The Color of Heaven by The Colour of Heaven (html) Read Free Book Online Page A

bracing my
    body against the jarring impact as the roof col apsed over the passenger side and the windows blew out.
    Down I went, tumbling and bouncing over the rocks like a stone skipping across water.
    Then al at once, it was over.
    There was only white noise in my ears, then the thunderous sound of my heartbeat.
    I opened my eyes to find myself hanging upside down in my seatbelt, with the side of my head wedged up against the roof.
    The engine was stil running. Other sounds emerged. Music was playing on the radio – an old favorite song of mine from the 80’s, The Killing Time , which was ironic, but in that heart-stopping moment, I was not quite so reflective. Al I could think of was getting out of there.
    Panic hit me. Hard. I felt trapped, frantic to escape, and began to thrash about.
    I groped for the red button on the seatbelt buckle, but my hands were shaking so violently I couldn’t push it.
    My breaths came faster and faster.
    I cried out, but no one heard.
    Then suddenly, out of nowhere, a whip cracked. The vehicle shuddered.
    I froze and tried to see past the smashed windshield in front of me. Everything outside the car was pure white, covered in snow.
    If only I knew where I was. If only I could see something beyond the broken glass!
    But it didn’t matter what I could, or could not, see. I knew what was happening...
    My car was sitting on its roof, resting on a frozen lake. The crack of the whip was the sound of the ice breaking.
    Creak… Groan…
    My SUV shifted and began to slowly tip sideways.
    Large chunks of ice and bone-numbing swel s of water poured in through the blown-out windows as I sank into the frigid February water. The shock
    of the cold took my breath away.
    Frantical y, I struggled with the belt buckle and managed, at last, to free myself, just as the last few pockets of air bubbled up to the surface.
    I was completely submerged.
    It was dark and murky down below. I couldn’t tel which way was up, nor could I swim through the window, for a large shard of ice had become
    wedged there. I shoved at it with my shoulder, but to no avail. Then it occurred to me to open the door.
    I groped for the handle and pushed it open against the weight of the water. Meanwhile, my body was going numb in the sub-zero temperature.
    I swam toward the light, but col ided with a thick ceiling of ice. No matter how hard I pounded against it, I couldn’t break through, so I swam,
    searching for the hole through which I entered.
    At last, I broke the surface and sucked in a great, gasping gulp of air while I recklessly splashed about.
    I struggled to clamber up onto the frozen surface, but my body seemed made of lead. My teeth were clicking together. I began to shiver violently,
    and then, by some miracle, I stopped feeling the cold. My hands went numb as I made one last attempt to claw my way up onto the ice.
    Exhausted and disheartened, I had no more fight left in me. My brain was shutting down. Al I wanted to do was sleep.
    I held on for as long as I could until my eyes fel closed. The next thing I knew I was fal ing…
    Down, down…
    Slowly sinking toward my capsized car.
    I settled lightly on the steel undercarriage, beside the muffler.
    The rest of this makes no sense to me as I recal it, for my eyes were closed – I was not conscious – yet I was able to see what was happening from a location outside my body.
    The convulsions and violent jerking of my legs were disturbing to watch. It was a seizure caused by the lack of oxygen to my brain. I understood this with great clarity as I watched myself twitch and final y go stil .
    Afterwards, I floated there for about twenty minutes, wondering if I should stay or go for help.
    In the end, I decided to stay, because I just couldn’t bring myself to leave my body alone, in the cold, dark water.
    A short while later, I squinted through the murky depths and blinked a few times, for I thought I saw Megan swimming toward me. How was this
    possible? As she drew