Immortal Storm by Heather Bserani Page B

but a broken whisper squeaked out and she decided it was better to save her energy. Tears fell fervently, like an open faucet. They left a cool, wet path on either cheek on that snowy morning.
    The sirens multiplied and grew louder. She tried to make sense of the jumble of sounds that were flooding her thoughts. She was too shaken to identify them, but finally there was the rhythmic flashing of lights bouncing off the world around her. She was slowly losing her grip on reality as shock set in. She felt as though she was being pulled away from the immediacy of the scene. It was as if something was pulling at the core of her soul, pulling her up and away. She didn’t want to go and tried to shrug off the magnetic sensation, but it was impossible. She was too tired to put up a fight.
    She swallowed and resigned to give in to the gentle, convincing tug. Her eyes sagged and then shut Candave her . She said silent goodbyes to those she loved. Just as she was giving up, she heard a voice she recognized in the distance. Something about that voice made it hard to disobey. She remembered that she liked the voice that was calling her back to reality. The voice was willing her to stay.
    “Dorianna, stay with me. I can help you live through this, but you have to stay. You have to give me a chance. Dori?”
    It was the voice of an angel and it filled her confused mind. The voice rang in her ears and made her heart race. She was too far away from reality to easily recognize the person she was hearing, but she knew she liked the owner of that voice. Her mind drifted to a cramped living room. She saw swirls of color, one blending into the next. She heard the echo of classical music in the distance. A comforting heat crept into her memory and suddenly the pieces of the puzzle snapped into place. She knew that voice; the man it belonged to occupied a growing place in her heart. In her mind, she saw Michael with paint smudged on his face. She was rocketed back to reality, back into her body. Her eyes snapped open with a determination to disobey the pull. She wanted to stay here, with him. He would make this better.
    “Help me.” It was no more than a breath, but somehow he heard.
    “Dori! Don’t talk!” I am going to get you out of here. You have to trust me today. I will save you from this.”
    It took an eternity for the emergency squad to make progress. Michael was giving orders to everyone there. She didn’t know what was going on, but everyone was scurrying to obey him. Once the neck brace had been fastened, the tree had to be removed from the roof of the truck. Then the fire department came in with the jaws-of-life to cut her from the mangled heap of metal, all the while the wind was thwarting them with a relentless barrage of icy needles. At some point she was wrapped in a foil blanket. Michael climbed into the wreckage to support Dori’s neck and shoulders once the roof had been removed. Day broke and the gray light cast a somber mood over the scene. She knew that her situation was worse than she had originally thought.
    The sun was much higher in the sky when the rescue squad finally brought the backboard over. It took several men to lift her onto the board and they did so with the care they would have shown a newborn. They could have manhandled her, she thought, for all the difference it made. She could feel nothing from the neck down. Michael climbed into the ambulance and touched her face. There was a flicker of indecision in his eyes, a moment when he was still amidst the hustle of the emergency squad, and then he jumped out of the back of the ambulance. He was talking with the other rescue squad members.
    “Stay here,” was all he needed to tell them. There was an awkward silence, but the volunteers finally shuffled off to investigate the scene.
    Michael climbed back into the ambulance and flashed Dori a triumphant smile. She was too exhausted to try to figure out what had just taken place. Before she knew it, the