Storm

Chapter Two

It's pitch black. There's nothing that Maya can see. She doesn't even know if her eyes are open at this point. Only the black darkness, nothing else.

Noise and sound is the next sense that comes back. It's the sound of the car, she isn't sure what, but she can imagine the steam coming from the vehicle. Or she can feel the heat from the vapor.

That's the third sense. Feeling. At first it's the steam, then it's the glass surrounding her body. What comes next is excruciating.

The pain seems to come in waves and intervals. Her head is pounding, like punches to her brain. With every breath Maya takes, she heaves and then more pain follows.

She hears a soft cry escape someone's lips. Although, she doesn't think it's hers. She couldn't feel it come from her mouth. And it sounded somewhat farther away.

And then the thought hits her. Carina.

Maya tries her hardest to open her eyes, but it's like they are glued shut. It feels impossible. As if two weights were set on her eyelids. She can't do it.

Instead, she calls out. "Carina?" It comes out more breathier than she would like. Even the action of talking hurts her lungs. Or maybe it's her ribs? She isn't sure.

Carina's eyes pop open. The sight around her made bile rise to her throat. She swallowed it anyway.

Almost every window in the car is broken, glass shards are everywhere. She can feel a gash of blood fall down her cheek, originating at her forehead, presumably from the glass.

Both her and Maya's airbags were out, hot steam coming from all sides of the car.

Maya.

Turning to her wife, she can see that her eyes are closed as she leaned against the back of the car seat. She didn't seem to have any visible injuries, although her left leg was turned in an awkward position, along with the side of her arm that is covered in burns. They aren't too bad, but definitely noticeable.

In the distance, Carina can see the car that hit them. It all happened so fast, but the navy blue car was definitely what she saw.

And that's when she heard it. Maya saying her name.

Carina reached toward her buckle, trying to unlock herself so she could get closer to her wife. The action caused her to let out another whimper, this time from the pain that shot through her arm.

She can't see what her arm looks like because of the coat and it would hurt too much to try and take it off, so she left the injury up to her imagination.

Forcing herself to continue, wanting so badly to get closer to Maya's side, she quickly pressed the button, unlocking her seatbelt.

Slowly this time, Carina maneuvers the seatbelt around the arm that hurts, which is her left. Once that's done, she tries to get up, only for her stomach to revolt in the action, almost making her actually vomit this time.

The action brought tears to her eyes. The pain is so bad. She's never felt pain like this ever. It's excruciating.

Settling to just take Maya's hand, she has to twist her body toward hers, since her left arm is the closest to Maya's body. She needs her right hand to be the one to grab her wife's.

Once she manages to do that, she reaches out to take Maya's hand, giving it a light squeeze and she gets a small one in return. The way Carina's sitting is a little awkward, but it will have to do.

"Open your eyes bambina," Carina softly instructs, trying to keep the uneasiness and fear from showing up in her voice.

Maya's eyes flutter underneath her eyelids and it only takes a moment before they open. It's done in a way that's slow and with a good amount of blinks.