Breathe in, breathe in, breath in ouchouchouch exhale. Crap.

I wonder briefly what might have happened if I had waited for just two more minutes. Silmar had asked me to stay for dinner, I could have- I wasn’t in that much of a hurry. It was only a four hour drive from Nashville, and it was only six in the Sunday evening.

Silmar was my sort-of girlfriend, twenty years old and open to suggestion when it came to others, but (apparently) I was just a hair ahead in the interest scale, and I liked her. So we played the game. She’d play hard to get or try to make me jealous, and I’d ignore her, then she’d call me and I’d drive to Nashville for the weekend, watch movies, get almost-serious, go to a club and dance around the issue like Hot-Potato-Twister. Never did get quite down to talking about it directly anymore- those conversations inevitably ended awkwardly- but we’d make it clear enough where we were without saying a word. That’s just the way it was those days.

I was trying not to breathe, not to move for fear that the tree stuck through my chest might- damn it. I gasped gently and a fresh spurt of blood painted the trunk dark red. I shouldn’t have even gone this weekend, hell, I shouldn’t have left Nashville in the first place. The job I had had there was perfect and hell at the same time- I hated it, but it paid seventeen bucks an hour for anywhere from five to ten hours a day, however much I wanted to work. The Ad Palace, tailor-making advertisements for local businesses too dumb or cheap to get a real company to do it, resulting in low-quality commercials on TV with a “qualified” (living) actor telling the audience how his diarrhea was gone thanks to ExMerd in a voice so quiet the viewers either strained to hear it or didn’t bother at all- better, didn’t have to turn down the TV between episodes of The Price Would’ve Been Right If Granny Had Survived Walking Onstage. My boss was a complete idiot, raving about his Palace like he’d just put out the latest blockbuster in commercials. We did prints too, or what passed for them. One time he tried to get me to convince Silmar to pose nude for a fad dieting ad, waving his personal 2MP PhotoCannonBallShootScribe X2359L3. I told him she was out of town, and had a good laugh out of it over drinks with Silmar. That naturally led to her making crude and self-deprecating jokes, I told her not to be ridiculous and she was gorgeous, and of course she said to prove it. A wink, a matching pair of grins, and back at my apartment I would.

Cold and clammy, I was in shock and sweating pebbles into the growing stream of blood flowing downhill of me. How long would it take for someone to notice- I couldn’t shout because movement of any kind sent blood spouting from my body cavity (literally!)- and my car was only partially off the road. My head was bleeding too, somewhere. Either that or it was raining on and east of my forehead. Someone ought to notice the destroyed bumper in the emergency lane, the car facing the wrong direction on the I-40 West. That was something she was good at, being observant. Noticed things that most people didn’t think twice about and remembered them, mostly, and made accurate conclusions from them. Might have had something to do with her eyes, a scary shade of deep clear blue, the left one with seven gray streaks as radii. One time I came into her apartment and she asked if I’d had onions on my sub, and if so to please go clean up before we go. I looked at her oddly, and she pointed out the blue tag sticking out of my coat pocket- number 67- and told me that Pub99 had just been rated lowest in the area for cleanliness. I smirked and told her that in that case, I’d have to start spitting in my food to match the taste. She made a face and I went to wash up. I swear sometimes I thought she was stalking me.

My phone rang a yard away from my outstretched hand, and at the thought that she was calling to ask why I hadn’t worn my seatbelt, I laughed suddenly, harshly, and the tree gave way- I may have experienced some discomfort. The bright lights weren’t an ambulance.