My Return (Vampire Diaries) (Book Seven)

I Went to the Woods

I didn't know where I was.

I didn't know who I was.

I didn't remember anything.

All I knew was that I was waking up in the middle of a road with a gasp. I could feel a bleeding gash on my forehead. I looked over myself, seeing that I was missing a boot. I groaned in pain, breathing heavily, taking in my surroundings, seeing a shattered glass covered in blood that lead to the site of a gruesome car accident.

The door of a Jeep had been ripped off. The bloody, battered body of a middle-aged man hung from the driver's seat, only kept in by the seat belt he was wearing.

There was a school bus that had apparently hit the Jeep, currently being consumed by flames.

The first thing that came to my head was that I needed to help whoever was trapped inside.

I scrambled to my feet, running toward the inferno, hearing the sound of a screaming man and woman inside, trying to open the door with all my strength, but it didn't open. 

"Help!" a woman cried.

"Help!" a man called. "Help!"

I pushed my shoulder into the door over and over again until it finally burst open, running inside, helping a young, injured woman out of the bus, helping her outside, going back in for the others outside.

Two young men tripped, falling to the ground.

A police car pulled up next to us, the sirens wailing and lights flashing.

I sighed in relief.

        ~~~~~~~   

Everyone was safe now.

It was crime scene.

I sat on a stretcher, covered in a warm blanket and with an oxygen mask over my face.

A female paramedic made sure I was okay. "Easy. Breathe slow. Dizzy is normal. And keep your foot off the ground. We're in a cold snap. Weather folks say temperature's a record low. What's your name?"

I frowned in confusion. "I don't remember."

"Let's take a look at you," the paramedic told me, taking out her pen light, noticing a large gash on my neck, winching sympathetically, pulling my collar aside to get a better look. "Ooh, wow. Whoever you are, you are one lucky SOB. You're the first person I've met to survive a gash to the to the carotid." The way she had said that made me start to remember a few things. The paramedic put a gauze bandage over my wound. Dead victims were being wheeled away on a stretcher in body bags. I watched them go, upset. The paramedic noticed, giving me a sympathetic look. "Hey. Take it from me. Even heroes can't save them all."

I frowned in confusion. "What'd you just call me?"

"A hero," the paramedic answered slowly. "That's what those cheerleaders are saying, anyway. I'm keeping them at bay until I've ruled out concussive amnesia."

I frowned in concentration, finally remembering what had happened and who I was. "My name's Nicola Salvatore."

"And there we go," the paramedic told me. "Do you know where you are, Nicola?"

I sighed in defeat. "Yes. I'm in hell."

        ~~~~~~~   

I was still confused about what was happening. "I don't get it. My failed attempt at being a hero, the dead bodies..."