Fallen Memories: Book Two

Fallen Memories - [3]

Fallen Memories - 3 

    “What do you want to know?” Colton asked.I stared at him incredulously. What did he think I wanted to know?

    “Everything,” I said. “Start from the beginning and don’t skip anything.” Colton started from the beginning, and by the slow, hesitant tone of his voice, I knew he didn’t skip a thing.

    “We left the party when a bunch of drunk frat boys decided to crash. At that point, I decided things were unsafe, so I got you out of there. In the car, we laughed and realized what was really going on. From there...there isn’t much to say. I went around a curve too fast and didn’t see the tree. I was killed instantly.” I winced, studying his face closely.

    If talking about this was hard for him, he didn’t show it.

    “What did you see?” I whispered.

    “A haze. I think I might’ve experienced some form of astral projection before my heart actually stopped. Then, I was looking up at the sky again, back in my own body.”

    “The sky?” I repeated.

    He nodded solemnly. “No seat belt. I was ejected. Head trauma, I think, was the initial cause of my death. Anyway, after I was looking back up at the sky, everything became blurry around the edges. It was then that I saw my own bloody, battered body sprawled across the roof of the car.”

    “Colton,” I gasped, my voice a timid whisper. How could he remember all of this so vividly?

    He smiled a humorless smile, a smile that lacked sanity. “You wanna know what the best part is? My body wasn’t there when the paramedics arrived.”

    I was beginning to regret this conversation with Colton, but I kept quiet. Though the details were grotesque, I could finally visualize what Colton had gone through. And curiosity overrode revulsion by a long shot.

    “I don’t think I understand,” I admitted.

    “How else do you think I’m standing here now, talking to you?” Still smiling that crazy smile, he gestured down toward his body, emphasising the point that his body was here not underground. “Daven was able to patch me up a bit before we went before the archangels.”

    “How bad was it?”

    “Bad.”

    “And me? I was in the car.”

    He nodded. “The paramedics affirmed that you had been untouched. Granted, you were wearing your seatbelt, but whoever tested fate screwed up. Luckily, they only got through to me.”

    “Don’t say that. You dying is not a good thing,” I said. His smile fell.

    “I didn’t think so at the time. But, now I’m starting to wonder. You shouldn’t be in this mess, and unfortunately, you are. That’s a burden I can and will carry, until you’re safe.”

    “I’m not safe?” My voice wavered. Superstitiously, I cast a glance over my shoulder at the window.  

    He sighed, running a hand through his hair. “If you want me to be honest with you, Ivy, I really don’t think you are.”

    “That’s where you come in,” I said. I wanted him to know that I trusted him. I wanted him to know he could be open and honest with me; it was time to stop hiding things from one another. I felt that this conversation itself was a portal. A portal into this new world that belonged to Colton, and soon I felt, would belong to me.