An Open Sky

Chapter Forty-Four ~Alexa~

I woke with a jolt from the peace of sleep that I’d never fully grasped. My head throbbed to match the pulse of my pounding heart.

                I stretched out, feeling my surroundings. I blinked, testing my eyes, but my vision remained dark. The rough fabric underneath me chaffed my arms as I shifted positions. I was in a car, a trunk actually. I could hear the gravel popping under the tires and clinking against the metal frame. The car was vibrating so violently if felt as if the stones were pelting my lungs instead of the metal frame of the car.

                Each breath I took was a gasp. I was sweating, barely able to squeeze my hand three inches above my face before meeting the cold, metal roof of the trunk. My heart threatened to explode out of my chest, drowning out any other noise with the panic rising within me.

                I couldn’t do anything. I knew oxygen was of the essence. I’d seen the movies; I knew how it would end. I needed to calm myself before I suffocated.

                I wondered how long it would be before the car came to a stop and I once again had to face Jay. I didn’t know why he’d taken me or what he had in mind; none of it made sense. He loves me.

                Unless Aidan was right. Unless Aidan wasn’t the crazy one. Unless Aidan…unless I loved him. That would mean my whole life lately was a lie.

                All of it.

                My fantasies were cut short by the pain rupturing through my sides as we hit each stone. The walls felt as if they were closing in on me; my lungs squeezing shut. The heat enveloped me like a cloud; I gasped, the heat filling my lungs. The burning shot through me. I couldn’t hold on. My heart pushed me to call out one last time, for someone, anyone…

                I became a prisoner to the darkness once again.