Illusions

Chapter Twenty-Nine

There's a steady rhythm, swooshing and thumping in the faint distance, but she cannot place the sound, especially when her head is pounding with a type of vengeance against her temples that has her pleading for death. She's uneasy, her stomach swirling around an acidic liquid that's scorching her intestines and has her mouth salivating.

On their own accord, her hands fling out in front of her, her muscles screaming their protest and aching in ways she never thought imaginable as she tries to identify her surroundings. Her eyelids are far too heavy and refuse to budge and that's when she remembers, she's not hungover, she was in some sort of accident.

She pleads with her body to cooperate, begging for those eyelids to peel apart and locate her surroundings. Her eyelashes are barely tearing apart when she feels that fiery liquid crawling hazardously up her throat. Her vision is blurry, but she immediately identifies the cool handle to the right. She yanks and tugs in desperation, but the door won't budge, so she quickly leans to her left and vomits all over the floor of the driver's side. She heaves and coughs and gasps for her next breath and in the back of her mind, her detective skills are ringing loudly, acknowledging that Bae is gone and the driver's door is hanging open.

She wipes her mouth with the sleeve of her jacket and closes her eyes for a moment because the intensity of her migraine is what's causing her to feel so queasy. She falls back into her seat, knowing she needs to exit the car and find the suspect who is now on foot. She peels her eyes open again, and quickly reaches over to turn the obnoxious windshield wipers off. She glances to her right and locates an enormous evergreen smashed into the back end of her car and that's probably why her door won't budge.

She slowly moves, every inch of her body screaming bloody murder for her to stop, but she ignores her muscles and crawls across the console, through the driver's side and out the door that's hanging open. The air is bitter cold, stinging against her face and causing her to shiver violently. She places her hands on her knees for a moment to catch her bearings and breathe through the pain and that's when she hears sirens blaring off in the distance.

She hasn't the slightest idea as to what happened, or how they ended up in a car accident. She has no clue how long she has been passed out for or how long Bae has been on foot, but she knows she needs to run and track him down. She sniffles away her leaky nose from the winter air and attempts to stand tall. She groans as she pivots and takes a step toward the back end of her car, her poor demolished car, and that's when she spots taillights from another vehicle, across the street.

She takes a deep breath and forces her body to shuffle toward the other car, wondering if the person inside is alright. She assumes this person is the reason for the accident to begin with, probably some drunk asshole that lost control behind the wheel, but she's so thankful for their stupidity in the moment. She has no idea what Bae had planned for her and if it weren't for this person, today might have been her last day on this planet.

All those thoughts are suddenly crippling in her mind when she notices the back end of a black Mercedes Benz. She swallows that tangy bile once again and unexpectedly, a rush of adrenaline surges through her blood and she's running toward the car.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," she mutters to herself when she sees how badly the front end of the car is smashed in and she discovers Regina out cold against the steering wheel.

She yanks open the driver's door in a haste, her entire body quivering in fear of losing another loved one. "Regina," she chokes out, bending down so she can run her fingers through her girlfriend's hair to inspect her hidden face.

Very carefully, Emma guides Regina's body away from the steering wheel to rest against the seat and she finds herself asking again, why her girlfriend has such an old car that doesn't have an airbag? She immediately locates bruising around Regina's nose and beneath her sleeping eyes, but she can't find any other physical trauma.