Chapter Five
Vanessa
I screamed, the sound barely audible over the violent ringing in my ears.
RJ slumped over the wheel, his foot thankfully not on the gas as we sideswiped a car in the opposite lane that had come to a stop to avoid the out-of-control BMW. Metal screeched against metal along my door, the impact bouncing me wildly around the interior.
I almost flung myself away from it but hesitated for a split second because doing so would require me to get closer to the dead body in the driver’s seat.
Oh god. What have I done?
There was another, more violent jolt, and the old Beamer cleared the curb, shedding speed as it went.
I had just a second to glance out at the sections of windshield that weren’t covered in blood.
The car smashed through a pair of bikes attached to a public lock and then careened toward the railing.
Below which was the river.
In a moment of clarity, I reached over and shut off the engine, then pulled the emergency handbrake up from next to the center console. For once, having an old car paid off. Tires screeched, and the car spun sideways slightly as it slowed.
“Oh, fuck!” I yelped as the car scaled the railing, the front end going close to vertical.
RJ’s body slumped back against his seat and toward me, causing me to push myself back against the door as hard as my shaking limbs could.
Metal groaned and warped, and the car slowly came back down to level—
Only to reveal that the front half was hanging over the river ten feet below.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” I moaned, inching my hand toward the door as the car slowly rocked back and forth, nothing supporting the front end.
Maybe I could ease my way out of it and climb toward the back.
If you open the door, it will swing weight to the front of the car.
“Fuck!”
As slowly as I could, I reached over one shoulder, grabbed the seatbelt, and pulled it free until I could click it into place.
We would either go over, or I was going to sit there until rescue arrived and could pull us free.
I couldn’t see any way around it. Maybe I could climb into the back seat, but there was always the chance that doing so would move the car around too much, and we’d slide over the edge.
The last thing I wanted was to hit the water while not strapped in.
“Please hurry,” I whispered to nobody in particular, firmly keeping my attention and eyesight to the right.
Away from the body of the man I’d killed.
You aren’t like him. This was different. This was different.
But I’d still killed him. I was a murderer.
I was no different from—
RJ’s body slumped forward at that moment, hitting the steering wheel and setting off the horn.
It also shifted enough weight forward. The rear end of the car tipped up, and we slid forward.
I screamed, pushing against the dash as if that would somehow help, while the car’s undercarriage scraped along the edge of the bridge. And then slid completely free.
The impact threw me forward against the seatbelt. Airbags finally deployed, slamming the side of my face into them. Maybe there were some downsides to having an old car. They probably should have gone off earlier.
That was the least of my worries, though, because the car settled firmly onto the water, and then I heard the most horrid sound ever. Water gurgling as it entered the car.
Hurriedly, I shrugged the seatbelt off. Or tried to. It was locked into place, probably courtesy of the crash. I frantically ripped at it, pulling with all my might, trying to get out of it.
Water was already an inch deep in the floor of the car, its cold touch dark and mysterious. I struggled even harder, trying to worm my way free of the taut seatbelt.
“I am not going to die like this,” I ordered, taking a breath and forcing myself to stop and think.
There had to be a better way to get out of the seatbelt.
RJ’s knife was nowhere to be found, and the gun was who knew where in the car.
I could barely see a thing down at river level, and the street lights were too far away to provide illumination.
Water continued to rise at an alarmingly fast rate, reaching my mid-thigh.
Hit with sudden inspiration, I slammed the seat as far back as possible, grateful that something in the stupid car still worked properly, at least. Then, without the shoulder section to worry about, I was able to squirm my way up the seat, dragging my hips out from under the belt.
At that point, the water rose over the base of my seat, soaking my butt and hair as I struggled to get my knees free.
Something bubbled ferociously, and then the car abruptly sank below the water's surface, taking me and the trapped air bubble with it.
I held back a scream, knowing my air was limited. I closed my eyes as I crouched in the back seat, trying to figure out what to do.
Okay, think, Van. Think. You can get out of this. The river isn’t that deep. You can swim out. All you have to do is get one of the doors—
The windshield crumpled inward under the pressure of the water, smashing hard against RJ’s body without actually shattering. Water poured into the car, slamming me against the seat and quickly erasing my air pocket.
I had but seconds, and I couldn’t see anything in the dark as the water went over my head. Trapping me in the car.
Perhaps, I thought, strangely calm as I realized I was going to die, it’s fitting that I don’t survive after what I did. After all, if I’m just like my father, then I don’t deserve it.