She felt wonderful. And warm.
The sun peeked through the horizon and scattered the softest of light into the early morning sky. It promised a very hot summer day but with the gentlest of breeze, enough to make the curtains dance a little.
There on the bedside table lay a single rose the color of a newborn baby’s cheeks. Sienna hesitated for just a moment, because it made her heart flutter and she wanted to savor the excitement and tingle it brought in her system. It smelled just as beautiful as it looked, and twirling the stem between her fingers, she read the note tucked under the night lamp.
She suddenly felt so cold.
She closed her eyes from the pain of the impact and curled as her whole body hurts. But it didn’t matter. Because her heart felt hurt the most. What is happening?
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself sprawled in the middle of the road with shards of broken glass around. She had to close her eyes again for it begun to rain and the water flooded her eyes. She shivered -- both from the cold rain and from within. She tasted blood, and damn it, she could feel that dreadful sticky thing oozing from the side of her head. She started to reach for it and cringed with pain. What the fuck happened?
She can see people running towards her now. And for the life of her, she still felt shy and had the foolish urge to hide. Someone came closer than the others. She’s a small, plump woman, probably in her 40s and wearing one of those overalls that the service cleaners wear. She’s probably one of them.
“Miss, can you hear me? Hang in there.” She yelled at someone to call an ambulance.
Sienna started to speak, but no words came out.
“Why were you driving so fast like that?” She swore she can hear her own mom’s voice in that woman.
I was driving? But I was…
Sienna was reading the note with the rose still between her fingers when someone hugged her from behind and kissed her neck.
She giggled, tickled by the overnight growth of his beard. And she was suddenly lifted off her feet.
And she was back on the cold road. And suddenly, the pain that adrenaline made bearable for her just seconds ago, came flooding in her system. She had to clench her teeth to suppress a scream.
Noise. There’s too much noise and it was like a hammer mercilessly pounding on her bleeding head. She was whimpering when a woman knelt beside her and said something she could barely hear.
“Ma’am, I’m from the rescue team. Look at me and stay awake. Where do you feel pain the most?”
Sienna tried to speak but it came out as a groan. The world begun to tilt. The woman said something to her, she was sure of it. She was trying to read her lips. But black spots consumed her sight.
And like a poorly written screenplay, she was transported to another world. The contrast is too much; she knew this could just be a dream. But which one is?
She could hear her own laughter and his. They’re tangled on the bed, flooded with the soft morning light.
And suddenly the light was too much and she knew she was in that world again. Am I in an ambulance? Why is it too stuffy in here? Why can’t I breathe?
“Ma’am! Ma’am! Stay with us.” She saw the woman from before, probably a nurse, reached for something and her vision blurred again. “Hurry! We’re losing her.”
And she surrendered herself into darkness.
