Death on a Deadline

darker shadows at the other end of the parking lot. Was that a car parked over there?
    I pulled out on to the highway and flipped open my phone. Talking to Carly would calm my nerves. I waited until the first curve was safely maneuvered, then glanced down at my phone to hit Carly’s speed dial number. Headlights glared in my rearview mirror, and suddenly I felt a hard thump against my bumper. The vehicle behind me had come from nowhere. Had it bumped me? I slowed a little. If it had, it would surely back off now. Bam! The cell phone flew out of my hand, and I gripped the steering wheel tighter. The words of the anonymous letter flitted through my mind. Was the driver doing this on purpose? “Dear Lord,” I murmured, “please, please help me.”
    I pushed the accelerator down, hoping to get away, but I felt a hard hit behind my door, and my car fishtailed. I had no idea whether to brake or speed up some more. Why hadn’t I taken those defensive driving courses offered at the high school? I slammed on the brakes, then screamed as my car hit the loose gravel on the shoulder of the road and the steering wheel spun out of my hands. “God, help me!”
    I tried to hang on, but my body jerked against the seatbelt as I bounced over terrain that was clearly not the road. When the swerving headlight beams showed a line of trees in front of me, I squeezed my eyes shut and braced for the impact.

Fifteen

    I woke slowly, details of the strange room filtering into my sleep-fuddled brain. A television was suspended from the ceiling in the corner. My gaze slid sideways to rest on my dad, reading the Monitor and wearing a frown. My dad hardly ever frowned.
    “Daddy?” I tried to say, but it was more like a croak.
    He lowered the paper and jumped up. A smile spread across his face. “Jenna! How you doin’?”
    “Hospital?”
    He took my hand in his and caressed it with his thumb. “You had a little car accident.”
    “What happened?” Shadowy images flitted in and out of my semiconscious. Bright headlights. Then a hard bump from behind.
    “We think maybe a deer ran out in front of you. Do you remember?”
    I hesitated, and felt my eyes close again. Sleep called me like a pied piper’s song. “Sort of,” I mumbled. “A car. Behind me. No deer.”
    “Okay, we can talk about it later, honey. You go ahead and rest.”
    The next time I woke, Daddy was gone, but Mama was there in the same chair, her gaze was locked on my face, her brows knitted together with obvious worry. She smiled. “Hey, how’s my baby?” She was using that hospital voice—almost a whisper but not quite.
    “I’m okay.”
    “No, I mean how are you really ?” She reached for my hand and squeezed. “You can tell me.”
    “I ache all over. My head hurts, and every time I breathe it feels like someone is stabbing me.” Well, that sounded whiney enough. I felt like crying.
    “Oh, honey, I’m so sorry. You’ve got a lot of bruises and abrasions, but no concussion, at least. I’ll call the nurse to give you some pain medicine.”
    “What I’d love is a Caramel Macchiato. Remember when Hayley had her tonsils out, we got one at the little coffee shop downstairs?” If she would go get me one, that would give me time to decide what to do about the memories that rushed in like a river, now that I was completely awake.
    Mama’s eyes lost some of their sadness and regained a little of their normal twinkle. “Good to see you’re still yourself. And I’d be glad to go get you one, but I hate to leave you alone.” She hesitated. “Do you remember much of last night?”
    Leave it to Mama to get to the heart of the matter.
    I nodded, then immediately regretted it. My skull felt like a little man with a big hammer had taken up residence inside. “Some. How did they find me?” Had the driver of the car behind me developed a conscience and called it in? Or was it a murderer with no conscience? I shuddered. I had to tell someone about being run off the road. But Mama, face already drawn with worry, wasn’t my first choice.
    “You called Carly. When she answered, she heard thumping noises and you praying aloud, then a scream. She called 911 and they headed out of town toward the health club, looking in all the ravines along the way with their spotlight. You’d gone down under a hill, but they found you within ten minutes, thankfully.”
    I closed my eyes. If I hadn’t punched Carly’s speed dial button, I might still be in my car instead of