Chapter Three
Kirby was awakened by someone at her door. She grabbed her phone from the bedside table and looked at the time: one twenty-two.
“What the hell?” she grumbled.
She got up, put on her robe, then grabbed her cane to see who would be at her door this time of night. As she entered the great room, she could see a faint light shining through the window as she went to her front door. It looked like a car in the woods since there were two lights. Kirby opened her door to find a bloodied young woman.
“Oh my God, what happened to you?” Kirby said in a rush. She quickly put her arm around the young woman to hold her up.
“Car,” she said with pain in her voice, “accident.” She grabbed her side and moaned as she tried to walk with Kirby into the house, then slipped from Kirby’s grasp and collapsed onto the porch. Kirby propped the woman up against the outside wall next to the door.
Kneeling beside the woman, she asked, “Is there anyone else in the car?”
Struggling to speak through the pain, the woman answered, “My boyfriend.” She started to cry. “I think he’s dead.”
Kirby immediately stood up, reached inside her robe for her phone but it wasn’t there. Damn. “I want you to stay right here, don’t move. I’m going to go and call 911.” After grabbing her phone from her bedside table and contacting EMS, she stepped back outside, knelt, and told the woman an ambulance was on its way.
“Hang in there, okay? I’m going to the car, stay right there.”
The woman nodded.
As Kirby made her way down the driveway, she wondered why she hadn’t heard the car crash into the trees and how the woman had even made it to her cabin. She looked to be in pretty bad shape. Kirby saw the car was just inside the tree line, with its driver’s side pressed up against one of those trees. There was no way the driver would have survived that, but she had to check. Visions of her own fatal accident flashed through her mind, only hers was damaged on the passenger side because another vehicle had pushed it in. Kirby stopped to compose herself before she faced what she thought was the inevitable.
Hobbling through the grass with her cane in hand, Kirby could hear the sirens heading her way. When she reached the car, she didn’t even have to feel his neck for a pulse to see if the young man in the driver’s seat was still alive. She could tell just by looking at him that he had not survived. Now she just hoped that the young woman would survive. Her heart, still not healed from her own loss, was now hurting for the young woman sitting on her porch.
Kirby saw the sheriff’s vehicle pull into her drive and started over that way to talk with Sam. She was surprised that Sam had responded, but maybe it was the address that had prompted her. They met halfway.
“Sheriff,” Kirby said with a nod. When she saw Sam getting out of her car, she seemed frazzled at first.
“Hey, Kirby. Are you all right?”
“I’m fine, but I can’t say the same for the young man driving that car.”
“Anyone with him?” Samantha asked before Kirby could continue.
“A young woman is sitting on my front porch.”
Just then a deputy pulled up behind the sheriff’s vehicle. Sam stepped back and hollered “Thompson, check on the driver, we’ll be at the cabin. When the paramedics get here, send them on up.”
A fire truck and ambulance arrived within the next two minutes. The firefighters began pulling equipment from the compartments and taking it to the car. The paramedics took the stretcher and their equipment out and went up to the cabin to take care of the passenger.
†
It was going on three o’clock when the fire personnel and tow truck had pulled away, Deputy Thompson left right after that. The ambulance had left not long after arriving, taking the young woman to the hospital, and the coroner had come and gone forty minutes ago. Kirby and Sam sat at her kitchen table drinking coffee.
“That young woman was lucky,” Samantha said.
“Damn lucky.” Kirby shook her head. “He must’ve been speeding at a good clip to have gone all that way through the woods before hitting that tree.”
“I didn’t smell any alcohol, so he may have been under the influence of drugs or had a medical condition. Of course, that’s just speculation.”
Kirby looked at Samantha and knew what she had to be thinking. Quietly she said, “When I first saw the car, I thought of what happened last year.”
“Will you be okay?” Sam said, placing her hand on top of Kirby’s.
Kirby gave a sad smile. “I’ll be fine.” A tear fell from her eye onto the tabletop. “I just miss her so much,” she whispered.
Samantha said nothing. There was nothing to say. She’d already told Kirby she was sorry for her loss after the first time Kirby had told her about the accident.
“Well, I better get going so you can get back to sleep,” Sam said as she stood up and placed her cup in the sink.
Kirby did the same. “Yeah. Not sure how much more sleep I’ll get but I’m sure going to try.” She walked the sheriff to the back door. “Thanks for staying for coffee with me, Sam.”
“Anytime, Kirby.” She smiled and waved as she headed for her vehicle.
Kirby closed the door and leaned her back against it before going back to her bedroom. She sat down on the bed and picked up the small picture on the bedside table. “I miss you, baby.” She kissed the picture, set it back down, and ran her fingers over it. “I love you.” She lay down, and surprisingly fell right to sleep.
