Gone and Reborn

Disclaimer: All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission ------------------------ There she was again. Speeding to the accident´s site as fast as her van could go. Her sight blurred by the tears falling down her lap and the lights of the incoming cars. Her heart threatening to burst out of her chest as she struggled to breathe. The voice of her neighbor ringing in her ears, his words replaying over and over in a sickening loop. -Oh my god! Jo, I don´t know how to say this… there´s been an accident! I think it is your parents´ car! Hurry up, right by the gas station on Main! I´m calling an ambulance! By the time she got there, her eyes squinted at the wrecked pieces of debris that once used to be a black Tahoe. Her mind fighting to wrap around the magnitude of what she was seeing. Her confused look landing on the eighteen-wheeler cleanly driven into what was left of the van and trying to make sense of the impossible image in front of her. She noticed she had already parked without even remembering it and through a haze of frenzied thoughts she managed to jump out of her van. Running to the site, overwhelmed by the intense red and blue lights and the deafening silence. Her head spinning while she took in the entirety of the scene: The middle-aged man sobbing uncontrollably as he was led in handcuffs, stumbling and tripping as two officers escorted him to a patrol car. The paramedics rushing to lift the stretcher up into the ambulance... Just one stretcher. A silhouette was rapidly approaching towards her, meanwhile she tried to focus her sight in vain. She shook her head and blinked a few times, turning to her left. That´s when she spotted the figure lying on the ground a few feet away, a white sheet covering most of it. Without a second thought she ran to it and was about to reach it when someone tackled her and pulled her behind. -Jo, please don´t! You don´t need to see that- she heard a voice echo, seemingly from far, far away. She turned at the direction of the sound and found her neighbor´s face a few inches away from hers. Restraining her every moment, his eyes filled with terror. She frowned and stared at him in bewilderment for a second, before abruptly breaking his embrace and running full speed towards the large shape ahead. As she got closer, she could see the white cloth thrown sloppily over something that her brain was having a hard time to register. Until her eyes landed on the hand sticking under it, a glimpse of a finger coming into view. She bent down and a stream of puke shoot violently out of her mouth when she recognized her father´s Harvard ring around that right annular digit. -Miss, please step out of the scene- she heard a male´s voice say as a hand rested gently but firmly on her shoulder. She stood up slowly, her crazed head turning towards the ruins of the black van and without any warning, she sprinted with all her might, heading for them and reaching her goal a second later. Her hands struggling to get what was left of the smashed passenger´s door open and hurting her skin in the process with the broken glass sticking out of the window´s frame. She ignored the pain and pulled herself up, stepping on the running board, peeking inside the shattered vehicle. Her eyes widening at the emptiness of it. Her head c*****g puzzled at the sight of the hole in the windshield.   A faint noise started ringing in her ears and a moment later it exploded in full blast. The sirens, the voices and the incoming cars´ horns blaring all at once and making her scream in agony. She felt a pair of hands trying to pull her down the vehicle and she fought to keep her grip, hanging onto the door, blood pouring down her palms. Soon, she noticed another set of strong arms latching to her waist and… as they started to peel her off the wreckage aftermath, she heard a loud cry and her eyes darted for what was left of the backseat, zeroing on a tiny figure lying innocently on it. -A baby!- she yelled. And she suddenly found herself shooting awake and sitting on the bed, panting and feeling her heart race at the verge of collapse. Tears flowing inadvertently down her cheeks. Saul rose immediately beside her, startled and a little confused at her outburst. -What is it, Sugar? Did you have another nightmare?- he asked holding her and running his fingers down her back. -Yeah- Jo said catching her breath and trying to gather her wits – I´m sorry I woke you up Cookie… I´m sorry this keeps happening to me, it must be damn annoying. She stared sadly at her palms as the last images of her night terror replayed in her mind. -Hey, look at me- Saul said lifting her chin up- There isn´t a thing about you I would ever find annoying- he grinned- Well, except for your ice-cold feet brushing my legs on winter nights. Jo cracked up laughing as she sniffled and rubbed her tears away, letting him kiss her lips.  -I´ve told you a thousand times, Sugar… I´m here for you, ok?– He stood up and threw his boxers on- Now come here... Are you hungry? How about a midnight snack? He walked to the other side of his loft, where a tiny modern kitchen sat and opened the fridge. Humming absentmindedly as he started getting some stuff out of it. Jo grabbed his shirt from the hardwood floor and put it on, catching up with him and sitting on the counter while she watched him fix a couple grilled cheese sandwiches. His long black hair cascading down his shoulders and his big frame swaying around while he flipped the bread over the buttery pan. When he turned around to face her, holding the two plates, she got lost in his dark eyes, his strong jawline  and his perfectly shaven skin. Her breath getting caught in her lungs just like the very first time she´d laid eyes on him. A minute later she came back to her senses and found him staring at her with one of his thick eyebrows raised in amusement. -Penny for your thoughts babe?- he asked with a half-smile. -Oh no, no… those are worth much more than a penny, Cookie- she replied teasingly, giving him a lustful grin. -Is that so? – Saul inquired sensually, dragging every word and leaning towards her. His face so close to hers that his warm breath made her skin shiver. Jo gulped and tried to hold his playful gaze for as long as she could, feeling her hands go numb. -Ok, we´ll have to renegotiate that in a moment- he smirked, placing a plate before her, nodding at it and making her instantly blush at his awareness of her disperse attention- but first you need to eat. He broke his gaze and she took a bite, trying to recover from his effect on her. -You make the best grilled cheese, baby- she declared between mouthfuls, chewing eagerly. -Well, I was a latchkey kid, I practically lived on those all through my childhood.-he laughed- It was the only thing I could cook back in the day. -It´s not like you´ve expanded your menu that much either, Cookie- Jo chuckled, and he threw a hand to his chest in fake hurt. -How dare you! – He exclaimed in an exaggerated voice, before gobbling down his sandwich in just a few bites. -You know?- Jo muttered after a while, as she was finishing eating- This time was different… My nightmare. I saw a baby lying on the passenger seat before I woke up. That´d never happened before... and it scared me to death.