Voicemail // Kabby

February 8

"Hello, this is Marcus Kane. Sorry I can't get to the phone right now, but if you leave a message along with your name, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you, may we meet again."

BEEP

The beep set off a ringing in her ear. She used her free hand to massage her right temple, eyes squeezing shut in pain.

Everything hurt.

Her head was pounding, her back was sore, and every limb on her body ached.

"I can only imagine the pain you were in," she whispered into the phone.

She sat on her bed, on her side, as she slowly took her shoes off. Every moment was slow; every movement hurt.

"If this is the pain I'm feeling...I can't imagine yours."

It was hard to concentrate on her thoughts. Every second her head would pound, sending a pulse of pain radiating through her skull.

"The car is fine besides the back bumper. That fell off completely." She could see in her mind Marcus having a mini heart attack about the car being scratched. If there was anything Abby would guess rivaled his love for their family, it would be his love for their cars.

The small memory made her smile.

The smile soon faded as another jolt of pain raced through her mind and body. She froze up, trying to get it to subside. The drugs hadn't kicked in yet.

"I wasn't flung around in the car but I was jerked about," she said as she moved to remove her jacket. Her elbow popped and pain shot up her arm. She let out a little yelp and froze in place. A single tear ran down her cheek.

She sat like that for a while. Her head continued to throb as she closed her eyes, telling her mind and body to calm down. Her heart was racing in her chest. She counted down in her head until she felt her body relax.

She finished getting the jacket off slowly after she let out a shaky sigh. Setting it off to the side, she clutched the phone tighter to her ear. "What I'm trying to say is..."

Those two words froze on her lips. They sat there, waiting to be said. Her hand holding the phone began to shake again.

"Damn it," she swore under her breath as she wiped fresh tears from her eyes.

She hated that she was crying again. She hated that when she thought of those two words it sent her heart racing. She hated that when she was starting to make small steps into the reality of her new life, those two words would ruin any progress she was making.

Two words. That's all it took to tear her back down.

Two words. That's all it took to trigger a memory.

Snow was falling at a good pace around her car as she waited at a red light. She had been anxious driving in the snow ever since that night. Her grip on the steering wheel was tight, her knuckles as white as the snow.

The light had turned green but she waited an extra second just in case. She looked to both sides of the intersection before going forward. Soon, screeching tires could be heard. That extra second wasn't enough.

Her foot somehow instinctively slammed on the gas, launching her car forward. The screeching tires got closer and Abby squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation. The screeching tires were replaced with metal crashing into metal.

Abby's body jerked in her seat, the air bag deploying as her car spun from being hit on the backside. Instantly, she was seeing stars. Her ears began to ring, the noises of the crash blurring together into a muffle.