If Only She Knew

8. The Conspiracy

...
And then, as she was checking her makeup in the dashboard mirror, a white tow truck suddenly sprang from a narrow, unforeseen driveway that led to a row of villas near the forest, or, put simply, from God-knows-where.

The truck swerved and meandered like Cruella de Vill's car on the snowy roads in the Disney movie, and, as Ariana, wide-eyed and in shock, had predicted, the crazy driver didn't have time to brake.

And then the truck struck them right in the face of Joseph's car...

The force of the collision threw their car upside down, rendering it to rest on Ariana's side, as it made a 90° turn.

Once the green car was in this position, fuming, resting in the green, June grass and wild flowers by the road, the driver of the tow truck, as if satisfied with his work, pushed the key into the ignition, accelerating, and the truck soon disappeared like a ghost.

Ariana was more in shock than in pain, as she was hanging downwards, sideways from her seatbelt, with Joseph almost topping her.

She had her head pressed on the window, through which she could see the jolly grass.

Her blood pulsated through her veins, and she started thinking about dying, and Joseph and her work, and about karma.

Did Michael own an old, white Ford truck?

"Ariana! Are you alright?" Joseph called out to her raggedly, as if they were underwater.

Besides the shock and queasiness, he was pretty much alright.

Ariana, though, had been the unlucky one.

"We were lucky to survive," she murmured, breathless, finding out with worry that there was blood on her chin.

Joseph unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Ok. I'll climb out of the car and pull you out, come on."

And that's what ensued.

Joseph climbed out, and helped Ariana, noticing the painful looking concussion on the left side of her head.

The pain started slowly catching up to her, and she felt dizzy, and disoriented.

Joseph helped her sit down on the grass and told her to hang on, while he, single-handedly, pulled the damaged car back on its wheels and went to rummage through its trunk.

Until he came back holding water and a first aid kit, Ariana had battled the sun, the rays that attacked her eyes, finding she could hardly stand it.

"How come you have a first-aid kit?" she couldn't help not asking, with suspicion.

He put on a medicinal glove, rubbed some alcohol on her wound and then unspooled some of the band aid, cut a strip, and wrapped it around her head.

"I have it always with me for unforseen situations. You never know." He shrugged, helping the still suspicious Ariana stand up.

"Let's go. This will have to do for now but we're taking you to a hospital."

"But I don't wanna go to a hospital." She squirmed slightly as they approached the car.

"It's so nice out here-"

"I thought you couldn't stand the sun. You have a concussion, we can't be stretching our luck."

So they drove with a broken windscreen, and, in order to avoid meddling with the police, as soon as they approached a car stop, they took a taxi from there, as Joseph dialed the towing company.