Waste

Prologue

Cold. Why am I so cold? Wasn't it sunny and 72 when we left the house? For late October that's considered beautiful weather in Steele, Illinois. So why am I so cold now?

As I open my eyes, I quickly realize something awful has happened. Oliver and I have been in an accident! What happened?!? My eyes quickly glance to the driver's seat where my fiance, Oliver Grange, is suspended, arms hanging limply at his sides. His black hair is bloody, plastered to his forehead. I can feel myself starting to breathe faster, too fast.

"Breathe Brogan..." I mutter softly. You can't help anyone if you're hyperventilating like a teenage fan girl. Quickly I do a once over on myself, wiggling my fingers and toes. There's a dull pain in my right arm and I can feel the caked blood on my face. I reach up to inspect my head, wincing as I touch a sore spot, my go here come away sticky. I glance over at Oli again and can faintly hear his shallow breaths.

"Oli, can you hear me?"

I reach over and touch his cheek, he's so cold. How long have we been here? I shake him more forcefully.

"Oliver, I need you to wake up."

He stirs now, mumbles incoherently. One arm reaches out for me. I take his hand in mine.

I repeat, "Can you hear me?"

Oliver opens his eyes...well...eye. The left is completely swollen shut, a result of the air bag deploying. "Wha...what happened?"

"We were in an accident, but I can't remember what happened." I squeeze his hand. "Are you okay? Still alive over there? You can't go anywhere yet, not until after the wedding anyway."

That got a smile and breathy laugh out of him. "Only you could joke about collecting an insurance policy on me when we've just been in an accident. Don't make me laugh, I think I have some broken ribs..." He puts a hand to his chest for dramatic effect.

"Better to laugh than cry!"

"True," he said, wincing. "Can you get out? I think my belt is jammed."

I reach down to undo my belt but freeze.  "Wait, do you hear that?"

He stills in his seat, holding his breathe, listening. "There's someone coming."

Within moments the headlights are shining into our shattered windows.  We hold our breath, waiting. Something isn't right though. There is a feeling I can't quite place. I'm not normally an anxious person, but I can feel the dread well up in my chest.

Oliver must notice the change in the air. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Something doesn't feel right...I...I don't know what it is." By now I'm frantically pulling at my belt, and not really getting anywhere. The cold has numbed my fingers to the point of uselessness.

Oliver looks around, searching for anything that could be of use getting our belts off.  "Bingo." He whispers, grabbing a decent sized piece of glass, courtesy of the sun roof. Immediately he attempts to saw through his belt, not caring about his poor fingers getting cut in the process.

Crunch crunch crunch.

We both freeze. Someone is outside the car, walking towards us. I immediately start twisting around, trying to see who was making their way towards us.

"I've been looking for you two."
The voice is spoken so low I really strained to hear it.
"One of you had better still be alive or there is going to be hell to pay."

Oli looked at me, taking a deep breath.

My eyes widened, realizing he was about to speak. 

"Hello, is anyone there?"

Silence.

"My fiance and I have been in an accident and we need help. Hello? We heard someone walking out there!"

I could tell Oliver was getting frustrated that this person was ignoring him. Anyone could easily tell there was an accident and that we most likely needed help.

"Where is he?" I asked, looking around. Where could he have gone? "Did you hear him leave, Oli?"

Oli didn't spare me a glance, but instead kept sawing at his belt. "We need to get out of here. You're were right about something being off."

Crunch.

I turn my head quickly to the right, and what I see chills me to the bone. My very breath is sucked from my lungs. I try to call out to Oli but nothing will come out, my mouth forming silent words.

There kneeling, peering through my cracked window is a man. Sunken black eyes, stringy greasy hair, hollow cheek bones, he looked inhuman in the moonlight...and that smile. It'll haunt me for the rest of my life.

Hey, it's Katie! Thank you for reading and feel free to let me know what you think!