The Heart That Beats For Her

Chapter Fifteen

The sound of his deep chuckle stirs in her chest and she cannot possibly contain the smile stretching into her cheeks. Making him laugh has to be one of her most favorite things about their relationship and she wishes she could make him laugh every moment of every day.

Why does she miss the sound of his laugh so damn much?

Warmth is swallowing her whole, but she's content, she's happy. She rests her head back, her neck rolling to the side to admire the stunning grin that consumes his entire face and persuades her heart to skip merrily along. He's different though, she doesn't see his milk chocolate skin tone or his big brown eyes, but she recognizes the splash of yellow and dash of red. She blinks to regain focus.

He reaches and she doesn't necessarily feel the contact, but she sees the way he grins as he brings her knuckles to his lips and presses a gentle kiss. He lingers, his eyes drifting away from whatever lies ahead to meet her gaze and flash her one wink.

She feels so utterly loved and she knows her heart is full, but something like panic is festering in her gut.

She blinks again, her eyes trailing back to find out what's ahead, only to be blinded by the headlights shining on the other side of the road. An eerie sensation crawls down her spine and demands that all the little hairs on the back of her neck stand to attention. Her heart starts racing and she knows something is wrong. Something is so terribly wrong and she's screaming at herself to stop the madness.

Wake up.

The sound of crunching glass echoes all around her...

Please wake up.

Her body feels weightless, hazardously tossed around like a rag-doll and she feels the need to protect herself, to find some control and brace herself from whatever is about to occur. Her hand shoots up, moving all on its own to plant her palm against the roof of the car. She doesn't necessarily feel the crack that echoes through the air, but she knows she should be feeling a violent pain in her wrist.

Wake up.

One, two, three. Wake up!

"Naveen!"

"It's okay babe, just hang on, okay? It's almost-," he calls to her, his words fading beyond existence and she desperately tries to peek to her left, but her entire world is flipped upside down, literally.

"Naveen!" She bellows as loud as her throat will allow, but she doesn't receive an answer.

She strains her neck to find his body lifeless, tumbling around and she cannot possibly ignore the amount of blood oozing from his head.

"Naveen!" She hears her own shrill voice screaming in agony before everything is swallowed whole by pitch-blackness.

When she comes to again, everything is the exact opposite as it once was. Her surroundings morphing from a black hole of darkness to the blinding white lights as if the gates of Heaven are opening up for her.

"Regina," she hears someone calling to her and her heart knows she recognizes the voice, yet she can't seem to put a face to the gentle tone. "Regina, I'm here."

She whips her head around in search of whomever is calling to her, but the world is a blank canvas, not a single stroke of life to show for. She panics, knowing in her gut that she has been here before. She feels the desperation of feeling trapped, her throat closing, and the sheer hysteria of suffocating.

"Regina, please, wake up. Breathe, I'm here. Just please, please, wake up!"

It's not her mother calling to her and the voice is far too gentle to be her sister, but there is a woman begging for her to leave this emptiness behind and come back to reality.