†
The screeching of tires alerted Kirby of the oncoming vehicle, but there was no time to act before it smashed into the passenger side, pushing her car up against a light pole. The impact was so bad that Reese was pushed into her. The only thing Kirby remembered about that horrific crash was feeling Reese’s lifeless body pressed up against hers and her beautiful face, marred, inches from her own. She tried desperately to touch her face, to touch the woman she loved, to get Reese to say she was all right.
Kirby cried out, “Please, baby, wake up. Open your eyes, honey, please.” She struggled but couldn’t move. They were trapped from the impact on both sides. The car looked like a soda can that someone had tried to squeeze. The backseat passenger, her brother Kenny, had also been pushed to the other side from the impact. Three bodies inside but only one still alive, so far. The only sound Kirby heard before she passed out was the crackling of the engine.
†
Kirby woke up drenched in sweat. She hadn’t woken during the nightmare this time. This time she had passed out in it. Her body ached as if she had been in the mangled car once again. The pain of seeing the love of her life, lifeless next to her, intensified the heartache she had lived with since the night of the accident. She felt paralyzed as if something were holding her down on the bed. Tears filled her eyes and slid down the sides of her face, through her hair, and onto her pillow. She lay there until her mind could gain control of her body again.
It took Kirby close to fifteen minutes before she was able to fully move and sit up. She was sitting on the bed and taking deep breaths, tears falling from her eyes. She knew it was the accident last night that had triggered the nightmare, and she knew it would most likely happen again. She had lost two people in the accident a year ago who were precious to her, her partner, Reese Redmond, and her only sibling, her brother, Kenny. It was an accident that should never have happened. The guy that flew through a red light and T-boned her car had been extremely drunk. He had also been killed in the accident. Although the death was very tragic, Kirby was glad he hadn’t survived. It just wouldn’t have been fair if he had survived such a horrific crash and her partner and brother had not. That was what Kirby thought and what she had told her family while she was recovering in the hospital. She felt it was justice served.
Kirby finally forced herself to move off the bed and start her day. What she really felt like doing was just going back to sleep. The nightmares always seemed to wear her body down, but she didn’t want those nightmares to rule her, or force her into a depression she was sure she wouldn’t survive. She wanted, no, needed to be in control of herself. She needed to survive everything thrown at her about that night because she knew that was what Reese would have wanted her to do. Reese would want her to continue living. So that is exactly what she was going to try and do.
After taking a shower and brushing her teeth, Kirby felt better, at least on the outside. Her heart still ached but that would never really end, and she knew that. She had to endure. She made a pot of coffee, some scrambled eggs, toast, and bacon and sat on her back porch to eat her breakfast. It was much later than when she usually ate but she also wasn’t usually up past midnight. Last night, or actually, early this morning she hadn’t gone back to sleep until just after three. But she still had six hours of sleep. While eating, she looked out across her small lake, watching the calmness of the water. Reese would have loved living here. She smiled sadly at that thought.
There were many times when Kirby and Reese would sit together on their couch, listening to soft music as background, and talking about their future. Reese had always wanted to leave the big city and move back to the country where it was quieter. She also wanted to enjoy the nature that would surround them. That in the back of her mind was probably why Kirby had chosen this place…she knew Reese would have loved it.
Crunching tires alerted Kirby to a visitor. She stood up, grabbed her cane, and peeked around to the side of the cabin. It was Sheriff Parker. She smiled; glad she’d let Sam into her life. Even though she sensed that Sam would like to be more than just friends, Kirby was glad that she hadn’t pushed anything further than just friendship.
“Morning, Sam.” Kirby took in the outfit of the sheriff. She looked like a female lumberjack in her flannel shirt, faded blue jeans, and hiking boots. A damn fine one, too.
“Good morning, Kirby. Did you get any sleep after I left?” Samantha walked up to the side of the porch, looking up at Kirby.
Kirby smiled. “Surprisingly, I fell asleep right away and got six hours of it. What about you?” Kirby waved her up onto the porch. She didn’t want to elaborate on the fact that even though she did get six hours of sleep, it was filled with the nightmare of her own accident from last year.
As she walked up the steps, Samantha said, “It took me about an hour, but I did get some. Not as much as you, but I can live off four hours of sleep.” She followed Kirby into the cabin.
Kirby took down a cup and poured some coffee for her friend. Handing it over, she asked, “So, have you heard anything about the young woman from the accident?”
“Yeah, she’s in critical condition in the ICU, but they believe she’ll make it through. In the ambulance she kept saying she was sorry.” She sighed. “It appears she and her boyfriend were having a fight when it happened.”
