I searched for you

“Ariel. Ariel.” I heard Blaine’s voice.

“No,” I shook my head beneath him, my fingers clinging to his now like claws. 

I did not want to hear anymore, I did not want to be aware of his death. It was better we both just passed quietly.

“It has stopped moving,” he said. 

“Huh?” my eyes snapped open, and I was staring into gray eyes.

“Can’t you hear it?” His eyes were wide, observant. “It has not moved in seconds. I have felt in on my back for seconds now.”

“Huh?” I said again, feeling stupid. 

“There’s no more pressure. Lisen, can you hear any more sounds?”

I widened my eyes and looked past him, at the roof of my car that was now touching his head. 

“Oh.” I said quietly at first, then the pitch of my voice began to increase as I repeated the words again and again, not believing I was not going to die after all.

“Do you think the thing knocked, and stopped working?”

“I don’t know,” Blaine responded, looking around. “Maybe cars like these are harder to crush.”

“We have to get out. We have to get out now,” I said, already beginning to feel panic rise in my chest. 

It would be a nightmare to have been this close to escape and then dying again. “It might just begin moving again.”

“Ariel. I don’t see how,’ He tried to move his hands, still cuffed to mine above our heads, but with all the cushions around us and the splinter of wood, he couldn’t. 

“We are trapped?” I asked, feeling the tears in my voice again. 

So all my hope had been for things. We were going to die after all.

“Maybe If I can just.” He began to move down the length of my body, exerting his strength to do that in such a tight space. Then I felt him kicking back, his knee curved at an angle, almost painfully pressing into my thigh.

I lay still, my heart beating fast, waiting, as I felt the car begin to move, but the door would not open. 

He did not stop though. He kicked and kicked till my eyes widened as I realized something.

“Blaine.” I gripped his arm. “Stop! We are going to fall,” I said in alarm. 

He froze, and then he turned his eyes to me.

“The car is moving,” I said in a whisper now, scared to exert myself in any way and push the car over. “We were at the very edge. We will roll over.” 

He finally seemed to realize and stopped.

He dropped his head in exhaustion and defeat and I found that he was laying it on my chest.

“Die slowly, or fall and just end all this quickly?” He said quietly, his voice muffled by the cushion beside him.

“I don’t want to die.” I felt the tears on my cheeks again as the sobs overtook me again. 

I felt his fingers on my side, caressing to soothe. 

But he did not say anything. I did not blame him. What could he say?

We were going to die anyway. 

I did not have any interest in rotting up here because this repair shop was obviously abandoned, and I suspected it was in the middle of nowhere. That is the only place a criminal would pick.

But I wanted to delay that death as much as possible, and hoped the search party I was sure was out now looking for us, would find us, no matter how long it took.

“Do you have many regrets?” He said quietly and looked up, and I found his gray eyes piercing into my skull. 

“Many,” I said, rage seizing me suddenly and ceasing my tears. 

Chief of that regret was not killing Ophelia when I had the chance, even though I would end up in jail.

I had always known my hesitance towards evil, which she did not possess, would be the death of me. I just had no idea that it would happen so soon.

“What are they?” He asked gently, and I frowned at him and went quiet. 

“I may not get out of here, so your secrets are safe with me.” He smiled slowly, and I saw past my fears for the first time and really looked at him, noticing for the first time his damp brows, and how much paler than the last minute he looked.

I felt him feeling around, and then his hand wrapped around mine. He moved a little and I found myself caressing something hard and sharp. 

I moved my hand from his and felt around to see I was touching his side, just by his belly.

My eyes widened as I stared at him, and our accident flashed through my mind. 

Whatever had rammed into us had done so from his side of the car.

“Blaine. God, no. Blaine.”

“Relax,” he said gently, “Please." And then he smiled, “I am strong, you know. I still have a few hours.”

Not with how sticky my hand was. 

I managed to pull the hand up away from beside us even though I saw him grimace once in pain, and when I looked at my hand it was all bloodied.

“You are bleeding badly,” I said, looking in his gray eyes, wondering if this was the last time I would be seeing him, if my son would never really get to meet him. 

That's what I wanted the whole time, but now that things changed, he will die?

I looked around. “We have to stop the bleeding somehow.”

“There’s no point.” He smiled tiredly. “We cannot even move.”

“What do you want me to do?” I said almost angrily as my eyes itched with even more tears. “We have to try.” 

“OK ma’am.” He said in resignation, and I completely ignored his sarcasm. 

Trust a man to still somehow joke in this situation. 

It was extremely difficult because there was literally no space to move and only a short chain separated our cuffed wrists, and it was beginning to feel like his weight might crush me to death too, but we did it.

We took his shirt off and wrapped it around his belly as much as we could, and my suit and his came in handy to make him a blanket as he was already beginning to feel feverish.

I could smell death already, and as the clock ticked my hope that we would get out of here in time waned. 

I felt him weaving his fingers through mine, and my shirt under his face was moistening.

“I searched for you,” he said, and I heard the tears in his voice. “I searched for you for months. Before and after the pregnancy.”