“Shit!!” She yelled, and a split second later glass exploded around him, and metal screeched. His head was slammed into the headrest, then his whole body was crushed into the dash and pinned there as the car accordianed into the bus.
He must have blacked out, because the next thing he knew, he was smelling smoke, and looking at her dead eyes staring back at him from the drivers seat. He was dimly aware of the activity around him, the sounds of pain and fear and rescue.
He couldn’t breathe. Something warm and sticky was running into his eyes. He was fading, and in his mind, he saw his five-year-old daughter’s face. She was waiting for him in Cleveland. He had been hitchiking there to see her for her birthday when he met the crazy now-dead bitch next to him.
He knew to see her he had to stay awake. He knew if he blacked out again, he wouldn’t come back. And he had to see her. He couldn’t let her down. Not again.
‘Stay awake, stay awake,” he repeated it in his head, like a mantra.
‘Stay awake, stay-”