Kirby shook her head. “That’s a shame. No matter who’s to blame for the fight, she’s going to have to live with that the rest of her life.”
“Yeah.” Samantha finished her coffee and set her cup in the sink. “So, what’s on the agenda today? Still going to cut some wood?”
Kirby glanced at the clock on the wall, nine-twenty-three was what it displayed. “Yeah, I think I might get some cut today.”
“Good. Because I’m here to help.” Sam grinned.
Kirby grinned back. “Well good. I absolutely welcome the help and the good company.” When Samantha had offered in the beginning of their friendship, Kirby would always turn her down, saying she didn’t need any help. What she didn’t understand at first was that Sam wasn’t wanting to help because she didn’t think Kirby could do it, she wanted to help because she was trying to form a friendship with Kirby and wanted to help that friend. Kirby had also found that Sam enjoyed her company, and she enjoyed Sam’s.
The two women gathered the needed tools, loaded them into the hauler, and headed into the woods where Kirby had decided to clear some of the land. It was located on the side of the lake that was opposite from the old farmhouse where Sam’s cousin now lived. Originally, Kirby had thought about clearing the land on that side, but knowing a family with children were moving in, she didn’t want to make access to her lake any easier.
Kirby used the chain saw and Sam chopped the wood. She only cut three trees this time since she did have a good amount stacked beside her cabin. They worked like they had been doing this together for years. They didn’t converse much during the cutting and chopping process, wanting to save their breath for the task at hand, but once they stopped for a break, they’d talk about whatever came to mind.
Kirby had wanted to ask Sam about her cousin and her family. Not that she wanted to be neighborly, but since they were her neighbors, it wouldn’t hurt to know something about them. She’d also thought about allowing the children to fish in her lake, but only from the docks. She was sure that being in this small mountain village would be boring to a kid.
After filling up the trailer with the cut wood, they placed the equipment on the ATV and rode back to the cabin. Kirby had built a small shed with two sides and a roof against the side of the cabin to help keep her wood dry. Once there, they pulled some wood out of the shed to complete the stack next to the cabin. Then they piled the wood from the trailer into the shed. She had enough to last her most of the winter, depending on how the season went.
“I appreciate the help, Sam.” Kirby took off her gloves and tossed them onto the work bench she’d made in the shed.
Samantha gently squeezed her shoulder. “You know all you have to do is holler and I’ll be here.” She smiled.
“Yeah, I know.” Kirby grabbed her cane and they headed out of the shed. She never took her cane with her when she cut wood, which was one of the reasons why she was always sore afterward. She mainly used the cane to help keep the weight off her leg; it wasn’t something she needed to actually walk with.
Samantha pulled her gloves off and held them in her hand as they walked slowly back to the porch. “Are you okay?”
After limping up the three steps, Kirby turned and looked down at her friend. “I will be.” She smiled. “Do you need to leave right away? I can make some tea or something.”
Samantha looked at her watch and said, “I don’t and would love to have some tea.” She followed Kirby into the cabin.
†
The buzzing of a phone woke the two women. Sam watched as Kirby sat up, apparently embarrassed that she’d fallen asleep with her head on her lap. Sam reached into her shirt pocket and pulled out the annoying device. She was enjoying having Kirby’s head resting on her legs. Many times, she had wanted to brush her fingers through the soft blonde hair splayed across them, but knowing Kirby wasn’t ready for anything intimate, she held back.
“Hey, Charlie, what’s up?” She tried not to sound annoyed at the interruption of her time with her friend, but how was he to know where she was and what she was doing? She watched Kirby limp to the kitchen and waited to hear what was so important on her day off. She didn’t have actual days off, just days she didn’t go into the office, and often, left her radio there. She knew if there was anything urgent, she could always be reached by cell phone, like now.
“Hey, Sheriff. We have a major accident on the interstate just east of the city limit. Two semis and three cars involved. Junior drove up on it and from what he could tell by the damage, we may have multiple fatalities.” Junior was Burt Wilson, Jr., one of six paramedics employed by the small village’s EMS. “State patrol is here, and the fire department is on their way.”
Samantha sighed, figuring this was probably going to take all night. “Thanks, Charlie. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Oh, and did you already contact Freddie, just in case?” Freddie was Fred Moore, the coroner for their county.
“I’ll do that now.”
“Thanks.” Samantha stood up and stretched, not wanting to leave, but duty called.
“Something going on?” Kirby asked, washing the few dishes that were in the sink.
“Yeah. I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night.” She didn’t want to say where she was going and have Kirby thinking of her own accident again. She was glad when Kirby didn’t ask.
“Well, you be careful out there and thanks again for helping me today.” Kirby gave Sam a hug before the sheriff left.