Chase Our Forever (Sutten Mountain #3)

49. Liv

49

LIV

A small moan falls from my lips as I’m pulled from a deep darkness. I rock my head from side to side, my head pounding with the movement. My eyelids flutter open as I take in my surroundings. I close my eyes from the pain overtaking me as I try to figure out where I’m at and what happened.

I didn’t know it was possible to be this cold. My entire body aches right down to my bones. I slowly peel my eyes open and press my ice-cold fingers to my forehead, wondering why pain radiates from a spot above my eyebrow. When I pull my fingers away from my skin, I find them glistening with my own blood.

“Oh god.” I hate blood, and the amount coating my fingers tells me that I need to get it checked out soon. I close my eyes for a minute, trying to figure out how I got here.

Memories of what happened crash through my mind. The snow. The deer. The ditch. The tree. It all hits me at once. I’ve been in an accident, and judging by the broken glass everywhere and the rough airbags scratching against my face, it was a pretty bad one.

I try to move, but it hurts everywhere, even just to lift my arm even slightly. I wince, fighting through the pain as I reach for my phone, which sits in the passenger seat. It takes a couple of tries, but I finally manage to grab it despite the sharp pain shooting up my arm from the movement.

A cry of frustration leaves my lips as I find the screen completely shattered. It’s dead and now broken, and I have no way of calling for help or reaching anyone.

I need to reach out to Dean and let him know I’m okay. I know if he’s made it home and not found me there, he’s worried. The last thing I want is for him to be panicking.

I’m stranded in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere, and I have no idea how long I’d been passed out after the accident.

I let out a loud groan as my eyes travel around my car. The only light that illuminates my surroundings is from my one headlight that’s still working.

A shiver runs through my body as my mind races with what to do. I can barely feel my fingers as I attempt to get my seat belt unbuckled. A strong gust of wind blows snow in my face and makes my cheeks burn. It takes a few tries, but finally, I’m able to get the seat belt undone, even as I almost pass out from how much it hurts to move.

The moment I’m free, I suck in a deep breath. The strap had been so tight against my chest I felt like I could hardly breathe, but now that it’s undone, it feels like I can bring slightly more air into my lungs.

God, it’s so cold. I know I won’t last long out here. I have to find a way to get to the road and, hopefully, flag someone down for help. The cold wind is getting more brutal by the second, and the broken windows and shattered windshield do nothing to shield me from it.

My achy muscles protest as I reach for the handle of my door. I push my shoulder into it, trying to force the door open, but it doesn’t budge.

Can anything go my way right now?

I put my hands in front of my mouth and blow on them to try and warm up. It doesn’t work well. They feel numb, making it hard to really move them at all. I try the handle a few more times before my hands drop to my sides. With one last failed attempt at opening the car door, I realize I’ll have to come up with another way out of the car. I look around before realizing the only way out is through the broken car window.

I shut my eyes for a moment, trying to muster the courage to even move at all. All I want to do is stay in the car and wait for someone to find me.

But no one’s going to find me here. My car flew off the road and down a steep embankment. There wasn’t even a guardrail or anything my car broke through to indicate an accident even happened. Anyone driving the road would have no idea I’m down here. The snow falls so fast I’m sure even my tire tracks are covered at this point.

As much as it terrifies me to accept it, no one’s coming to save me. I’m going to have to save myself. There’s no other option. I have to get back to Dean and to Clara.

I let out a shaky breath as I talk myself into getting out of the car. It’s going to hurt, and I didn’t know it was possible to feel cold down to my bones, but I have no choice but to be brave right now.

I need to be brave for Dean. For Clara. They’re my family, and they have to know I’m okay.

It feels like my body is on fire as I begin to crawl out. I try to keep my breaths steady, even as everything hurts. I don’t know if it’s from the crash or the intensity of the cold, but whatever it is makes me let out a cry of pain for no one to hear but me and the surrounding trees.

Slowly, I make my way out of the car before dropping to the ground next to it. The rapidly falling snow is making it hard to see, but at least it helps break my fall. I lie on the ground for a few moments to gather up the willpower to make it to the road in search of help.

“You can do this,” I repeat to myself over and over. The biggest reason I get up despite the pain is because I need to get to Dean. I need him to know that I’m okay.

