Chapter Two
I’d drifted off into a frozen slumber, or at least I must have. I remember listening to my heartbeat grow louder but slower before the pulsing within my veins lulled me to sleep.
But then, there’s a jolt stronger than espresso that makes my heart hum as if it’s just been shocked by a defibrillator. A jolt that comes with the sound of crunching metal and a momentum that flings me forward toward the steering wheel, my head hitting the horn, making Miranda let out a squeak.
My eyes flicker open, and my brain begins to power up, trying to process what is happening. Did someone crash into me?
There’s a slam of a car door, no, a truck door. It sounds big and powerful, unlike the vehicle I am in that would be paraded in by clowns to a circus.
I want to yell. Try to open my door. But my limbs and vocal cords have been entranced by the cold; they're under its chilling spell, which makes them useless in a dire situation like I’m currently in. You know, the kind of situation that is life or death.
I turn my head that is resting on the wheel to look out the driver’s window, the view completely obscured by snow until black gloves start clearing it.
“What in the world?!” I hear the echo of a man’s voice. It sounds miles away even though it’s just on the other side of the glass. “Ma’am! Ma’am! Are you okay?!”
What does he want me to do? I can’t shake my head, let alone try to open the car door.
So, instead, I blink. In Morse code. Like a nerd thinking everyone else should know Morse code in case of emergencies.
I learned it as a sophomore in high school.
My boyfriend was fluent in it. He loved the ham radio. More than he loved me.
Long blink. Short blink. Pause. Long blink. Long blink. Long blink.
“I’m going to try to get to you!” he shouts.
I start to blink out thank you, but somewhere between the long dashes and short ones, I get distracted by a darkness that seems intriguing behind my eyelids. It feels warm and welcoming, and both of those things sound like a real Christmas, so I let myself fall into it.