Arise

Rosetta

“You threw a football at her face?” I said with amusement in my voice.

“It was an accident!” Valerie screamed over the car’s Bluetooth speaker.

I chuckled and turned my blinker on. “Let me get this straight: you saw a girl twirl her hair while talking to your fiance, so the appropriate reaction was to take a football and sock her in the face?”

“Well, when you put it like that...” her voice faded out.

“It sounds like you took a walk down crazy town since I last saw you, Val,” I bemused. Snow pelting my windshield quickly disappeared once I increased the speed of the wipers.

Following the end of my fall semester in college, I decided to take trip and visit my old friend Valerie. We had met in high school but had parted ways when she got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Caleb Meyers. She now lived in Pennsylvania; six hours away from me.

“Well, maybe you should have visited me after I moved. I mean c’mon Rosie, it’s been years since we’ve seen each other! You decide to visit me now?” She screamed over the phone.

“It’s your bridal shower! I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” I switched to the right lane and took the next exit. I stopped at the light and pumped the breaks of my car as Valerie continued to scold me. The roads were covered with slushy snow, making it unsafe to drive. It was a bad idea to drive, but flight tickets were too expensive for this time of the year. If I continued to talk to Valerie, my mind would be too distracted to drive properly.

“Listen: love to stay and chat, but the roads are pretty bad right now. I’ll call you when we’re a half hour away.” I gripped the steering wheel tighter and sent a small prayer to the Man upstairs hoping He would protect me and my sister Dylan.

The phone disconnected, reconnecting to the media and blasting One Direction through the speakers. Clearly, nothing has changed since high school.

My head bopped to the music and my fingers tapped the wheel. “You hungry, Dyl?” I briefly glanced at my sister before lighting tapping the gas when the green light appeared. The roads were getting worse and it seemed like a good idea to stop somewhere. Anywhere, really. There were fast food restaurants on both sides of the road and a gas station up ahead. The tank needed to be filled up one more time before we arrived.

“You’ve finally noticed,” she exclaimed while raising her hands. “There’s a McDonald’s in point three miles.”

After ordering food through the drive-thru, I parked in the lot, and we began eating. In that time, Dylan and I talked about school and how her senior year has been. Dylan was four years younger than me, turning eighteen next month. She and her friends had planned a giant Christmas trip to Punta Cana, but when I asked if she wanted to join me, she quickly canceled her trip. I hid my knowing smirk.

I cleared my throat and sipped my Pepsi. “Are you excited to see Jordan.” She flinched at the sound of his name.

She rolled her eyes. “Jordan and I are just friends.”

“Just friends?” I raised my eyebrows. “You turned down a trip to the Dominican Republic to see just a friend?”

She shrugged.

I narrowed my eyes. “Right before they moved, he planted a big one on you as if he was never going to see you again.”

“I don’t know if I want that anymore.” She paused for a moment and then said, “that was four years ago. I’m not ready for another relationship.” I nodded in understanding. Two months ago, Dylan broke up with her boyfriend of six months. Though the relationship was short-lived, it got too serious too fast. Luckily, they ended things on a rather good note, but it left her brokenhearted. I crumpled up my sandwich wrapper and combined it with hers before throwing it in the McDonald’s paper bag.

“Whatever happens. I’m here to help.” Dylan was my little sister, and I would always look out for her. The rest of the drive was filled with silence, verbal games, music, then more silence when Dylan fell asleep. Six hours was too long of a drive to endure, especially in the snow.

With just fifteen minutes left of driving, I called Valerie again only for someone else to pick up. “Valerie is currently making out with her fiance. How may I help you?” It was Jordan.

I heard Valerie squeal in the background then her voice spoke over her brother’s laugh. “Sorry, that was my stupid brother.”

I shook my head. “Were you making out with Caleb in front of your own brother? Valerie Marshall have you no shame?”

I could practically hear her roll her eyes. “Oh, relax. Where are you?”

“We shall be there in fifteen min—” To fast to tell, an animal ran across the road. I gasped and sharply turned the wheel. The tires hit ice and I immediately lost control. The car hit a guardrail and teetered off the road. I braced for impact as Dylan screamed and I blacked out.

“Rosie. Rosie...Rosetta, wake up!” I opened my eyes and tried to move, but I couldn’t; the seat belt held me in place.

I groaned. “Dylan?” My eyes widened when I realized the position we were in. The car was on its side in the middle of the forest. The snow was coming down harder making it impossible to see. Dylan was sitting on outside of the car slowly panicking.

“Dyl, help me get out of the car!” She continued to cry but did as I asked. I shifted and winced in pain as I clicked the seat belt off me. The only way out was through the sunroof.

