a short distance away, a faint rose glow came through the trees, drawing my attention and my footsteps in that direction.
The glow, which became subtly brighter as I made my zigzag way toward its unknown source, gilded the trees at the edge of the small wood a dusky bronze which was quite beautiful in its own way. I felt in some way drawn to it by an almost magnetic attraction, and before I knew it, my meandering pace had quickened to a ground-eating trot.
The trees fell away suddenly, giving way to a huge clearing.
And in the center of that clearing, glowing rose and gold and bronze, was the largest tree I’d ever seen in my life. Not so much tall, no, but broad, and strong, as if sprung up from the very bedrock of the earth itself. Its thick, sturdy limbs grew out from the trunk in wild proliferation.
It seemed wild, and untamed, and, to my awestruck eyes, so very, very beautiful.
I felt a tug from somewhere deep down within me, and I took up my trot once again, feeling the radiant glow gently, tenderly caress my face and form as I moved ever closer.
Drawn on by a need and a longing beyond my understanding, I increased my speed, hands outstretched to their fullest limit and aching for something I couldn’t name. A final step and I was there, my outstretched fingers brushing against the warm, smooth, living bark with a sense of profound relief
Laying my palms flat against the trunk, I felt an intense surge of energy flow through me, bringing with it a sense of rightness, of completeness that, until now, I hadn’t been aware I was lacking.
Startled, though unafraid, I took a brief step back, losing contact with the tree as I did so.
The immediate sense of loss was almost overwhelming, and tears sprung quick to my eyes, blurring my
vision once again.
"What’s happening to me?" I whispered, overcome with a grief whose source was unknown.
Angel... .
My head jerked up, and I took another step back, looking around me. "Who...who said that?"
Angel... .
The voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere. I did a slow circle, eyes darting around the clearing, but as far as I could tell, I was completely alone.
"Please. Who’s there? I won’t harm you. Just please... ."
Angel... .
Drawing a bead on the origin of the voice, I turned quickly back to the tree.
Only, it wasn’t a tree anymore.
In its place stood a woman of breathtaking beauty. She was tall, broad of shoulder and lean of hip. Her hair was black as night and flew freely from her brow in luxuriant waves. Her face was that of an artist’s model, and her eyes….her eyes were the pale, intense blue of the hottest part of a flame.
"I know you," I breathed with surety, though the full knowledge of the woman before me danced tauntingly out of reach, like a word stuck on the tip of your tongue and refusing to come forth.
Angel... .
The corner of her mouth turned up in a crooked smile, and she reached out one long arm, elegant fingers slightly curled, beckoning.
Without conscious thought, I felt my own arm raise in response as my feet moved me steps closer to the breathtaking woman in front of me.
Our fingers brushed together and memories of a forgotten lifetime crashed over me, literally bringing me, gasping, to my knees.
Angel... .
The voice came again, only this time, I knew who it was that was calling to me.
"Ice?"
A radiant smile broke over her face like the beauty of the rising sun. She reached out again, beckoning.
Grinning like a fool, I jumped back to my feet, ignored her outstretched hand, and leapt into her arms, only to find myself tumbling into blackness once again.
* * *
I came to with a gasp which sent pain wracking through to the deepest levels of my body. My lungs were on fire, and I began choking and gagging so hard that I felt as if my lungs and guts were about to make an unseemly exit through my nose and mouth.
The only thing to come up, thankfully, was brackish water, and that in great amounts.
"Oh god," I gasped as my body convulsed again, trying desperately to expel everything I’d evidently ingested. "Help me."
In answer to my prayer, I was enfolded in a tender embrace by arms I knew and cherished. I felt a kiss being pressed into the crown of my head as those arms gathered me close against a muscled body which was shaking as badly as I was.
"It’s alright," came the whispered words. "You’re gonna be alright."
Forcing my stinging eyes open, I tilted my head back and looked up into the cherished face of my lover. "Ice?"
She barked a half laugh, half sob which brought more tears from already swollen eyes. "Yeah, it’s me."
"What happened?"
The lines of her face tensed in unimaginable pain. Her eyes closed and she gathered me still closer with an almost desperate strength. Laying her cheek atop my head, she rocked my pain-wracked body as I listened to the panicked beat of her valiant heart.
It all rushed back to me then. The monsoon. The accident. The feeling of flying, of falling, and ultimately, the total darkness which spiraled around me until it finally caught up and captured me in its inevitable grasp.
Something horrible had happened. To me. That much I knew.
I just needed to figure out what it was.
"Ice?"
Sensing no answer from that quarter, I opened my eyes again, and gazed outward, past the comforting circle of my lover’s arms and body.
I latched on to the first face I saw. "Critter?"
Like Ice, her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Giving me a watery smile, she moved closer, settled on her haunches, and grasped my hand, her thumb trailing tenderly over my knuckles. "Welcome back, Angel."
I could feel my brow creasing, though the action sent a fresh wave of pain through my skull. "What happened?"
She took in a deep breath, then let it out, hesitating. "What...what’s the last thing you remember?" she asked at last.
"I remember the car flipping over. That’s it, I think."
"It...um...flipped into the canal," she commented softly, sniffing back fresh tears.
