Page 2 of Dearest Protector
I didn’t hesitate.
I didn’t notice that the person moving forward suddenly stopped.
In fact, I never noticed my mistake at all.
I never had time.
Almost instantly, I was slammed by some massive force that sent me flying up into the air.
Pain ripped through my entire body as I finally crash-landed hard on the cement.
I felt one more agonizing sensation tearing across my foot, and then for a moment, it felt like the whole world just…stopped.
I couldn’t breathe.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t speak.
I was held immobile and insensible by the most agonizing pain I’d ever experienced.
Breathe, Ariel. Breathe.
Trying to focus, I sucked air into my oxygen-deprived lungs and then let it out. I kept taking those excruciating breaths because I knew I had to, but every single one was more torturous than the one before it.
Why can’t I see anything?
I panicked because my vision was blurry. I kept blinking, but the ugly cloud over my eyesight didn’t clear.
What in the hell just happened to me?
I fought the rising darkness, something I probably should have welcomed because it would take the pain away. But I refused to give in to the temptation to take that escape route.
I needed to stay conscious.
I was confused, but I knew I was lying in the street.
I was vulnerable.
Oh, God, why am I in so much pain, and why is my brain not working right?
“Jesus, lady, I’m sorry. I never saw you,” a male voice shouted. “I’m calling an ambulance right now.”
Ambulance?
My muddled brain still couldn’t figure out what was going on.
I have to get up off the pavement!
I tried to move, wanting to rise, but I couldn’t move a muscle before the searing agony of my injuries curtailed that plan.
I’m hurt. Maybe I do need an ambulance.
Fear and a sense of helplessness washed over me, which was highly unusual for a woman who was used to doing everything on her own.
Terror and trepidation seized my entire being as it suddenly dawned on me that I’d obviously been hit by a vehicle as I was crossing the street.
When a suffocating sense of impending doom washed over me, I wasn’t quite sure if I was going to live through whatever had happened to me.