Chapter 3
Sierra rubbed her temples. A headache was coming on, along with the joint pain she was already suffering through. She placed her fingers back on the keyboard to finish up the last chapter before calling it quits for the rest of the night.
But when the words began to swim, she let out a string of curses. She really needed to get this done; her deadline was fast approaching.
Sierra slowly got up, bracing herself on the desk, then the walls as she moved around the room she used as an office. She stretched her tight muscles and massaged her joints and scar tissue still left over from the accident.
The wind picked up; a storm was brewing. It would last for the next couple of days on the island before moving on. Sierra didn’t mind storms. She loved the chaos, but this type of weather pattern always affected her joints, especially the ones that had been broken.
Sierra moved to the kitchen and put on the kettle, taking out the teas she needed to help her through the pain.
Trying to distract herself, she looked outside her window.
The reminder of what day it was scratched at the door in her brain and if she let the memories in, she would need something stronger than tea.
The inside of the house dimmed with the darkening sky.
She could just imagine that the waves were rougher now, slamming against the rocks and the shore.
The few inhabitants on this private island, she could count on one hand, mostly retired people who wanted to be as far away from city life as possible.
Everyone knew each other but minded their own business and that suited Sierra perfectly.
A forked streak of lighting split the sky and the lights in the small home flashed off and back on.
Sierra moved around the kitchen, gathering old kerosene lamps and candles, just in case.
While the kettle heated, she lit the lamps and candles, placing them around the house.
Returning to the kitchen, she poured the hot water in a mug and added the two tea bags, letting it steep.
As she sipped the hot liquid—burning, as she liked it—Sierra watched the lighting show outside.
Soon, the lights did shut off, and candle glow broke the darkness.
Sierra stiffened during one spectacular display of lighting; it had briefly highlighted her image in a nearby mirror, showing her light brown curls.
She liked to keep them very short now, fanning over her forehead, hiding her ears and falling against her cheeks and grazing above her shoulders.
Her button nose sported a smattering of small freckles, contrasting against her light brown skin and the dark doe eyes staring back at her.
Her lips were the envy of people who used Botox to plump them up, and her round chin completed the picture.
Unfortunately, the dark couldn’t hide the scar pulling her right eye down slightly and the hideous rise of it across her cheek.
She had never been considered beautiful, but she’d known how to apply her makeup to make her look sultry and pretty, to emphasize her features and hide the freckles on her face.
Now her face was laid bare for the world to see, if she ever decided to leave her sanctuary. Which seemed unlikely. She deserved to live the rest of her life alone and on this remote island, just like her grandmother’s best friend did.
Just thinking of Pat opened the dam of memories.
Her shouting at her husband on the car phone, their three-and-a-half-year-old daughter crying and screaming in the back of the car.
Furious, she had turned and yelled at her daughter, eyes blurry with tears and booze.
She didn’t notice the vehicle drifting onto the side of the road.
Gravel crunched under the tires as she swerved to miss a tree, and the car spun out of control.
Plummeting down an incline, the vehicle flipped and threw them around like clothes in a dryer.
Everything went dark, and she woke to her face on fire.
One eye was blinded, her ears were ringing.
Even groaning brought a rush of pain. She could taste blood in her mouth and began to freak out.
Through the haze, she could feel the seatbelt digging into her shoulders, her neck.
She realized she was upside down and the seatbelt was keeping her from falling onto the ceiling.
Her arms hung, touching the hood of the car.
When she had tried to pull them to her, she screamed, almost passing out; a bone stuck prominently out of her forearm.
Inhaling, trying to stay conscious, she reached with her other hand for the buckle.
Just as she was about to press the button, a loud voice echoed through the car.
“Ma’am don’t move; help is on the way.” She tried to turn her head to the unknown male voice, but everything hurt; she began to cry.
“Please help me.” She whispered.
“Oh my god, there is a child in the car.” She could hear a woman say.
Then the crunching of feet on stones and branches.
“Kaitlyn. Baby, Kaitlyn.” She tried to turn her head to see her daughter.