“Dylan! Is the sunroof window shattered?” It started to feel as if the car was getting smaller. I could feel the weight of the car. There was adrenaline pumping in me, but I knew that the pain would kick in soon and so would the panic. If I kept calm and controlled my breathing, everything would be fine.

She took a moment and then responded. “Yes.” Tears ran down her red cheeks that colored from the cold.

“Okay, I’m going to pry open the shade and climb out. Can you help me?” I felt warm blood slide down my forehead. I couldn’t afford to go into shock and had to act quickly. With all my strength, I pulled the sunroof cover open. I moved my head forward in time for glass shards to fall through. I couldn’t feel any pain. I had to get our quickly.

Breathing hard, I pushed myself through the sunroof, while Dylan pulled me up. The cold wind rushed into me, making me falter. I fell forward and planted my hands on the ground. I closed my eyes as my fingers sunk into the bed of snow. One breath. Two.

We were okay.

I rose up to search for my phone. I found it off to the side, along with Dylan’s phone wrapped in her headphones. I wiped the snowflakes off the screen and unlocked it. Ten missed calls from Valerie. I called her back.

“Rosetta? Are you okay? What happened?” The worry was clear in her voice.

“We’re fine. Cold, but we’re alright. I saw an animal and swerved. The car spun out into a forest.” I said with a sigh, rubbing my temples. The car wasn’t completely damaged, and we were okay.

“I am coming to get you. Where are you?”

“I have no idea.” I looked around for any signs but couldn’t find anything. The blizzard was making even harder to see. My eyes started to water from the cold.

“Rosie, look at the trees! See if there are any numbers or clothes.”

“What the hell, Valerie. We are in the middle of no—”

Dylan’s voice interrupted me. “I found a backpack behind this tree!”

“What did Dylan say?” Valerie asked over the phone.

“She found a backpack behind the tree. What does this have to do with—” If I get interrupted one more time...

“Caleb’s team has prepared for moments like these. They set backpacks around the forest just in case someone gets lost. Dylan, on the bottom of the backpack there should be a white tag with the location. Read it!”

Dylan nodded and with shivering fingers, unrolled the tag at the bottom. “Division B, sector 3. What the hell does that mean?” I rubbed my fingers together, hoping the friction would bring some form of heat.

Valerie laughed. “It means that you are thankfully nearby. Caleb and I are almost there. There are blankets in the backpack. Hang tight.” With that, she hung up leaving us to the sound of the wind.

Dylan unzipped the backpack and pooled out a thick warm blanket. We sat against the tree with the blanket draped over us and tried to grasp each other’s warmth. Adrenaline had finally left my body, hitting me with a thick wave of pain. The cold made the pain too much to bear, and I welcomed the darkness to take over.

My ears perked, and my eyes twitched at the sound of voices above me. I heard two voices, male and female, talking to someone about my vitals and injuries. I willed my eyes to open, revealing a brightly lit white room. Once my eyes had fully adjusted, I turned my head with a wince. My neck had been stiff. I needed water, but how could I get their attention when I couldn’t move much. I slowly lifted my head, but it quickly dropped, causing a noise to bubble out of my throat.

Valerie came by my side and pressed a button on the remote beside me, and the mattress moved upright. “Hey, you’re awake.” She brought a glass of water to my lips and I happily drank it to quench my unending thirst. My eyes roamed around the room and took it all in. There was a TV hanging on the corner of the ceiling playing a random soap opera.

“Where am I? Where’s Dylan?” My voice was raw and quiet.

A voice on the other side of the hospital bed spoke. “Hi, I’m Dr. Hal. I’m just going to ask you a few questions while the nurse does a small check-up.” I nodded slowly, and she began.

“What is your full legal name?” She asked while a nurse checked my pulse and blood pressure.

“Rosetta Meredith Bay.”

“How old are you?”

“Twenty-two.” She moved to check my pulse.

“What season is it?”

“Winter.”

The nurse finished her check-up and left as Dr. Hal stepped forward. She put the stethoscope to my chest and back while I inhaled and exhaled. She nodded her head, then reached for the otoscope in her pocket and checked my eyes and ears.

“What’s the last thing you remember?”

I shook my head slightly, racking my brain. “I don’t know—we were driving down a road when...” My voice hitched, and I gasped as the memory of the accident resurfaced. “Is Dylan okay?”

Valerie hugged me tight from the side. “Your sister is fine; she woke up two hours ago. Jordan is keeping her company.”

I relaxed back against the hospital bed. “As long as she’s okay. I just have one question.”

Valerie raised her eyebrows for me to continue.

“Why the hell do you guys live in the middle of a forest?”