I’d decided to take the next right, thinking I hadn’t gone as far east as I could, when a woman in a long white gown appeared in the middle of the road. I gripped the steering wheel, whipped it to the right and slammed on the brakes. My car went veering off the road just at the start of an S-curve, and careened toward the edge of the cliff.
Del and Olivia both screamed.
My instincts kicked in, and I threw my right arm out to hold Del back as much as I could. The car hit bump after bump, and though it was going fast enough to make my stomach lurch, it played out like a slow motion movie reel. I regretted bringing them with me. We were going to die there, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I pumped the brakes as we all screamed. We hit a big bump and the airbags in the car blew up. Del was back far enough, thanks in part, I hoped, to my arm, but I wasn’t, and the thing shot me back, whipping my head into the back of my seat and searing a flash of heat up my arm. When the car stopped at the edge of the cliff, we all breathed a sigh of relief.
Del had a few choice words, but Del always had a few choice words. She went to open the door, and I stopped her.
“Wait. Are you two okay?”
Del nodded as she patted her body. “Nothing’s hurt.”
“Thelma?”
She groaned in the back, under her air bag. “I’m okay. I’m okay.” She coughed. “This thing tastes like the biscuits my Charlie used to make though. Dried up and powdery.”
I couldn’t help but laugh even though tears fell down my cheeks. Part relieved, and mostly shaken, I’d forgotten about the burning pain on my arm.
Del yelped. “Oh Lord, I’m bleeding blood. I think I’m dying.”
My head spun. I had to focus hard to comprehend what was going on. “You’re bleeding? Where?” I didn’t want her to move too quickly. My headlights shined through the darkness in front of us, and I had no idea how far down that cliff went. “Don’t move. Let me get my light on you.” I’d set my phone in the cup holder between us, and thankfully, it hadn’t flown out. I fumbled with it until my hands stopped shaking enough to turn on the light. I shined it on Del, who did have blood on her, but it was on her shirt and the air bag.
And all down my arm.
“I think that’s my blood. I think you’re okay.” I removed my seatbelt, thankful we’d all worn them because had we not, we would have been tossed all over the car. I dialed 9-1-1. “Yes, I’ve been involved in an accident. I’m not sure where I am, but I think we’re okay.”
The operator asked me a bunch of questions, and I did my best to answer them through my shaking voice.
“We have your location,” she said. “Help is on the way. Stay on the line with me.”
A few minutes later we heard the sound of sirens, and I knew we’d be okay. I opened my car door and tried to step out, but the woman in white appeared again. “No, stay there.”
It was Nellie Clementine.
“It was you in the road. We could have died. What were you thinking?”
“Ma’am, are you okay?” The operator asked.
“You wanted my help. I helped you. Just stay there. It’s too dark, and the ground is uneven. They’re coming now,” Nellie Clementine said.
“Ma’am, are you still with me?” The operator asked.
My head throbbed, and Nellie was a blur of hazy mist. “Nellie, wait. Don’t leave. What’s happened to Olivia?”
“Ma’am? Can you hear me? I need you to answer me if you can hear me,” the operator said again.
“Yes, I can hear you. It’s Nellie Clementine, she was in the middle of the road. She’s the one that caused the accident.”
“Okay, ma’am. We’ll have the officers there to help you in a minute. They’re on their way. Just stay in the vehicle, okay?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The sirens drew closer, and then a blast of bright light shined on us.
A light flashed on my door, and someone tapped on the window. “We’re here, Ms. Adair. Everyone okay in there?”
I tried to roll down the window, but it wouldn’t budge. When I went to open the door, it wouldn’t open, either. “I think so. I can’t get the door open though.”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ve got you covered. Just give us a few minutes, okay?”
“Yes, sir.”
As they worked to help open our doors, one of the fireman glanced down the cliff and hollered, “We’ve got a car down here.”
A blur of people rushed past my car, and a lump the size of a golf ball pushed up my throat. “Oh, no.”
“You think that’s Olivia’s car?” Del asked.