“Please help my daughter. Is she okay?” Her ears felt plugged.
She screamed in pain again when she felt the car shake.
“It’s stuck; the doors are stuck. Where are the goddamn ambulance and fire trucks?” The man was near her again.
“My wife has gone to put flares on the road. Try not to move, ma’am.”
“My daughter. The back doors are childproof. Can you reach inside and unlock it?”
“Yes, hold on a second.” Sierra felt the air move near her head, then a small click sounded.
“Hold on, I will go and check on her.”
She had stopped herself from laughing because where was she going to go. Instead, Sierra murmured, “Thank you.”
“Thank God, I hear the sirens now. They sound close.”
Despite this good news, he uttered a distressed sound. Fear tightened her throat. “What, is my baby okay?” She tried to move again and screamed.
“Ma’am, just stay calm.”
“What has happened to her?”
“She’s injured badly too, but breathing.”
“No, no, no. Please help her.” She reached for the belt and unclasped it, tumbling out of the seat and hit the inside of the car, hard.
She shrieked in pain and tried to hang on. Her head spun, but nothing could drown out the this is all my fault thudding around her skull.
“Ma’am, don’t move! Thank God, over here!” He shouted.
“There is a woman in the front and a little girl in the back seat.”
In that moment, she had begged. “Please not my daughter, please make sure she is all right.” It was the last thing she remembered before passing out.
A loud bang of thunder interrupted her being lost in her memories.
Sierra didn’t notice when the lights came back on—the generator must have kicked in.
Her mouth felt dry, and as she sipped her tea, tears coursed down her cheeks.
Wiping them away, the jingle of her cell phone pierced the veil of distraction.
Shuffling back to her office, Sierra shoved a few papers aside and immediately held the phone to her face.
Only two people had this number and knew this was the anniversary of her accident.
“Hi Sierra.” Hearing that husky tone over the phone was calming to her.
“Hi.” She cleared her throat and gripped the phone like a lifeline, continuing to wipe away her tears.
“How bad is it?”
“Bad. I want a drink and if there was one here, I would have taken a sip.” She confessed.
“Do you believe that?”
She sighed and ran her hand through her short hair. “I would like to think I wouldn’t, but I don’t know.”
“At least you are being honest and that we can work with.”
She bit her lip, wanting to burst out crying.
“Hey, it is okay and today is not an easy day for you. Do you want to talk about it?”
Sierra shook her head trying to contain her emotions. She whispered, “No.” Through the phone, she suddenly heard a car door close and then the jingling of keys.
“Hold on a second, I’m just heading into my home.” Her sponsor advised.
She rocked from side to side to keep from stiffening up; she’d now been standing since the storm started. There was dead air for a second or two from the other side of the line before “We can talk about anything you want to, just stay on the phone with me.”
“I wasn’t planning on hanging up. And thank you for calling me.” She gave a weak smile even though the person on the other end couldn’t see it.
“Anytime that is what I am here for and not just because I’m your sponsor.” A crackling sound came over the line and she waited for it to clear before responding.
“I know and I am grateful.” Tears tracked slowly down her cheeks, and she wiped them away.
After Pat had passed away, Sierra’s human contact had gone from three to two and having them in her life after everyone else had left was what kept her from going insane.
Pat and her psychiatrist had encouraged her to keep a journal, so she’d started journaling, but then to her surprise a talent emerged that kept her mind busy as the days flew by.
“How is your work coming along?”
“It is a pain in the ass, I am having brain freeze.” She shuffled into the kitchen and turned the kettle back on before sitting down.
“Ah man, seriously, and from the racket going on outside, no wonder you are having trouble concentrating. Storms give me the heebie jeebies.” She smiled because she could just picture Mik shuddering.
“I like them, I find them soothing.”
“You would.” Mik snorted.
“No date tonight?” She straightened out her legs, then pointed her toes and flexed them back, stretching her calf muscles.
“No, so I am here for you to talk to for the rest of the night if need be.”
This was going to be a long night, but her AA sponsor Mik was there for her.