"On it’s fucking roof," came the voice of Pony as she moved in to kneel beside Critter. Her face was white with shock, and there was a suspicious wetness around her eyes. "Damndest fucking thing I ever saw," she continued, shaking her head as she dragged a slightly trembling hand through soaked hair.
"What was?"
The two women exchanged glances. Critter nodded slightly, and Pony sighed.
"You guys were trapped. There wasn’t enough room to get to the doors on either side," Pony explained. "Rio jumped in to see if she could get underneath, but the water was so damn fast she nearly got swept away."
"Rio? Is she... ." Though I looked around, I couldn’t see the woman in question anywhere.
"Yeah," Critter interjected, squeezing my hand. "She’s fine. Pony and I were able to drag her out before she got too far away."
"Where is she?"
"With Nia," Pony answered.
"Is Nia... ?"
"She’s fine too. Banged up pretty good, but not too bad, considering."
"Considering what?"
They exchanged glances again, and Pony, once again, took up the gauntlet.
"We were going all kinds of crazy, trying to figure out how to get you all out of there. Rio kept wanting to jump back in and me and Critter kept holding her back." Her fists clenched. "We needed help, but none of the other assholes who caused this whole fucking mess wanted to help out. They were too damn busy pissing and moaning about their pitiful pieces of shit cars to pay any attention to us." Her face screwed up into an expression of bitter disgust.
Critter wrapped her free arm around Pony’s waist and squeezed. She picked up the tale. "Rio found some rope in one of the other cars. We figured we’d try and tie it around one of the axles and maybe pull, somehow try to move the car and get you guys out."
"We were getting ready to do just that, too," Pony said, "when the damndest thing happened." She shook her head, disbelief plain on her features.
"What?" I’m afraid I sounded a bit annoyed at that point, but my head was pounding, my lungs were still on fire with every breath I took, my body felt as if Ice had used it in place of her heavy-bag, and I felt as if I was going to throw up sometime in the very near future.
Pony, however, seemed oblivious. Her eyes were dark and far away. "We heard this loud crack, and the next thing we knew, Nia was flying through the air, pretty as you please. Rio caught her just before she would have hit the ground. She was soaked, and bleeding some, but she was alive." My friend’s voice trailed off as she shook her head in patent disbelief.
"Then Ice came out through the back window she’d somehow kicked open," Critter said, softly. "You were in her arms. The water kept trying to sweep her away. I don’t know how she managed, but somehow she did." She, too, shook her head. "Pony, Rio and I went down to take you from her, but she wouldn’t give you up. She was in shock, I think." She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "We finally managed to get hold of you and bring you up here. You were... ."
"Dead," Pony supplied, flatly, wiping at her eyes with savage hands.
"Wha-at?" My entire body went numb at her pronouncement. Ice’s arms tightened convulsively around me, cutting off my breathing for a long, aching second before they finally loosened, though only infinitesimally, for which I was grateful.
"You weren’t breathing," Critter supplied gently. "You guys were completely under water for a long time, and you were unconscious. You hit your head a good one on something."
That explained the unmerciful throbbing which threatened to explode my skull into tiny li
ttle fragments.
"I tried...to get a pulse...and I couldn’t find one," Critter continued, tears streaming liberally down her cheeks and dripping onto the still-wet pavement. "I...we...didn’t know what to do. I mean...we all knew CPR, but... I’m afraid we panicked." Her face flushed a deep shade of red and self-disgust was very prominent in every tense line of her face and body.
"Critter... ." I whispered.
Scrubbing her eyes, she shook her head, refusing my attempt at comfort.
Her face similarly flushed, Pony embraced the weeping Critter, and looked at me over the top of her lover’s bowed head. "All the sudden, we heard this...this...roar. Like some kinda wild animal or something. Scared the shit outta me. Next thing I know, I’m flying backwards. Almost fell into the damn canal."
"What happened?" Those words seemed the extent of my vocabulary of late.
"Ice did," Pony replied. "Everything that we couldn’t do, she did." Her voice was soft, reverent almost. "Somehow, she got some of the water outta you, then she started doing CPR, pounding on your chest and breathing into your mouth. She was like a demon, almost. Totally possessed."
Critter pulled slightly away from Pony and turned her face toward mine, her eyes bright with awe. "We...we tried to help, but she wouldn’t let any of us near you. Just kept doing CPR and screaming at you not to leave her. It seemed like it went on like that for...god!...hours. She just kept screaming. Kept telling you you couldn’t leave her. That it wasn’t your time to go. That you were strong. That you could fight it." At that, she broke down into sobs which matched my own. "She begged you not to go."
Pony wrapped Critter in an embrace again, unmindful of her own tears. "It was taking too long," she whispered. "Too long. I...tried to pull her away. It seemed fruitless...too late. But she wouldn’t listen. She wouldn’t... ." Her hand went up, unconsciously, to brush against a swollen, bruising area just below her right eye.
"Did she... ?"
Pony hung her head. "I deserved it."
"Pony!"
Her chin raised and she met my eyes again, her own burning with a strange intensity. "I deserved it, Angel. I gave up. She never did."