Every step I take is excruciating, but somehow, I manage to walk to the bottom of the embankment with only a few stumbles and only one fall into the snow. A loud sob falls from my lips as I realize just how steep the ditch is and how hard it’s going to be to climb up it.

“No,” I groan, my eyes searching the snow-covered shrubs to figure out how to even begin to climb what’s in front of me. Even if I hadn’t just gotten in a car crash and wasn’t freezing, making it up the steep incline would be challenging. So in my current state, it seems impossible.

I press my hand into a nearby tree trunk just to give myself a small break before setting out to climb out of the ditch. I know if I stand here too long, I’ll talk myself out of doing it.

“I can do hard things,” I mutter to myself, my voice completely raw from the cold. It’s a line from one of Clara’s books she has me read to her before every nap. It’s a line we’ve adopted in saying every day when we’re feeling sad or frustrated and want to give up. Little did I know how much it’d encourage me to keep moving forward when my muscles are begging me to just lie down in the soft snow and hope someone finds me.

A small rustling sound has me looking up. I squint through the darkness, trying to find out where it’s coming from.

Has someone found me?

I shake my head, trying to rid myself of the fogginess around it. The sound is too soft and faint to be someone, but it’s still a sound. It has to be something.

The sound gets closer, and only because of the small amount of moonlight that filters through the tops of the trees am I able to see a cardinal land just a few feet above me. It flaps its wings for a moment, getting comfortable on the tree branch closest to me.

I blink a few times, wondering if I’m just seeing things. I think I hit my head pretty hard, so maybe it’s the injury making me hallucinate.

Do birds typically get this close?

I stare at it for a moment before focusing back on the steep hill in front of me. I’m disoriented and probably a little delirious, but for some reason, the company of the cardinal soothes me. I take one deep breath and decide it’s time to start climbing.

My boots slip almost immediately, but I’m able to grab onto the thick base of a bush, keeping me from sliding down the ground and having to start over.

“I can do hard things,” I chant to myself over and over as I grab onto different things to keep myself from slipping. Every time I fall, the wet snow seeps through my jeans and makes me even colder, but I don’t give up. I keep going, despite the protests of my aching muscles and throbbing head.

The bird, which I’m positive might just be a figment of my imagination, stays with me the entire time. It lands on tree branches and bushes, keeping me company as I give it my all to climb the intense slope of the ditch.

Climbing up the final feet of the icy, steep incline of the ditch takes me a couple of tries, but I manage to finally get my footing enough to hoist myself onto level ground.

I fall to my knees as I let out a cry of relief.

I did it. I’m one step closer to finding help…to getting back to Dean.

My chest heaves up and down from the exertion of climbing up the ditch. I allow myself a few moments to gather myself as I look around. I can barely make out the road because of how dark it is, but my fears from earlier were correct. You’d never know I spun out and ran off the road. It’s calm and peaceful right now, giving no indication of the accident that happened below. The moon tries to peek through the thickness of the trees, but it only provides the smallest amount of light.

It’s completely silent. The only thing filling the quiet is the sound of my labored breaths and the beating wings of the cardinal as it lands on the road right in front of me.

“I’ve got to be imagining you,” I whisper. The bright red of the bird sticks out against the white snow. The scene in front of me is almost void of all color. There’s the darkness of the sky and the night around me and the bright white of the snow. The cardinal is the only color, probably just a figment of my imagination to get me through the situation I’m currently in.

It seems like forever that there’s nothing but darkness. Not a single car drives by as my body gets more numb from the cold with each passing second. I’m about to give up hope when I finally catch a glimpse of headlights in the distance.

Hope blossoms deep in my chest as I hastily push myself from the ground and wait for the car to get closer. The bird flaps its wings next to me but doesn’t take flight. I stare ahead at the car, praying it will see me waiting on the side of the road. Hoping it’ll stop and give me aid. I stand far enough from the road to avoid getting hit but still try to keep myself visible for them to see me and slow down to help.

Luckily, the car goes slow enough down the icy, snowy road that they’re about to spot me. I let out a deep sigh of relief when they do come to a stop. An older man with wire glasses steps out of the large SUV.

“Are you okay?” the man asks, his tone full of worry.

I look to where the bird just was, finding it gone. Maybe it really was something I just imagined so I didn’t feel alone.

