So This is Love

This wasn’t where he wanted to be. Not on a night like this. He wanted to be somewhere dry and warm, not driving in his beat down truck with the heater busted out, trying desperately to find his way home in the blizzard.

When Damien moved to Massachusetts to live with his dad, he told himself not to expect anything. But this bare, frozen wasteland was beyond even his worst expectations. Another year in this icy hell, until he turned 18, was more than he could bear. If he didn’t find something of interest in the boring farming community where his father had chosen to hide away from the world, he would go insane. As he drove, he tried to think of ways he could get back home, back to warm, sunny California.

If it hadn’t been for the bright red blood staining the pure white snow, Damien might have missed her all together. But as he slowly turned the bend in the road, just as the last of the sun was slipping below the trees, he saw blood smeared across the pristine white snow. Only then did he see the tire tracks veering off the side of the road and into the trees and the half-buried car lying in the snow. A dead deer lay in the road, the source of the blood.

Slamming on the brakes, Damien almost crashed himself, but he managed to gain control of the car and bring it to a stop, safely on the side of the road. After turning off the engine, he jumped out of the car and ran to the overturned vehicle, searching around him wildly for survivors.

Trapped in the driver’s seat, unconscious and pale as death, was a girl. Immediately, Damien sprinted to her side, wrenching the smashed door open. He could hear the faint, labored sound of her breathing, and was relieved that she wasn’t dead. After releasing her from her seatbelt, Damien pulled her from the driver’s seat, and, cradling her in his arms, he brought her back to his truck. He carefully laid her down on the seat and covered her in a blanket he'd found in the back seat.

Searching the area around the crash, Damien looked for any other people who might have been in the car with her. When he couldn’t find anyone else, he hurried back to his truck. His cell phone, of course, didn’t have any service, so he couldn’t call 9-1-1. He decided that he would have to bring the girl to the hospital himself and explain what had happened. He started the engine and began driving again, toward town and the hospital.

As he drove, Damien periodically glanced down at the unconscious girl next to him. Despite her pale face, lifeless features, and cuts and bruises covering her face, it was hard to deny the girl’s beauty. Her dark hair was matted with blood and wet from the snow, but if brushed and clean, would be lovely. As he drove this mysterious girl to the hospital, Damien knew that he had found his tie to Massachusetts, the one reason to keep him there. He sped up, eager to get to the hospital. Now that he’d found her, this unmistakably beautiful girl, he couldn’t let her die.