4 - Penny
Penny
“Today is a day of huge mistakes.”
I probably would’ve been warm and cozy in a bed right now, but no, I had to make things difficult for myself as usual.
Determined to put distance between me and Jacob, I decided to leave Wenora and spend the night in a bigger town I’d passed through on my way up. It was only supposed to be an hour’s drive. Now I’m stuck creeping along in a horrible snowstorm.
This is bad.
This is so bad.
I’ve never driven in anything like this before. I can barely see! The wipers work overtime clearing the snow from the windshield, the repetitive sound drowning out the radio. My useless summer tires are slippery on the road, and the wind won’t stop shaking me. I clench my steering wheel.
“I hate you, winter. I hate you so much.”
Winter is the worst for lots of reasons, the biggest is that it marks the end of my favourite season. Give me an entire year of fall when the temperature is just right, the outdoors are stunning, and Halloween spirit is in the—
My headlights shine on something dark lumbering across the road.
“What is that?” I gasp, squinting through the fierce white stream.
To my dismay, tapping on the brake has no effect. The thing ahead grows nearer. It’s huge with four towering legs, massive antlers, and gleaming eyes.
My heart lurches.
“Oh my god! A moose!”
I slam hard on the brake. A sickening feeling fills my gut when my car still doesn’t obey and it continues sliding on the icy road toward the moose. I wrench the steering wheel and my car fishtails before it whips over the edge of the embankment. I scream as I go rolling.
“Oh god oh god oh god!”
My stomach churns from the violent tumbling. The seat belt digs into my chest and neck, pinning my body, but my arms flail wildly like an inflatable tube man. My screams fill the car, and I cry out even louder when one of my arms smack against the door.
The passenger’s side slams into something solid. Glass shatters, spraying over the seat. There’s a deafening splat as the side airbag deploys but mine doesn’t. My temple strikes the window and I yelp as pain blooms in my head.
With a shudder like a final death rattle, my car goes still. I’m frozen and my heart is trying hard to burst free from its cage. The silence and stillness is so sweet, it’s untrustworthy. My car might somehow start rolling again if I even so much as breathe.
Eventually, my lungs demand oxygen. I suck in the cold air coming through the broken passenger window in one long, deep, shuddering inhale through my mouth. Then I exhale.
“I’m alive.”
After what I just went through, it’s hard to believe. I touch my chest, neck, and face to make sure. The pain in my arm and in the tender spot at my forehead is proof I really did survive. I’m not a ghost who hasn’t realized I’m dead.
“I’m alive!”
A flood of emotion hits me and I start to cry. Snow streams in all over the passenger seat where my handbag was sitting before the tumble. As the adrenaline and tears wear off, the freezing air pouring in becomes unpleasant.
I push the button to start my car. The engine does a feeble turn then goes dead. It’s the same result after a few more attempts too. Oh, no. I survived the roll but my car didn’t.
My whole body aches as I wrestle myself free from my seat belt and hunt for my phone. It was connected to the console for the map until it flew to parts unknown. I find it tucked under the passenger seat. When I hoist it into the air, one triumphant signal bar pops into view.
“Thank god.”
I dial the emergency number with shaking fingers.
* * *
An ambulance, a firetruck, and a police car arrive.
It’s like I’m at a music show with all the flashing lights and sirens. Except, I’m the one on stage, and nothing about tonight is fun or entertaining.
I thought waiting for help in my car would be better. With the broken window letting in the snow and cold, I might as well have been outside. I’m shivering as the firefighters help me out and up the embankment.
“Here you go,” says one of the paramedics as she wraps me in a blanket’s warm embrace.
The storm rages on as they quickly examine me. A police officer in a bomber jacket approaches. He introduces himself as Officer Keith Brent.
“Were you alone?” Officer Brent has to raise his voice because of the noisy wind. He holds his arm up to shield his face from the snow.
“Yes.”
“Hit anyone? Anything?”
“Just the tree.” And that’s a mercy. Hitting an animal the size of a hill dead-on would’ve been a lot worse.
“Had anything to drink?”
“No.” I wish I had one right now though.
He confirms I’m telling the truth with a breathalyzer.
“We’ll call a tow for your car once we get it checked out. Need me to contact anyone?”
Should I give him Aunt Dee’s number or Jacob’s?
I hesitate. “No.”
When the paramedics announce they’re taking me to the hospital, Officer Brent promises to meet me there to take the rest of my statement after I’ve been checked out. I’m loaded up on a stretcher and taken right back where I started—Wenora.
Antiseptic and antibacterial scents welcome me as I’m wheeled inside the well-lit building. I’m in a daze once I’m left alone in a small room.
