WHAT is that noise? Screaming…right. Why is someone screaming and who is it? Katie can’t seem to make her eyes open. She tries to raise her arms to feel her face. Her shoulders hurt when she tries to move – a strange pain. The right arm and shoulder ache with a force that she didn’t know was possible. The left arm is curiously pain free, yet she can’t seem to make it touch her face. The left shoulder is the source of the strange pain. It’s like nothing she’s ever felt before. She doesn’t smell smoke, yet she would swear that shoulder was on fire. It burns, aches and strangely enough, it feels like it is draining. This is the strangest sensation she’s ever experienced. Okay, if you won’t cooperate, I’ll just be a righty today. Katie lifts her right hand to her face. Why is my face wet and sticky? Katie continues to feel around her face with the cooperating hand. She is terrified to discover that her eyes are open, yet she is still blind. What’s happening here? I can’t really be blind; something else has to be going on. Katie turns her head toward the left, the pain is excruciating. As she turns her head to the right, she realizes that there is a small light off in the distance. Okay, I’m not blind. I’m just somewhere dark as coal. The pain in her legs is getting better, but her head and back are still too intense. She wiggles a little to try to relieve the pressure – something feels like it tore! Dear God, what has happened to me?! Please save me. Katie can’t fight the wave of dizziness and exhaustion that is threatening to drown her. She knows she losing the battle again, but still tries to fight her hardest. As she lapses back into unconsciousness, she wonders – how do I get this person to stop their screaming? It’s really quite annoying.
Why do I have to keep waking up to this bone-chilling screaming?! Why won’t this person stop this? Don’t they know that they aren’t the only one who is injured and scared? STOP SCREAMING!!!! Katie’s eyes pop open. She realizes that her whole body is shaking. Not like someone would shake you out of anger, just a total body humming. It’s almost as if she were a gelatin mold in a room full of running children. She is suddenly aware of the clanking of her teeth. That’s me, it’s my teeth chattering that’s rattling my whole body. I’m freezing, it’s so terribly cold. I wonder if my mom would bring me a blanket? Katie tries to call out for her mother to bring her a blanket, when she realizes she’s not home. Right. Still don’t know where I am. Going to have to figure that out. I’m so cold and sticky though – maybe my mom will know where I am. The pain in her legs seems to be gone. Her left shoulder is still raging on with the invisible fire. She still can’t make out where she is, but it’s not quite as pitch black as it was. There seems to be a bar, or something, quite near to my face. It also looks like a web-like pattern just beyond the bar. WHERE am I?! Katie begins to try to remember what she was doing before she woke up the first time, with the terrible pain in her legs. She remembers that she had left the house. Her mother and she were fighting about Tommy. Tommy, that’s right! I was out with Tommy earlier. I wonder where he is? How could he have left me somewhere, alone, and hurt? Her mother hadn’t wanted her to go out tonight. She had mentioned something about a terrible snow storm that was approaching. But it was the biggest party of the year – NO WAY were they going to miss it. So she’d ran out the front door straight to Tommy’s car; her mother right on her heels. I barely got the door shut before Tommy was speeding down my street. She saw her mother standing in the middle of the street, screaming after her, in Tommy’s side mirror. I’m so tired. I really am freezing, and I’m so weak. I think I’ll rest for a bit. As she closes her eyes she realizes that she still hasn’t figured out where Tommy is or who is screaming.
“Katie, GET UP! KATIE! KATIE! You have to get yourself out of that car – you’re dying!”
But mother – it’s too cold, I’m scared, I’m alone. I’ve lost Tommy, I think he left me here. Wait, mother, what car?! Katie wakes from her dream with a terrible truth in her ears. I have been in a car accident. I’ve been in a CAR ACCIDENT!! Dear God, please save me. Katie tries to see where Tommy could be; he was driving. She tries to call out for Tommy, but she can’t hear her own voice over the screaming. She wishes whoever that was would shut the hell up so that she could find her Tommy. A terrible thought comes to her, what if that is Tommy? She turns her head back to the left, fighting the urge to pass out from the pain. She can make out a dark figure, with no detail, next to her. It is still too dark to see Tommy clearly. The pain is too great, it begins to eat away at Katie’s consciousness. Mother, I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you. I wish I had stayed home. Mother, help me.
The party had broken up early due to the changing weather. It was about eleven o’clock when Katie and Tommy had left Susan’s house. Most of the school had been there, the party even had a band. It was just some local guys from the class before, but still – they were good. The party had been everything Katie had dreamed of and more. After three years of dating, Katie and Tommy had finally gone all the way. They used Susan’s brothers’ room, a waterbed even. It was a night she would remember for the rest of her life. Perfect, it was perfect. Katie opened her eyes. Now she remembered everything. Katie and Tommy had been the last people to leave. They had been otherwise involved when the party broke up. Susan didn’t realize they were still there, until Katie and Tommy scared her half to death while she was making a snack. Susan had tried to convince them to stay, the weather was really bad. But Katie wanted to get home, she was in enough trouble already. On the way down the hill from Susan’s house, Tommy had lost control of the car. We didn’t have an accident then, she thought, we even talked about going back up to Susan’s. But the roads were so bad, Susan lived at the top of a wicked hill in the middle of nowhere. Tommy didn’t think the car would make it back up the hill. The roads weren’t plowed; we tried to go slowly – Katie remembered covering her eyes as the car started to slide again. Katie remembered heading toward the guardrail at a speed that was unnatural for how slowly they’d been driving. I guess momentum does work, Katie thought. The car had hit the rail at an unimaginable force, causing enough noise on the desolate road to wake the dead. Mother, I’m sorry I went out tonight! I hope I get to see you again. The pain and panic are too much for Katie, she passes out again.
