My Last Breath

Chapter One     “God damn rain,” Anne grumbled as she leaned closer to the steering wheel. She could hear her mothers' voice be caught off with another rolling rumble of thunder.     “Are you okay Annie?” Her mother pondered, “Maybe you shouldn’t come out here. The hurricane is only going to get worse—”     Anne only rolled her eyes as she turned the windshield wipers on full blast. The trees above the road whipped in the gale-force winds. She was already two hours into the trip back home with the back of her car completely full of supplies. The last time a hurricane came through this bad, it flooded her mothers' plantation house and forced her to stay in the attic till help arrived, “Momma I’m not letting you get flooded like that again without proper supplies. I even have a trunk full of sandbags to put around the house.” Even with her high beams on, it was difficult for Anne to see through the sheets of thick rain that crashed into the windshield of her car.     Her mother was quiet for a minute, before she replied, “I know, it’s just its been difficult since—”     “I know momma, I know. I’ll be there soon. How’s the bayou looking?”     There was a shuffle of noise, and Anne could hear the back screen door open, “It’s rising pretty quick, Annie it’s not too late. I could call the sheriff and ask him to pick me up. He has his house on stilts.”     Anne could feel her stomach tighten, “If I’m not there within an hour you call him momma. I don’t want you by yourself during this hurricane.” As she drove deeper into the darker parts of Hangman's road, the tree coverage cut off some of the rain. She was able to relax a little bit more. “Besides, I’m taking the shortcut through Hangman road. It's through the mountain, It’ll cut my time in half—”     “Annie don’t you dare. Not during this storm! You know how bad it floods there, if this rain picks up that river is going to wash out that road. Please Anne-Marie go back. Look, I’m going to get off the phone and call the sheri—” Her mothers' voice broke through the static that was coming through her phone. Even her radio started to sputter.     She once more rolled her eyes, “Look. I want to get to you as soon as I can. That old house isn’t going to stand many more of these storms momma.”     “Wh—a? A—n c—a—y—o.”     The static was growing so bad it was getting difficult for her to hear her mother. Anne grabbed the phone that was on her dashboard, propped up by a GPS holder. She turned the speakerphone off and put it against her ear, “I’m losing connection, mom. Call Bardock if I’m not there in an hour okay?” She tried to speak slowly so her mother could hear each of her words.     It wasn’t long before the radio just played harsh static and she had to turn it off. Her phone beeped, signaling a failed connection. She pulled the phone away from her face and tried dialing her mother back again. All she got was the sound of dead air. “Shit.” She tossed her phone to the passenger seat, and leaned forward, watching the road as carefully as she could.     There were a few breaks where the rain came pouring back through the trees, making everything turn into a whiteout. She gently tapped on the breaks going from 45 miles per hour down to almost 20. The whole town of Maypole was basically evacuated when hurricane Lorelie was coming through, hitting winds up to 100 miles per hour, and climbing. She was originally a tropical storm coming off the ocean, and of course turn of luck, she decided to turn into a category two hurricane overnight.     By then, Anne was already packing her things and was ready to take the five-hour trip to her mothers' house. Her mother lived right on the outskirts of Cinna Bay Florida. Anne always joked they had their own little bayou in the backyard, but it was a large lake that had magnolia trees, weeping willows, and cherry blossoms all around it. Cutting them off from the neighbors.     The lake had a name alright, it was called Deadman’s Cauldron. It was a stupid name for a stupid superstition…at least it was supposed to be. The lake had taken Annes’ sister's life, Cynthia. To this day, three years later, she still believed it was her fault. Cynthia and she had gotten into it—again, at this point, it was nothing unusual.     They were trying to figure out who was going to take their mother, Margret when the house sold. Their mother was aging, showing signs of dementia and she couldn’t handle the stairs like she used to. The last time the house flooded she nearly broke her hip trying to get up to the attic.     They argued for almost two hours, and a summer storm was coming in. Cynthia had told her she was just going to cool off and take a walk. And once again she tried fighting her, telling her it was stupid to go out. A storm was coming in off the water and it was going to be dangerous, Cynthia brushed her off. Ignoring every word she said.     Of course, Anne was right, after an hour and Cynthia didn’t come back she went out to look for her. The storm was raging, the trees cracking above her head the branches threatening to break under the strength of the wind. The very first place she went to was the dock. The wind had conjured up some major waves, and as she panned the flashlight near the water—     The steering wheel jerked out of her hands, and she started to pump the breaks. Her body became engulfed in a cold sweat as she tried turning with the car. Everything that rushed to her, was the downpour and screaming of the hurricane.     Anne closed her eyes and sent a silent prayer for the car to stop.     For her not to crash—     Her prayers fell on deaf ears as she watched her car move closer to the side of the road, no matter how hard she tried pumping her breaks, nothing worked. Her tires had found a flooded part of the road, and she had lost complete control. The river that went through Hangman's mountain, had caught her in its grasp.      Just like the Devils Cauldron had done to Cynthia.     Panic settled in and Anne did the only thing she could think of, she let up off the brakes. As soon as she tried reaching for the window button, water started to flood the cabin of her car. “s**t! s**t! s**t!” Anne screamed.     The water rushed in, flooding the engine and killing the battery. The rushing water had taken over, climbing up to her knees. She should’ve expected a flash flood, but she thought she would’ve beaten the rising river. No! No…! Using her elbow she tried striking the window.     All she got was pain.     The rushing water started to move her car, carrying it over to the fencing on the side of the road. It was old and made of wood. The car crashed against it and Anne could hear the deafening sound of the wood cracking.     The water was rising up to her hips, she quickly unbuckled. She looked around and tried moving to the back of the car to grab her bag that had her survival supplies. Each move she made, made the car tip. She tried staying still, and calm her rapidly beating heart. As her eyes roamed, it caught the roof of her car. The sunroof! She scrambled and tried grabbing the lip to pull it open.     When it opened, and she was face to face with the glass. She took the risk to reach behind her—     The fence moved.     The car shifted.     Everything was tilting to the driver's side, Anne turned to take a glance over her shoulder. All she could see was the murky grey water of the river. “s**t…fuck!” She grabbed at the passenger seat, watching the raging river flow over the window.     The entire car was teetering on the edge, ready to fall into the rapidly moving river. She could hear it. Hear the roaring of white rapids running over rocks and the growling of thunder. Mommy…     She reached behind the driver's seat and grabbed the bag, she pulled it to the front and ripped it open reaching she grabbed the heavy hammer and tossed the rest to the side. The side of her car scraped against the edge of the road, she climbed to the passenger seat, kneeling on the armrest. She used all her strength and struck the window.     Water and glass came pouring through the shattered window.     Anne was smart and kept her mouth shut, she grabbed onto the side of the car and started to lift herself up—     The car shifted.     Her waist was free and her face was about the break the surface—     The car was taken by the rushing water, the glass from the shattered window dug deep into her stomach, knocking the wind out of her lungs. She opened her mouth to gasp and brown murky river water flowed in filling her mouth and forcing its way down her throat.     The weight of the water dragged the car over the road and Anne fell back against the driver's window before she even had a chance to scream for help.