Waking Up

Chapter 1

          Ashley held the phone in her hand.  It felt heavy and hot against her palm.  She could faintly hear Rick repeatedly calling her name, but she just could not bring herself to answer.   Tears poured from down her cheeks.  Her brown eyes, usually clear and full of sparkle, were becoming bloodshot and swollen.  Ashley sat down hard in the wooden chair next to her and gave in to the anguish.  The phone dropped into her lap.  She covered her face with her hands, and the wounded sobs violently shook her body.

          "Ashley!" Rick yelled into the phone again.  "Ashley, please answer me! Say something!  Ash, come on!  I didn't do it on purpose!  Honey, please talk to me!  I'm sorry!" He implored.

          Ashley snatched up the phone and brought it back up to her mouth.  Choking back a moan she screamed, "Rick, how could you do this to me?  How could you do this to us?"  Her anger quickly began to overtake the pain of betrayal.  "Sorry?" She screeched, "Are you kidding me?  Do you really think saying you're sorry is going to fix this?"   

          "Ashley, please!"  Rick was breathless and panicked.   "I didn't mean for it to happen and I certainly didn't mean for you to find out this way.  I was going to tell you when the time was right.  Please, don't cry!  We will talk about it when I get home and we will work it out!"  Rick pleaded.  "Ash, please believe me when I say I am so beyond sorry.  I love you."

          "If you think I am going to be here when you get home, you are sadly mistaken!"  Ashley leaped out of her chair and threw the phone across the room.  She heard the phone hit the wall and the pieces scatter onto the hardwood floor.  Ashley stalked across the room to the front door, grabbing her car keys on the way. 

          Slamming the door behind her, Ashley ran down the steps to her black SUV and jumped into the driver seat.  She was sobbing again when the engine roared to life and she floored the gas pedal.  She had no plan.  No idea where to go.  Her tires squealed as she made the turn to take her onto the highway.

Tears continued to flow.  It seemed odd to her that she noticed their salty taste, as they traveled the route down her cheeks to her mouth.  They blinded her, making it near impossible to see the dark road in front of her.  It was then she noticed she had not bothered to turn on her headlights.     

          She swerved onto the shoulder, skidding to a stop in the dirt, and let her emotions flow.  A half an hour passed before she came back to her senses.  She was stern with herself.  "This is not going to solve anything.  I need to pull myself together and deal with this.  First, I need to figure out where I am going.  I don't want to go home, but I can't stay here all night."  She thought about it for a minute, realizing she could not go to a hotel because she had not thought to bring her purse.  She had nothing.    

          Ashley put her head down on her steering wheel and took a deep breath.  "I can't believe this," she stated shaking her head in disgust.  She started the ignition, turned on her headlights, and glanced into her mirrors.  She turned her SUV back onto the road, and headed for home.  Ashley decided at the very least she would listen to his side of the story before she packed her things and left again.

          Before her thoughts caused another meltdown, Ashley glanced down and fumbled with the stereo buttons.  Rick had reprogrammed them and now she was getting frustrated he had lost her favorite stations.  "Where is the damn tune button?"  Ashley angrily rammed every button she could find with her finger.

          Ashley was so busy with the radio, she had no idea her SUV had wandered into oncoming traffic.  Ashley screamed and threw her arms up in front of her face.  The last thing she saw was the headlights.  She shut her eyes and stiffened her body.  The sickening sound twisting metal echoed in her ears.  The SUV brutally lurched to the side and began a death roll.   She felt her body become airborne as she was thrown through the window of her vehicle.  She had only a moment to chastise herself for not putting on her seatbelt before her body hit the pavement. 

          The driver of the third car witnessed the accident and swerved to miss the collision.  The steering wheel had locked up on his compact car, and he held on helplessly as it spun out of control.  He had no idea Ashley's body was in the road, until he felt the thud of her body under his tires.