How is this my life right now? This has to be a nightmare because my situation just keeps getting worse. Maybe if I slap myself really hard, I’ll wake up and find I never even left Toronto.
While I wait for a doctor to see me, I think back on what I said to Aunt Dee last week. She was pestering me and Kevin yet again that we needed to go to church more often.
“Young people need to have God in their lives!”
I had just made a payment on the debt and wasn’t in a good mood. Her self-righteous tone got on my nerves so I let loose without thinking.
“Maybe if God wasn’t such an asshole to those who don’t deserve it then more young people would want Him hanging around.”
Kevin snorted into his soup, but Aunt Dee was not amused. I immediately felt awful when she burst into tears. While I was hugging her in apology, she said she was afraid I would be punished for my blasphemy if I didn’t pray for forgiveness.
Well, I never did.
Now I’m wondering if she was right.
A nurse steps into the room and offers me a warm smile. She has blue highlights in her greying blonde hair and her name tag says Nurse Sasha Hamilton. She holds a clipboard to her stomach with one hand while she rubs my shoulder with the other.
“How are you feeling, honey?”
I shrug. “I’ve had better days. Like the times I got my wisdom teeth pulled.”
Her laugh fades into a sympathetic sound as she rubs my shoulder again.
“You remind me of my daughter, Ruthie. She likes to crack jokes too when she’s not feeling well.”
She asks me questions as she scribbles quickly on her clipboard, then leaves with a promise that a doctor will come see me. Eventually, I’m examined by the doctor, and it’s good news. Nothing broken or torn, and despite smacking my head against the window, I don’t have a concussion.
“You still need to rest,” the doctor says. “Don’t overwork yourself. You’re going to be sore for the next few days.”
Starting right now.
My body feels like I got ran over by my car instead of rolling around inside it. Hopefully the painkiller she gave me kicks in soon.
I leave the room clutching my bag to my side like I’m afraid someone will snatch it. Chances are high it’ll happen with the horrible way this day has gone so far.
What do I do now?
My car is out of commission, and anyone who I’d call to come get me are several hours away.
If I call Aunt Dee, I’ll have to explain why I’m here.
I definitely don’t want her to know about the debt.
I’ve been hiding it from her for months because she’s easily stressed, especially when a loved one is in trouble.
It doesn’t help that she has high blood pressure too.
I can’t call Kevin either because he blabs everything to his mom.
“Miss Greene?”
The familiar voice pulls me out of my anxious thoughts. I blink, suddenly aware I’m standing in the hospital’s lobby. When did I get here?
I turn to the person who spoke. Officer Brent offers me a sympathetic smile and gestures at the chairs.
“Mind if we have a seat and finish that statement?”
We sit while I go over in greater detail what happened with the moose. When he asks me why I was in Wenora, I give him a vague answer that I was visiting a friend.
I want to laugh, though. A friend? Yes, there was a time when Jacob and I were friends. Good friends.
Not anymore and never again.
Now he probably wishes he never met me.
Officer Brent glances at my forehead. I saw the bruise in a mirror in the exam room. Everyone at work is going to think I got punched in the head. How am I even going to hide it from Aunt Dee? She’ll get suspicious if I’m wearing hats all the time.
“You look like you need a warm bed ASAP,” he says.
I give him a weak smile. “I really do.”
“Need a ride somewhere?”
“The nearest motel, if you can.”
He grimaces. “That’ll be over an hour’s drive from here with the storm going. I have to stay close for other calls.”
My eyebrows rise. “There aren’t any places for visitors in Wenora?”
“Yeah, just one, but it’s undergoing repairs. A frozen pipe burst last week and the place got flooded.”
“Wow.”
It’s all I can say as the nightmare continues. From a car accident with a moose to being stranded in an unfamiliar town with nowhere to spend the night. What the fuck next? Bloodthirsty werewolves? A mysterious plague? I demand a refund on this horror movie because it sucks.
“What about that friend you came to see?” Officer Brent asks. “Will they let you crash on their couch?”
My jaw clenches as Jacob’s last words replay in my mind. I open my mouth to respond but Officer Brent speaks first.
“You can on mine if you want.”
Officer Brent looks like he’s in his thirties. He has brown eyes and dirty blonde hair that’s shaved in a high fade on both sides.
He’s been warm and supportive the whole night as expected from a small town police officer. But his tone just now doesn’t sit right with me.
It was too casual. The expectant look on his face makes me uneasy too. It’s as if he’s holding his breath, silently willing me to accept his offer.
No way.
But what’s my alternative? Jacob told me to go away and don’t come back. He won’t like that I disobeyed his order only a few hours later.
My shoulders slump. Looks like I have to pick between two terrible options again. Spend the night with a total stranger, or beg for shelter from a man who hates me?
Better the devil I know.