As I Fall Asleep- Joshua Bassett

Chapter 44

I immediately pull out my phone and look up Triple A's number, the google page doesn't load and I check my signal. I have only one bar, but after moving around a bit inside my car, I manage to find 2 bars, and the page loads.

"Thank you for calling Tripple A. If this is an emergency, please hang up and dial 911." the seconds tick by. "If you are calling about a lock out, press 1," more silence. "If you are calling about a breakdown, press 2."

I press 2 and put the phone on speaker so I can watch the bars on my phone and make sure I don't get out of range.

"Triple A, how may we help you?"

"Hi, I'm about 3o minutes North of Shaver Lake and my car broke down."

"Ok, we'll get your exact location from your phone, and we'll head over."

I try not to linger on the fact that he said he can use my phone to track me, and instead focus on the fact someone's coming to get me.

"However," the man continues, "we won't be able to come help until the storm ends, so you're looking at 7... maybe 8 hours."

I groan. "Seriously?"

"Sorry, miss, we can't get anywhere with the roads looking like this."

I run my hand down my face in frustration. "Ok, well just please come as soon as you can."

"Will do."

With that, I get out and brace myself against the wind and snow, stumbling to the trunk of the car. While the inside of my car is warmer than outside, it's not by much.

I open my trunk and get out the extra blanket and sweatshirt I packed, along with a hat I grabbed at the last second.

I get back to the front, my eyes watering from the harsh wind and snow. I sit down and pull out my phone, then dial Grace's number.

"Hey, what's up?" Grace yells over the loud music in the background.

"I'm stuck in the storm, but I'm close by," I tell her.

"What?!" she asks, clearly not able to hear me.

"I'm stu-"

The line cuts off and I look at my phone, worried I moved out of range. Instead, I see that while I was focusing on my service, I failed to see that my battery was low, and now my phone was dead.

I bang my head against my headrest once. Twice.

I had told my friends I was coming up tomorrow and coming up tonight was going to be a surprise, so they aren't expecting me. My parents think I'm already up with them because I told them I was close right before I pulled over to put the stupid chains on.

So basically, no one knows where I am. Great.

My shivering subsided with the extra layers, but it's starting to return the longer I sit still.

I drink some water out of my water bottle and look outside at the sheer amount of snow falling. I stare out the window and the empty night for hours, minutes, seconds, who knew? I certainly didn't, since my phone and car were both dead. I stare out the window and soon, the steady clicking of my hazard lights lulls me to sleep.

Tap Tap Tap

I groggily open my eyes and look for the source of the tapping that woke me up. There's a girl outside my window, bundled up in a winter coat and scarf, concealing the majority of her face.

I open my door, my muscles protesting in stiffness, due to the cold.

"Hey are you ok? I pulled over to put on my chains and your hazard lights have been on for a while," she says, her voice muffled by the scarf, but still clear enough for me to guess that she's young, maybe 20, 21?