Redneck Prince Charming

Rain pounded the windshield of the old Lumina nearly blinding Kathleen as she raced far too quickly through the tight mountain roads. She hoped that if she drove fast enough she could outrun the images that kept playing and replaying in her head.

She had come home early from a trip with her best friend Christy to surprise her husband but the surprise had been on her. She had found him in their bed with that brunette tramp… The woman he had sworn to her for years was nothing but a friend.

She could still remember how pathetic and embarrassed he'd looked as he had desperately tried to hide his nudity from her and begged her to let him explain.

Kathleen hadn't bothered to listen to him any longer than that. She had taken off her wedding band and thrown it onto the white sheets in between the two lovebirds, thrown some clothes into her suitcase and left with his pleas still ringing in her ears.

She wiped her tears from her eyes and tried to focus on the road. The fog and the dark of night was setting in and the road in front of her was barely visible. Suddenly something shot out in front of her..

A deer.

She swerved to avoid it but she was going too fast and she could feel the tires of the old car slip out from underneath her. She clung tight to the steering well as she slid helplessly off of the road. She could see the giant oak tree but could do nothing to avoid it. She felt an instant of blinding pain as the car crumpled against the old tree and then there was darkness.

888

Aaden was on his way home from a really bad day at work. If that sawmill didn't do something soon the whole place was bound to be shut down. All he wanted was to go home to his empty house, get a cold beer from his refrigerator and veg out on the couch until it was time to go back to that hell hole in the morning.

He cursed as the blue Lumina in front of him skidded once again on the wet road. Stupid woman driver he thought to himself. She was going way too fast and was going to end up getting herself killed.

"Oh shit." he said a loud as a deer ran in front of the Lumina and the driver swerved to avoid it. Her speeds were too high and the pavement was too wet and she was sent careening head first into a tree. He slammed the brakes of his old beat up truck, came to a stop and jumped out. He ran to the car becoming soaked before he ever reached it in the down pour of cold mountain rain.

Aaden opened the driver door and cursed when he saw the woman was unconscious and her face was covered with blood. He pulled his cell phone from his pocket but as usual in these damn mountains he had no signal. He wondered again why he even bothered paying for the damn phone as he stuffed it back in his pocket.

He would just have to take her to the hospital himself. He knew you weren't supposed to move someone who might have a neck injury but if he didn't get her out of the car and to the hospital she was going to die anyway. He unbuckled her seat belt and lifted her as gently as he could from the car.

She moaned in pain and then he was surprised when she wrapped both her arms tightly around his neck and buried her face in his chest. He carried her through the rain to his truck and laid her down in the seat. He took off his rain soaked coat and laid it under head to try to offer her some comfort. She moaned again but was still unconscious.

He climbed in the drivers seat and drove her as quickly as he could to the hospital. He pulled into the emergency drop off and pulled her from the truck. He carried her inside and underneath the harsh fluorescent lights saw that her cheek was badly cut and blood was covering both of them.

He quickly took her to the nurses station and was told to go wait in the waiting room. He couldn't explain the hole that seemed to suddenly appear in his chest as he watched them wheel her away down the long hall on that hospital bed.

Aaden didn't know how long he sat in the tiny waiting room before the nurse came out to speak with him.

"Sir, we have contacted her husband and he is on his way. I am not supposed to tell you any information on the patient since you are not a relative." she said. Aaden stood up and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

"Could you tell me whether or not she's ok?" he asked. The nurse smiled and nodded.

"Kathleen is going to be fine thanks to you." she said. "If you want to wait around until her husband gets here perhaps he will let you in to see her." She said. Aaden put his baseball cap back on his head and gave her a nod.

"Thank you for letting me know how she was ma'am. I better be getting home now." he said and left the hospital.