Wanted by ML Ross Read Free Book Online

leave.  I am really upset
with her but I don’t want her to worry either.
    I
get into my bug and set my GPS for home and pull away from the cabin.  I
feel a tightness in my throat and then my eyes burn as tears start to fall down
my cheeks.  I was really hoping this weekend would be different, a new
start for me.  I don’t have James anymore and my friends kind of deserted
me. I feel like I don’t fit in anywhere.  Except home.  My family
loves me unconditionally.  I smile at the thought of us all together
exchanging presents and my Mom cooking apple pies in the kitchen.  Last
year, we were at the hospital.  It was awful.  My Mom was barely
conscious.  My Dad was working in the ER.  Mason and I sat in my
Mom’s hospital room watching It’s a Wonderful Life and eating tuna sandwiches
that the nurse brought us from the cafeteria.  Our presents sat under the
tree until my Mom came home the day after New Year’s. 
    I
stop at the first gas station I come to before I hit the long stretch of
nothingness on Highway 50.  I fill up the gas tank and grab a snickers and
a mountain dew.  I pull out onto route 50, turn up my radio and enjoy the
drive down the winding roads.  I’m so excited to get home. I can already
smell the apple pie.  I can’t wait to see the look on Mason’s face when I
give him my present.  I bought him a custom skateboard.  He is going
to be extremely surprised.  I smile to myself as I picture the look on his
face.
    I’ve
been on the road for about two and a half hours. It’s really dark now. 
It’s starting to snow heavier and this road is so deserted, it’s starting to
creep me out.  Just as I’m starting to really panic, my phone lights up in
the passenger seat and makes me jump.  I’m thinking that if it is James
again, I’m going to pick it up.  Maybe I was too hard on him.  I turn
to look at the picture on the screen and I see James smiling back at me. 
I smile and lean over slightly to grab my phone but I can’t reach so I unbuckle
quickly so I can grab it. 
    Suddenly,
out of the darkness, I see a pair of bright lights coming right at the driver’s
side of my car.  Before I have a chance to react, I hear a loud screeching
sound and then I’m thrown from my seat.  I feel my body hit glass, land on
the ground and bounce and roll like a rag doll. I lay there unable to move,
groaning, as I hear hurried footsteps hitting the concrete and sounds of
crunching glass. Then I see a blurry face standing over me.
    “I’m
sorry!  I’m sorry!  I didn’t see you. Fuck!” The voice sounds like
it’s under water.  I see blurry lights fading in and out as I start
slipping away.  “Can you hear me?  Shit!  Stay with me,
okay?  You’re going to be okay.”  His voice fades in and out.  I
don’t want to die. I immediately think about Mason and that skateboard. And oh
God, my Mom! I need to call my Mom.  Then everything fades to black.

Chapter 3 - Ryan
     
     
    “Fuck!!
Stay with me.  Hey!!  Can you hear me? Shit!  Don’t die, please
don’t fucking die!”  I look around me into complete darkness, aside from
the headlights from my FJ shining on this girl’s lifeless body.  The only
sound is the hum of my engine.
    I
drop to my knees on the glass covered cement and lean my head down to her chest
to listen to her breathe and count the faint beats of her heart.  As I
glance down the length of her mangled body, I take in her shredded jeans and
hoodie and the blood seeping through the threads. I tear her hoodie down the
middle and pull it off of her.  I ball it up and place it under her
head.  I lift her tank top over her belly looking for injuries, softly
touching her torso.   Her skin is pale except for the bruising that’s
starting to appear on her ribs.  Her belly is moving up and down with each
panted breath.  I touch her arms and legs gently looking for broken bones.
Her hair is tangled and bloody, cascading around her face on the cement.