I press my fingers to my forehead. Through the struggle of trying to climb up the steep embankment and waiting for a car to come by, I’d forgotten about the cut on my forehead. At this point, everything hurts so bad I’d drowned out the pain from the specific spot. “I think,” I answer.

“Should I call the police? Do you need an ambulance?”

“Would it take long for them to get out here?” I ask. I have no idea where I’m even at. There’s a chance I could’ve taken a wrong turn, although I thought I’d been going in the right direction before the accident. Things are a little too fuzzy to tell.

The man mulls over my question for a minute. I try not to get nervous about being alone with him. I’ve never been trusting of men because of my father and the men he’d bring around, but I’m not left with a lot of options. The deep crease of worry across the man’s forehead gives me hope that he’s someone I don’t have to be afraid of. “The weather’s bad. We might be out in the cold for a while waiting. Where were you headed?” He looks over my shoulder, where you can see the dim light of my lone shining headlight down below.

“Sutten Mountain.” I wobble on my feet a little.

He quickly reaches out to steady me. “I think you need a hospital. That cut looks deep.”

I can’t keep my body from shaking as I stare at the man in front of me. My brain is telling me not to get into a car with him. I have no idea who he is, and my injuries from the accident make me vulnerable.

But I have to get to Dean. I don’t want to put him through the torture of thinking something happened to me one second longer than he needs to.

I could deny this man’s help and wait the hour it would probably take for police to show up, or I could trust that this stranger has good intentions. If Sutten’s taught me anything, it’s that strangers can be kind. Not every man is like my father. Not every stranger is like the people he’d let hang around our house.

I let out a shaky breath. “I might need the hospital. But I need my boyfriend to know I’m okay.” The word boyfriend slips out effortlessly.

I don’t have time to overthink it. It’s cold, and I just need to get inside.

“Who’s your boyfriend?” he asks, his voice gentle.

I look over his shoulder for a moment when a flash of red catches my attention. It’s the bird. It hadn’t left. It’s been here the whole time. My mind tricks me into thinking maybe it was just waiting to make sure I was going to be okay, that I was going to get help.

“Miss? Let’s get you to the hospital. Tell me who your boyfriend is, and maybe I can find a way to contact him.”

I watch the red bird fly away, thankful to have not been alone while I waited for this stranger to help me. I meet his eyes. “Dean. Dean Livingston.”

He sucks in a deep breath. “I know the Livingstons well. Once we get closer to town, I’ll have service, and I can tell them I’m taking you to the hospital. We’ll get the word to him, I promise.”

My teeth chatter, but my body relaxes slightly. “Thank you,” I manage to get out.

“Let me help you.” He wraps my arm around his neck and helps keep me upright as he walks me to his car.

It feels like heaven the moment he opens the passenger door and hot air hits me. The warmth feels amazing against my cheeks. I know this isn’t the best idea I’ve ever had, but I don’t have a lot of options.

This man seems nice. He wears nerdy, wire-rimmed glasses and looks old enough to be my grandfather. That has to mean he’s nice, right? He seems to be telling the truth about knowing Dean’s family. I don’t have a lot of options but to trust him.

He presses his fingers to my head. “We need to get you to the hospital. I’ll see if they can meet you there.”

I shake my head. I don’t know Dean’s number. I don’t want to go anywhere without going home first to tell him I’m okay. After that, he can take me wherever I need to go if I need a doctor. “No. I need to get home first to show Dean I’m okay. Will you take me there?

The man lets out a long sigh. “I’d feel much better if you got checked out first. You’re unsteady on your feet, and that gash has to need stitches. I’ll call Marshall to tell him where you are. He’ll tell his son.”

I shake my head again. I really wish I knew Dean’s number, but I don’t. “If you could just take me home.”

He doesn’t say anything else before he gently shuts the door. I try to stay awake to make sure he takes me to Dean’s and not to the hospital, but it’s hard. The darkness of sleep keeps pulling me under, despite how hard I fight it. As I drift off, all I can think about is Dean. I hope he isn’t home yet. I hope he hasn’t been worrying. I feel terrible. I should’ve listened and let him drive me to pick up the gifts. I didn’t know it’d snow, but I still can’t help but feel guilty.

Thoughts of Dean swarm my brain, but I’m pulled too completely into unconsciousness to be able to repeat that to the stranger.