Southern Heat by Natasha Madison

Chapter 2

Willow

So much noise. I try to put my hands to my ears as I hear shouting, but my arms are so heavy I can’t lift them. "Don’t make a peep," I tell myself from under the bed. The coldness seeps into my bones like ice.

I look to the side, seeing the blonde we were following for the past couple of months slumped down on her side. Her eyes open once, and we make eye contact. Her mouth opens, and then her eyes shut the same time as mine do.

Footsteps stomp into the room, so close to me, and I try to open my eyes, but they are so heavy. I try to force them open or to scream, “I’m here. I’m here," but it’s all for nothing. The more I open my mouth, the more nothing happens.

Someone is right next to me. I can feel their heat rush over me, and the coldness almost leaves me. My arm is being lifted and then more loud voices. My arm drops to my side, the heat of their hand gone.

I hear a soft voice, and I know I must be dreaming. There has never been a soft voice in my life in over eight years.

I open my eyes, and I’m in the middle of the forest. Turning around in a circle, I hear the soft voice again and I fight like hell to run toward it. I hear other voices around. Light shines through the leaves, and I hold out my hand to feel the heat from the sun. I smile and look up, feeling the sun on my face.

"Did you hear that?" His voice is so soft, yet feels so far away. “Five minutes and we are there." I hear the voice echo through the whole forest, and my body lights up. I run straight to the voice, and I’m surprised when my eyes open.

But instead of the darkness of the cabin, light is all around me. But I’m too busy staring into the bluest eyes I have ever seen. Blue like the ocean I’ve always dreamed about swimming in. Blue like the sky on a summer day with no clouds in the sky.

"You’re safe." His voice is soft as he looks into my eyes. I take one look at him before the wave comes and sucks me under the water. My whole body feels like it’s sinking, and when I open my eyes, I’m on a beach. Waves crash against the sand as I look up at the blue sky. The sun shines brighter than I’ve ever seen, and I close my eyes, basking in the heat.

A sense of peace settles over me as I lie here, feeling the warm water wash over my feet. My arms are stretched to the sides like a starfish, and my hands play in the sand. The little grains of the sand are scratchy when I rub my fingers together.

Opening my eyes, my gaze lands on the lone bird flying in the sky. "I’m not fucking leaving her!" Hearing someone shouting, I look right and left to see if anyone is on the beach with me, but all I see is sand and water.

"We don’t have time for this!" someone else yells, and I feel the wetness of the water coming over my legs. I close my eyes and tilt my face up to the sky, feeling the sun’s warmth.

"We’re losing her," someone else says. I sit up, looking around at the emptiness of the beach, yet the voices are still coming. The crystal blue water matches the man’s blue eyes. The water goes as far as I can see it. "You need to let us work on her."

Where are those voices coming from? Looking around at nothing but sand and water, I get up, my feet sinking into the cold, wet sand. I take a deep inhale as the salty ocean rolls over my feet.

I run along the shore, just as I’ve dreamed of doing my whole life. It was my safe place I would escape to when I closed my eyes. I lean down and put my hands into the water and throw it up into the air, laughing as it falls back on my head.

This is my happiness. Being here and free is what I’ve always wished for. I kick the water up, and the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore get louder and louder. "I think we have a pulse."

I turn to look behind me, and I’m suddenly in the forest again. The sunlight fights to stream in among the green trees. I walk in the forest, the twigs snapping under my feet. I don’t know how long I walk, but I’m just walking and walking, seeing the same trees.

Looking around, I try to find another way to go, yet no matter which way I turn, I land at this rock every single time.

I sit in the middle of the rock and cross my legs under me, looking at every single leaf there is. I look up at the sun that peeks through. “You’re free." I smile and look down at my arms. The bruises from being tied to the bed are gone.

My finger rubs over the bruises I knew were there, and when I close my eyes this time, I’m back in the small shack where he kept me.

The devil. It’s the only name that actually suits him. Eight years of hell. Eight years of living with the fear that tomorrow could be my last day. Eight years of wishing to die.

The leaves shake, the sound of swishing picks up, and I stand to walk over to the light coming in. It’s so bright that I hold up my hand to block it from my eyes.

The gust of wind whips my hair in my face. I try to turn my head, but it sucks me into the light. "We’re losing her," I hear a woman say frantically. “Her bp is falling."

"We need to get her into the OR!" another male's voice yells. Someone holds my hand up to my face, and the touch makes my whole hand tingle.

"You can’t go with us," the woman says quietly.

"I’m going to be here when you wake up." I feel a soft touch on my cheek and open my eyes.

The bright light hits me right away, but the blue eyes hover over me. “I’ll be right here,” he says, and I close my eyes for just one more second. The heat from my face is gone, my hand turns back to ice, and when I open my eyes, I’m still in the forest. The sunlight is gone as the sound of beeping starts.

I sit down on the rock to make sure I’m ready for the strike that will come. The strikes always come at night.

I hold my legs to my chest, trying to warm myself, but I just shiver in the coldness. “Fight, baby girl." I hear my mother’s voice, and I get up.

“Grandma,” I call her name, the tears running down my face.

"You need to fight with everything you have." Her voice comes stronger. “You are the strongest girl I know."

I look around the darkness as I try to walk to where the voice is coming from, but every time I step forward, I sink into the black earth. "She’s flatlining."

“Grandma!” I call her name again. “Come back for me!" I cry out. “Don’t leave me again." The ache in my chest feels stronger than it has since she left me. "I can’t do it without you."

"You can,” she says, and I feel heat all over my body, almost as if she is giving me a hug. "You have to." The pressure on my chest gets stronger and stronger as my grandmother’s voice gets farther and farther away from me. "You are so brave" is the last thing I hear from her before the beeping starts up again, this time getting louder and louder in my ears.

I hold my hands up to my ears to block it out. “That was close," someone says.

"We aren’t out of the woods yet," the man’s voice says, and I lie down in the darkness of the forest. My legs bend, and my arms are stretched out as the pain in my body comes back to me.

He’s hit me before, but nothing like the last time. My arm snapped back so hard I knew my shoulder was dislocated as he hit me over and over again. The rage in him because I wouldn’t do what he asked me to do. I wouldn’t be a pawn in his game. The burning in my head returns, and I close my eyes just so I can fade to the blackness.