Story Number Four

Camellia looks out the window of Chet’s truck. She loved the sight of the blue sky peeking out of the grey clouds on a winter’s day. It’s like the sky is reminding her that summer will arrive soon. It was snowing and the windshield looked like it was being attacked by damaged stuffed toys. She wondered how it could be partly cloudy and still snowing like it was. She almost felt like this was what it was like to be trapped in a snow globe. The blue sky was acting like the little air bubble trapped inside the globe. She could feel the heat from the sun melt her worries and sorrows away from her cold face. She momentarily forgot how much she hated her life and actually felt normal. She was happy. Camellia smiled the biggest smile and looked at Chet. She could smell the hotel shampoo that he used earlier that morning. She breathed it the scent deeply and gave a big sigh of relief. She felt safe with him. Camellia grabbed his hand and held it. The warmth of his body brought tears to her eyes. She knew what was happening and she couldn’t stop it and she didn’t want to. For the first time in months since she woke up in that mud puddle, she felt happy. She was truly happy and only tragic loss could come from that in her life. All of a sudden Chet jerked the wheel and they swerved of the road into an icy lake. The truck flipped over and started to flood with water. Camellia looked over at Chet and saw that he was unconscious. She screamed at him to wake up but he couldn’t hear her. The water was quickly coming in the vents. She unbuckled her seatbelt and smashed her passenger window and cold water came in. Each drop felt like little needles ramming into her skin. She swam out of the window and went to go up to get more air. Just as she was about to reach the surface, the seatbelt came out like a snake and coiled around her leg. She tried to get free and she could feel the air in her lungs dwindle away. She tried to swim up more, but the seatbelt just pulled her down farther. She put all her strength in trying to get some air and finally she got her head up to the surface just below her eyes. Her nose was still in the water and she started to gasp for air but all that she could breath in was water. She pulled her hand out of the water and she could feel the warmth beam down on her fingers as if it was shaking her hand to say goodbye. Camellia was about to slip into an eternity of darkness when she awoke only to be safe and sound in a cheap motel. She looks over at Chet and knew exactly why she had the dream. She was falling for Chet and she couldn’t let it happen. It would be the death of her and maybe even the death of him.