“I don’t know, but I have a feeling.”
“What’d that spirit say?” Thelma asked.
“She said I’d asked for her help, and she’d helped.”
“What does that mean?” Del asked.
“I think it means she led us to Olivia.”
“Oh, no,” Thelma said.
I banged on the window. “Let me out. I need to get out.”
“We’re working on it, ma’am. Just be patient.”
“What kind of car is down there? My friend. We’re looking for my friend.” My heart beat so hard, my chest hurt.
“Ma’am, it’s a pretty steep hill, we’re doing our best. You just stay in here and stay calm, okay? We’ll get you out.”
A familiar voice spoke next. “Chantilly, are you okay?”
“Jack? Is that you?” I tried the door again, but it wouldn’t budge. I shoved my shoulder into it and cried out in pain.
“Hang tight, we’re going to get you out,” he said.
“Olivia. Is that Olivia down the cliff? You’ve got to help her.”
“We’ve got people climbing down there. We’re doing our best.”
“Can you see the car? What kind of car is it?”
The door finally opened, and Jack squatted down. “You’re bleeding.” He glanced around the rest of the car. “You ladies okay?”
Both of them groaned their status.
“The car. Is it Olivia’s?” I asked again.
“We need a medic here stat,” he yelled. “We’ve got blood.”
I jerked my arm away as he touched it. “It burns.” I didn’t jerk it intentionally. I just hadn’t realized how much it hurt.
“It’s an airbag burn. The paramedics will help you.” He helped lift me out of the car, but left the other two for the EMTs.
I rushed to the edge of the cliff. Jack held me back. I sobbed. The car was flipped over, the bottom of it facing up toward us. I couldn’t tell what kind it was from that position. “Oh, no, is she in there?”
“We don’t know who’s in it yet. We ran the plates, but we’re not sure what’s going on.” He shifted my body in a half circle and walked me back toward one of two ambulances. “Here. You need medical treatment.”
“We got two inside the car boss,” someone yelled.
Another man yelled something back, but my crying and the pounding in my head were both too loud for me to understand his response.
Jack rushed over to the edge, but that’s the last thing I remember from the night. It was all mostly a flood of emergency responders, flashing lights, sirens, and my frayed nerves, and the next thing I knew, Jack and Austin were standing at the side of my hospital bed. “What’s…what happened?” I tried to sit up, but I was dizzy, and my head was pounding, and I just couldn’t move the way I intended.
Jack placed his hand lightly on my shoulder. “You’ve got a pretty bad concussion, Chantilly. Try to stay still.”
“What? No, I’m fine. What—” and then I remembered. “Olivia. Did you find Olivia?” I held onto the rails on the bed and forced my body up, but the dizziness overwhelmed me, and I had to lie back down after just a few seconds.
Jack nodded, but briefly eyed Austin. “But first, your son’s been worried about you.”
Austin edged his way toward me, hesitant at first. The worry on his face broke my heart. “Mom, are you okay?”<
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I held out my hand for him. “I’m fine honey. I’m fine.” I glanced at Jack. “What time is it?”
“It’s eleven o’clock.” He smiled. “AM.”
My eyes quickly shifted back to Austin. “You were alone all night? Oh, honey, I’m so sorry.”
“I wasn’t, Mom. It’s okay. Coach Jack came over. He stayed the night.”
I smiled at Jack. “Thank you.”
He smiled back. “Least I could do.” He placed his hand on Austin’s shoulder and squeezed. “Hey kiddo, how ‘bout you give your mom and me a few minutes to talk?”
Austin’s shoulders had been hunched, but he smiled when Jack said, “It’ll be okay,” and told me he loved me just before flipping around and heading out the door.
“What’s going on? Where’s Olivia? What about Del and Thelma?”
Jack held my hand. “Del and Thelma are fine. They were brought in as a precautionary measure, but they’re both okay, so the doctors released them last night. You on the other hand, got a pretty serious head bump. Do you remember what happened?”
