Recovery (Lana Del Rey/Elvis Fan Fiction)

Chapter 1: Left In The Cold

 December 22, 1957

   The sky left a dark, grey shadow over the entire town. The air cold, yet breathless with no remorse for those who were walking along the roads. He took one last smoke of his cigarette and flicked it into the dry, cold snow that covered the ground; the cigarette making a small sizzling sound as it died out. The buildings whistled, hollow, and the streets were open to any takers, though had none and stayed empty the entire day. He stood leaning on his newly waxed Porsche as he huffed hot air into his hands, trying to keep warm. It had seemed that his thick black trench coat and his navy blue wool scarf weren't enough to keep his body heated from the wet air of frost. He waited outside of the house impatiently, glancing at his watch every five minutes and slicking the dark brown hair on the side of his head back with the palm of his hand. The front door from the house opened and out jogged a blonde young girl no older than twenty-three with perfectly curled hair and bright green eyes. "Finally," the boy teased as he pushed himself from the car. A small giggle escaped from the girl's plump pink lips as she threw her arms around his neck, kissing him sweetly. "I'm sorry I took so long," she apologized, "Mama wouldn't stop talkin' my ear off." Luckily all of their things were already previously packed in the trunk of the car or else he would have waited longer. "That's alright, baby. You have two weeks to make it up to me." he winked promiscuously and pulled her in for another kiss. This time the kiss was more passionate and lust filling. She easily fell into the kiss, forcing her lips harder onto his. His hands slid down along her smooth back; making their way underneath her dress. Her cheeks quickly began to blush at the action of her boyfriend. "Elvis!" she scolded as she ripped their lips apart. Quickly, she pushed the grinning boy away from her, causing his back to gently land against his car. "Oh c'mon, Candice. Nobody seen." Elvis assured her with a cheeky grin still playing on his lips. "Let's just go before we miss our flight." Is all she said before making her way to the passenger door as Elvis followed. Like a true gentlemen, he opened her door and closed it once she was securely inside.

   The snow grew thicker as Elvis drove on the highway, making it hard to see what was ahead of them. Candice sat in the passenger seat with her skin as pale as the snow. Fear had climbed its way into her stomach and tore at it with little to no remorse. Elvis on the other hand was only nervous that the flight might be canceled and they won't be able to go on their trip to Hawaii. He was annoyed with the airport being three miles from where they had lived. They had been talking about going to Hawaii for months and would have taken off sooner but Elvis was quite famous and barley had time to breathe from his music career. So when he was given a two week break for Christmas, they found that this was the perfect opportunity to go. Candice was eager to leave her home town of Memphis since Elvis and her were always attacked by photographers and fans every five seconds. She was looking forward to their little hide out, but with all this snow falling faster and harder she wasn't so sure that would happen. "Maybe we should just turn around, E," she suggested with worry in her voice; her eyes looking out at the window nervously. "We're almost there, darlin'." Elvis hushed as he tightly gripped the steering wheel. "Elvis, the snow's piling up. You can hardly see out the windows," she warned, "We can go to Hawaii another time." "I promised you a trip, baby," he says, "And that's what I'm gonna give ya." She looked at him with soft eyes. Candice knew all Elvis wanted to do was be a good boyfriend but she also knew that they were both complete idiots for being out in a storm like this. Their car was the only one out that evening. Or so it seemed. "Baby, hand me the map," Elvis ordered sweetly, "I think we're lost. I might'a taken a wrong turn 'er somethin'." Candice rolled her eyes sassily. "And how on earth do you know that? You can't even see what's right in front of you. Just - turn the car around and let's go home, Elvis." The confidence look that Elvis always held turned into a look of defeat and he couldn't help but give in to Candice's commands. "Aright," he mumbled. He slowed the car down a bit but before he could turn, the car slid to the side; Elvis's door now smashed in close to him. The car slid to the edge of the road and before they had a chance to realize what had just happened, they were flipping down a steep snow mountain that the highway sat on. Down, down, they plundered. Clouds of snow dusted behind them as the car hit a tree that stopped them from going any further.

   A painful silence fled the air and became thicker than the storm that surrounded the highway. There was no screaming or crying, no panic or groans - just silence. The Porsche that Elvis was so fond of was now totaled and useless. And inside that car Candice's bloody forehead stuck to the dashboard and she breathed lightly; very lightly. The man that had hit them was now out of his car, that had little to hardly any damage done to it, and was racing down as fast as he could to help who he could, while he could. The cold air hit the older mans face piercingly but he hardly felt it as adrenaline came over him. "Hello?!" the man shouted over the wind. "Is anyone hurt?!" He could hardly see the car in front of him but as he got closer, he found the reality to the damage he had caused. "My goodness," he mumbled in disbelief. Quickly he raced to the car and ripped open Candice's door that seemed to fall off of it hinges at just one tug. "Ma'am," he called, "Ma'am are you alright?!" A groan slipped from her lips but she was anything but conscious. He sat her up properly and unbuckled her seat belt before his eyes met the drivers seat. His heart ran rapidly and he became weak at his knees, because in that front seat... sat nothing more than emptiness. The man quickly stood tall and looked out towards the forest. "Hello?!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Anybody out there?!"  Silence. He ran around like a chicken with its head cut off for a good ten minutes but he didn't find a single soul or imprint that showed where Elvis was. If it wasn't for the blizzard he would have found Elvis in an instant. He was seven feet away from the car; his body laying under a thin coat of snow, and he bled profusely from his arm and from his head. Of course, it was hard to even tell with the snow storm in the way. When the car hit the tree, Elvis flew out of the front window, passed the tree, and landed on the side of his face, taking his seatbelt with him. But the man didn't find Elvis and knew he had a better chance of finding him if he got to the police in time. But one last time, with Candice now over his shoulder, he called out for Elvis. "Hello!! Is anyone out there?!" Elvis's eyes blinked open carefully and although he was in pain, he was far too weak to groan or act upon it. He could hear the echoing of a faint voice as his eyes looked around at the snow that fell beside him. "Anyone!" the man shouted one last time. Elvis swallowed dryly as he began to weakly lift his head up. His vision was rather hazy, making it hard to see who was calling out to him. Elvis blinked a couple of times to wash his vision clear but it was hardly working. He also tried to crawl but he was far to weak to move. "Help," his voice called. It was lower than a whisper but that's all he could let out at the moment. His vision became clear and he seen the man, in a thick brown coat and worker boots, walking away with Candice over his shoulder. "Hey!" his voice blew, "Hey!" But the man was unable to hear him and soon his figure disappeared into the snow storm. "Wait!" Elvis tried his best to shout out his words but the wind was over powering and he was fatigue. Elvis knew he had to move quickly. Though it took a few seconds, he stumbled to his feet, leaning against a tree for support. "H-help." he mumbled breathlessly. He had used up all the energy in his body and before he could even take a step forward, he passed out; smacking the ground with his face once more.