“KATIE, KATIE! Where are you?! KATIE, WHERE ARE YOU?!”
Mother, here I am – I’m in a ditch, or maybe I’ve gone down the side of that hill. But mother, I don’t know if Tommy is okay, I’m hurt! Please, help me! Mother? Katie opens her eyes to find that she is still alone, mostly anyway, and that she’s been dreaming again. I have to tell Tommy to stop screaming. I have to try to calm him. Katie tries to tell Tommy that everything will be okay, but she still can’t hear her voice over the screaming. If I can’t make the screaming stop, I’ll just have to get myself loose so I can help him. First let’s see what’s going on with this traitorous left arm. Katie lifts her right hand, ignoring the pain, to try to pry loose her obviously pinned left arm. She can’t seem to find it. It’s not where it should be. Katie begins to go to pieces. Where’s my arm? Katie flails wildly with her right arm in search of her left. Nothing. Nothing. Where’s my arm?! Katie looks around the car, half crazed with dread. She sees, from the corner of her eye, that Tommy’s figure is better lit than before. Slowly, she turns her head toward her first love. TOMMY?! TOMMY, NO!!!!! Tommy is there, but he’s covered in blood, his eyes are open in an expression that is too terrified to look at. She tries to shut her eyes quickly enough, but it’s too late. She sees that his head is bent in a direction that it was never meant to achieve. She’s far too late to hide the memory of the reason that his head is still where it should have been. It’s been skewered to the headrest on the left side by a tree limb that had been trust through the windshield. Katie is shaking and crying with grief. Tommy, oh Tommy. Tonight was supposed to be the first night of the rest of our lives. Katie can’t take the pain, she feels herself slipping away again. Momma, I’m here, right here. Please help me! Momma, help me. Tommy’s dead Momma! Please, help me. I don’t want to die here alone. Momma, please.
She wakes up to a new noise. The screaming is still there, but behind that is a loud humming. A grinding and pulling that seems to be shaking her to the core.
“Miss, you’re going to be okay. We’re here, Miss. We’re working to get you out of there.”
Katie threw open her eyes. A blinding light was directed at the car. She couldn’t stop herself before she turned toward Tommy again. A new wave of sadness hit her with the full, lighted, view of her first love. Tommy, oh Tommy. I loved you so. I’m so sorry I wanted to leave Susan’s. Tommy, I love you. Katie looked towards the men working to free her. A strange shape on her lap caught her attention. Oh my God! Tommy’s arm is in my lap. Oh Tommy. Katie lifts her arms to remove this piece of her lost love. The right arm protests, but still works. The left arm is still a treacherous thing, and won’t work. Wait, there’s light now. Let’s see what this scoundrel is doing with itself. Nothing in Katie’s life to this point could have prepared her for what she saw. Her shoulder was mangled. There was a long, partially dried, blood stain that ran down her body – where her arm should have been. The arm in her lap was hers. Katie is dumbfounded. I’ve lost my arm. I’ve lost my arm, dear God. Katie is staring at the severed arm in her lap, when she notices something else amiss. Her legs are squished. The dash of the old Nova is flattened, and has squished her legs. The pain is gone, because my legs are gone! Oh dear God. Mother, help me! Katie tries to scream. Her throat is so dry, no sound escapes. She looks, panic stricken, at the man nearest her window. She whispers, “Help me”.
“We’re trying to get you out of there darling. We’ll have you out in no time. Now that you’ve stopped screaming, tell me your name honey.”
Katie is amazed. She’s been the one screaming this whole time. Katie swallows hard, “Katie Mae sir, John and Jennie Withers’ girl.”
The man is awestruck. “Jennie Withers called us, crazed. Screaming that she just knew her daughter was in trouble out here on this lonely road – we thought she was nuts. But she wouldn’t stop calling, so we took a drive out.” Katie is fading fast. She can hardly keep her eyes open. “Honey, you stay with me now. Your momma is just getting here, you stay with us.”
Katie hears her mother’s screams as she’s running toward the car. “Momma, I’m so sorry! Momma, I love you! Momma, look at Tommy! Momma, I’m sorry!” Katie just can’t say anymore. She’s far too tired and weak. Her mother reaches into the mangled car to stroke her beloved daughter’s face.
“Katie Mae, don’t you worry now. It’s all going to be okay. We loved you from the day you were born, and we’ll love you long after this. I heard you baby, I heard you call. I love you. It’s all okay now, be still.” Jennie can’t hold back the tears as she looks upon her dying daughter.
Katie musters all her strength to say her last words, “Momma, I love you. Thanks for coming to find me. I wanted to see you just once more to say I’m sorry. I love you Momma.” Katie Mae closes her eyes, and dreams of home.
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