“Yes, I…we…” I did remember. “There was a wo—the car…I lost control or something. Where’s Olivia?”
“Olivia is going to be okay. She’s here. In recovery. She had to have surgery, but she made it through okay. Her parents said the doctors aren’t worried.”
“What happened?”
“The driver lost control of the vehicle, and like yours, veered it off the road. Odd that it happened at the same spot for the both of you.”
It wasn’t at all odd to me. “You said Olivia had surgery? What kind?”
“Her spleen was banged up pretty bad, and it had to be removed, but she’s going to be fine.”
A wave of relief washed over me. “What about the driver?”
His smile dropped. “She didn’t make it.”
“Oh, no.”
“She didn’t have her seatbelt on.”
“Does Olivia know?”
“Not sure. She was in a lot of pain when they got her out of the car. Her parents haven’t said.”
“Who was the friend?”
“Emily Clementine.”
And that’s when things began to make more sense. Nellie’s connection to Olivia was Emily, her family member. There weren’t a lot of Clementine’s left in Castleberry, and the few that were still around were related to Nellie and her family. No one much cared about the reputation of a dead woman, but it would have been nice to be able to let people know it was that dead woman who tried to save her kin.
“That’s horrible,” I said, and I meant it more than I could express.
He nodded. “You went looking for Olivia, didn’t you?”
“Yes. I was really worried. I had to do something.”
“Good thing you did or we may have never found them.” He rubbed his chin. “So, I’m curious, what made you look there, in the middle of nowhere like that?”
I closed my eyes. “I’m really tired. I think I need to rest.”
He swapped his curious expression for concern. “Sure, yeah. That’s a good idea.”
I leaned my head to the left, pretending to want to rest, when really, I just wanted to get out of explaining what I couldn’t explain to him, not yet, anyway. “Thanks.”
After he left, I dragged myself to Olivia’s room. She lay quietly sleeping while her parents sat guard beside her bed.
“Mrs. and Mr. Castleberry, how is she?”
Mr. Castleberry stood and stretched while Mrs. Castleberry set her book on the small table attached to the bed.
“She’s doing much better,” he said. He walked toward me and pulled me into a tight bear hug. “Thank you so much for finding our daughter.”
“If you hadn’t, the Lord only knows if she’d be with us today.”
Their comments were humbling, though I didn’t feel I’d found Olivia, and I wished I could have gotten to them sooner. “I tried to find them, but I can’t give myself credit. It was more fate, I think.”
“Well, whatever it was, it was you that led the police and ambulance to them, and that’s what matters.”
I walked over to Olivia and brushed my fingers across her hand. “Is she going to be okay?”
“Yes, she’s going to be just fine,” Mr. Castleberry said.
Olivia’s eyes opened. “Oh, hey, Chantilly,” she muttered with a groggy, rough voice. “I look a mess, don’t I?”
Mrs. Castleberry laughed. “Of course that’s what she’s worried about. Silly child about gave her momma a heart attack, and she’s worrying about how she looks for her boss.”
Mr. Castleberry laughed, too. “How about we give these girls some time alone? I’m sure they have plenty to talk about.”
“Yes, that’s a mighty fine idea,” his wife said.
As they made their exit, Mrs. Castleberry whispered in my ear. “She doesn’t know about Emily. We haven’t told her yet. We don’t want her to worry.”
I nodded.
Mr. Castleberry closed the door behind them as I sat in the chair beside the bed. “So, way to worry me like crazy, Olivia.” I tried to joke, to make light of a situation that had just hours before nearly broken my heart.
“I’m sorry. We just wanted to enjoy the night, you know? Sometimes it’s a little slow in this town.”
“I know. Do you remember what happened?”
She nodded. “Mostly, I think. The road was curvy like every other road around here, and it was dark. Emily was joking and laughing, and maybe we weren’t watching as closely as should have, but we were just having fun chatting.”
“It was an accident.”
“Emily didn’t make it, did she?”
I flinched. “What makes you say that?”
