Paranormal Romance Author Serena Pettus: 2014

Call Me Crazy

(Subject to Editing)

Copyright held by Serena Pettus

Have you ever heard something you couldn’t explain? I’m not talking about something as benign as scratching or perhaps a creaking board in the house at night. No, I’m talking about words, either spoken aloud or whispered through the air.

You see, at first I thought I might be going insane. It all started after a car accident. The twelve-car pile-up occurred this past winter when the roads iced over, making travel on the highways at high speeds incredibly dangerous. It was just too bad some drivers didn’t seem to understand that.

Being in the center of all of those cars meant that it took time to reach me … time I didn’t necessarily have.

The car next to me was facing the opposite direction, her driver’s side door pressed against my own. With our windows shattered, there was nothing between us, and with both of us being conscious, we were able to keep each other alert.

We both sustained serious injuries in the crash, and tried our damnedest to keep fighting until help arrived, talking about our lives and such. There was no question that we were on borrowed time, as we each had blood flowing freely from our heads.

It was obvious that the lady next to me, Ashley, was in far worse shape. She sat slumped in her seat, her head against the doorframe, one eye completely swollen shut. When she began coughing, which led to a massive nosebleed, I knew it wouldn’t be long.

“I need to confess something. Can you please get the message to my fiancé?”

Not having the heart to tell her that I’d likely never survive to do it, I decided to give her the peace of mind that she obviously needed, and agreed.

“I have no reason to be on this stretch of highway, and he’ll know that. I need him to know that I’m sorry. I want him to be happy.” She paused to catch her breath after another round of shallow coughs before continuing. “His name is Alexander Rushing. I planned to end things between us, because I just don’t return the feelings to the same extent as he does. You see, I’ve been seeing someone else, and I’m in love. Please tell him …” More coughing, this time there’s blood at the corner of her mouth. “Tell him I’m sorry, and to be happy. Find someone who’ll love him the way he deserves.” She finished on a whisper, and I swear I could actually see the life leave her eyes.

After that I was alone with nothing but my thoughts and her final confession running through my head. Man, I hurt. The odd thing was, it was beginning to become bearable. This should not be happening as I had a huge piece of glass protruding from my left side. That was bad enough, so I tried not to dwell on the amount of blood in my lap, or the fact that my body was going cold and numb. And didn’t it just figure that I’d see the paramedics just as my eyes decided to refuse to stay open?

I recall my own death—as if that’s not weird enough—and there was no bright light involved. Admittedly this freaked me out. I mean, I consider myself to be a good person and all, but there was just nothing. No choirs of angels, no hellfire and brimstone, just a shadowy place with no discernable dimensions.

It’s rather alarming to realize that there is no floor, ceiling or walls, just a thick gunmetal gray fog that you’re floating through. Even worse is when you start to feel something pushing you. Phantom hands that seemed to be shoving me away from them, herding me in some unknown direction, perhaps even toward some unseen precipice only to hurdle me over.

I kept hearing disembodied voices almost shouting in my head, urgent words telling me to “Go now”, “Go back”, “Not yet”. All I could think was, go where? It’s not like there was a door I could slip through.

The final shove I received was brutal, centered on my chest and punctuated with a hissed, “Go!”

I feel a physical impact, I guess it’s me returning to my body, but it could be from the behemoth that’s bouncing on my chest.

“I’ve got a pulse!”

Boy that guy is loud.

“Still no breath sounds on the left. I need a chest tube kit!”

Wow, I sure hope whomever they’re talking about makes it.

“Resume bagging.”

Bagging? What in the world is ba—Holy shit! I felt a huge amount of air fill my lungs—lung?—that I did not take in. It finally dawned on me that perhaps they’d been talking about me this whole time.

I tried to move, to show them that I was aware, but my body wouldn’t respond. It felt like I was just tagging along for the ride, only I could feel everything now. I felt when something cold and wet was squirted on my side, followed by the gentle probing of fingers along my ribs, which brought an insane amount of pain with it, but nothing could have prepared me for the sudden, sharp cutting just before something was shoved into my chest.

It was too much, too intense, and I welcomed the calming blackness that enveloped me.

The next time I opened my eyes it was to see an I.V. pole towering above my head to the right, a monitor beeping somewhere nearby, and the odd sensation of something filling my mouth and throat.

When I attempted to reach up and remove it, I found my hands restrained.

What the hell?

The incessant beeping increased it’s speed and a moment later a stout woman in scrubs burst into the room, looked me over, and smiled wide before exclaiming, “You’re awake!”

Well, no shit, I thought, arching a brow her way.

“Let me page the doctor and I’ll be right back.” And she was off.

Great, there’s no telling when she’ll actually come back in.

To my eternal surprise, she returned in mere minutes, fussing around, taking my vital signs, shining a damn light in my eyes, wanting me to follow her finger … Hello! You just blinded me with that stupid light thing, and now you think I can see your finger?

“You’re doing great, hon. Maybe we can get that tube out now that you’re awake. It looks like you’re breathing over the ventilator now.”

Yes! Take this thing out so I can talk! I manage a few jerky nods to show my agreement, and this seems to do the trick.

The nurse leaves the room and within the hour, there’s a doctor coming in to do his assessment and remove my tube. Which was gross. Now my throat hurts, I’ve got phlegm like nobodies business, and I really want my own bed and a pint of ice chocolate ice cream.

Alone in my room, I finally managed to take stock of my situation. I’d been out of it for three days according to the nurse, and they had left the tube down my throat as a precaution, since I was unconscious and sporting a chest tube from a collapsed lung. On top of that I had a few busted ribs, fractured wrist, and a concussion. Yeah, I was a hot mess and totally wishing I could have just waited to wake up until all of this was healed.

A few nights later, I awoke to a voice in my room. It took a while before I could make out what the woman was saying, but I soon realized she was simply repeating herself.

“Please be okay. You have to tell him. Please be okay. You have to tell him,” she chanted, shifting from one foot to the other as she stood in the corner.

She looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn’t place her, so I did what most people do and continued to stare at her until it came to me.

And there was my mistake.

She suddenly stopped moving and speaking, looking back at me as if I’d somehow surprised her.

“What?” I asked, looking down to make sure that all the important parts were still covered by the flimsy hospital gown and sheet.

“You can see me?” Was she serious?

“Of course I can see you. I hear you too. I was sleeping until you showed up.”

She crept closer to the bed, almost like she was scared. Of me? I was banged all to hell, just what did she expect me to do?

It wasn’t until she came to the bedside that I noticed something that had me choking back a scream. I could see straight through her!

“It’s me, Ashley. Do you remember? You promised to tell my fiancé. You have to let Alexander know how sorry I am,” she wailed.

Ashley? As in the girl from the wreck, the girl I watched die right next to me? But how?

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how my life went from ordinary to are-you-freaking-kidding-me in an instant.

My name is Kara, welcome to my new life.

Come join the Wolfe brothers as two of their own experience the “joys” of childbirth through their unique bond with the women they love.

Eva is all set to bring Adam’s daughter into the world and all of the women come together for support. After all, with the labor being felt through the bond, Adam is left a bit … out of sorts.

Sarah is sporting a ginormous belly with her twins, and Erik is a bit worried about her impending delivery since they all know that she cannot have any kind of pain medicine. But what’s more is that a werewolf’s labor is vastly different from a human birth.

With the sudden onset of labor combined with sleet and snow, will Stephanie be able to get to their home in time to help with the delivery? And when an unforeseen complication arises, will they be strong enough to weather the storm?