Wild shadows danced through the twilight. Wet wood crackled and popped, as the fire roared, drowning out the sounds of the night. She cried dry tears as the flames licked at the trees around her.
Heat radiated from the car where it had come to rest smashed against a huge oak. The hood was folded in on itself. The door of the left side was caved in, but she could see the shadow of the head within. She tried to move closer but the heat was too much.
An animal scream, raw, unlike anything she’d heard before came from the car as flames licked the windows. Above the black smell of burning metal and wood, she smelled something else, like a burger on the grill. The screaming continued. Desperate. Pleading.
The sound of sirens reached her ears, but she knew they’d be too late. She pulled herself together for another attempt to get to the driver. An explosion deafened her, throwing her back from the car.
She lay in a patch of pine needles, dazed and confused. The fire climbed higher in the night sky, but its roar had lessened. She stared into the flames, mesmerized. She couldn’t make out the head of the driver. The screaming had stopped.
Something trickled into her eye, breaking her trance. She reached up and felt a large gash above her right eye. She touched all around herself for further damage as the sound of sirens came closer.
She stood up and placed a hand to her stomach just as something broke inside of her. Something wet began to trickle down her legs.
The ambulance arrived and she crumbled to her knees, as the revelation of what she had lost washed over her. She looked up to the sky and screamed her own scream of impossible pain.
It was then her tears came in a flood.