“Chantilly, come on. I may be young, but I’m not as naïve as people think.”
That was the first time she’d said anything like that, but she was right. People did think she was naïve. “I, um…”
“No one’s mentioned her, and when I ask, they tell me to focus on getting better. I know what that means. Can you just please tell me the truth? I am not a child. I deserve to be treated like an adult.”
Part of me wanted to protect her, to keep her focused on what she needed to focus on, healing and recovering, but the other part was immensely proud of her, of the fact that she demanded, in her sweet Southern way, to know about her friend, because she knew she could handle it. I was torn, but I needed to honor my friend’s wishes. She was an adult, and the fact was, she knew. “I’m sorry.”
Olivia’s eyes softened. “I told her to wear her seatbelt. I don’t know what she was thinking.”
I sat and listened while Olivia expressed various emotions from frustration to guilt to sadness and then finally, to anger. “It’s almost like she had some kind of death wish. What is wrong with her, not wearing her seatbelt like that?”
“I don’t know, but I’m glad you did.”
She smiled. “Me, too.” She adjusted herself in the bed and winced as she moved.
I jumped up, steadied my hands over her and offered help. “What do you need? Can I get you something? Should I call the nurse?”
She giggled. “I’m fine, really. Just a little sore, and the funny thing is, it’s more my back than the fact that they removed an organ from inside me.”
I laughed a little, too. “You’d think that would hurt.”
“I know, right?”
“Maybe your back is part of it all? I mean, you don’t have a lot of space for those organs, you tiny thing.”
She smiled. “You’re funny, Miss Chantilly.”
I held her hand. “If you call me Miss Chantilly one more time, I think I’m going to have to fire you.”
She smiled. “I don’t think the historical society could function without me.”
“I know it couldn’t. And we’re friends first, so knock off the Miss Chantilly stuff, you hear?”
“Yes, ma’am.” She smiled again, and I laughed.
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�Lawd, woman.”
“Chantilly?” Her tone grew serious. “Can you do something for me?”
“Sure. Anything. What do you need?”
She glanced at me and realized I was in a hospital gown, too. “Oh, heavens, are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I waved off her concern. “Just a little concussion, that’s all. Don’t worry about me. What do you need?”
“I…I was hoping you could talk to Emily, to see if she’s okay?”
And that’s when I realized I’d been in the hospital overnight, and I hadn’t yet seen one ghost. “I uh, I…I can try.”
“I know it’s not how you do things, but I was hoping maybe, since you know me, you could—”
I stopped her before she could finish, smiling to hide my growing concern. “I’ll get right on it, when I’m feeling myself again, okay?”
“Thank you.”
I squeezed her hand. “Anything for you, Olivia.”
They released me from the hospital later that morning, and Jack arrived with Austin again to bring me home. I appreciated his help, especially since I knew he was busy. After the two of them set me up in the den with a snuggly blanket, two pillows from my bed, a pitcher of water, and a freshly made lunch from Del, Austin flipped on the TV and put on the Hallmark Channel.
Jack sat in my father’s favorite chair and smirked. “Romances? I wouldn’t have guessed that.”
“Hush. Every woman likes a cheesy romance every once in a while.”
“I never considered you to be like every woman.”
His smile led me to believe he meant that as a compliment, and I blushed. “I am quite unique, that’s true, but still, it is romance, and I am recovering from a bump on the head.” As I said that, a chill ran through me. Could that bump on the head be the reason I hadn’t seen any ghosts at the hospital?
“Chantilly?” Jack leaned forward in the chair. “You okay?”
I’d been staring at the TV, but not watching the movie. “Yeah, I’m…I’m fine. I just realized I’ve hit my head a couple times recently.”
He narrowed his eyes. “You have. You really need to be more careful.”
“Obviously.” I worried that second bump could cancel out the first one and my ability to see ghosts. I’d grown to like that ability, and I didn’t want to lose it. I yawned and nuzzled into the cushy blanket. “I am really sleepy.”
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