Deja Vu Excerpt
I could barely see through a crack in the bent metal, but someone — a male someone — was sprinting down the road toward me. The semi--‐truck driver who’ run me over had long since made his way out of the city, I was sure of it. I couldn’ see the pickup truck that my SUV had subsequently plowed into,
even though I twisted and turned and tried to wriggle out of the bucket seat. All at once, he was by the door looking in at me; his eyes were wide with fear and shock and his lips twisted while he stood there staring. I wondered if he would be of any benefit, as seconds passed before his mouth moved. Those seconds felt like days.
Adrenaline had provided me with enough courage and strength to continue fighting to free myself from the wreckage that was now my vehicle. Heat emanated from somewhere in the back and I didn’t have time to wait. I reached down and took a final pull at the seatbelt, yanking as hard as my racing heart would
allow. The harness broke in my grip and I let out a primal scream, choking off the saliva and tears in my throat.
My rescuer reached into the truck, grabbed my arms, and pulled me through the shattered passenger side window. I felt a trickle of blood run down my leg as it scraped against the fallen glass. His voice sounded suddenly loud in my ears. “Oh man, Darby. Give me your hand. Hurry! The truck is on fire.”
Matt; his name was Matt. I could see his emerald eyes and the fear in them, even though a sort of haze of confusion blurred my vision. He and a guy named Kasey had wandered up my driveway earlier in the day and invited me to the concert, where I’d been headed before the wreck. Only now, now that my brain
had been jarred back into awareness, I knew this wasn’t the first time we’d met.
I grabbed his wrist and used my legs to help him hoist me onto the pavement. As soon as my feet hit solid ground, we bolted. We moved quickly even though my legs were weak and I had to use his body as a crutch as he pulled me along. His fingers entangled in mine as we headed toward the crowd gathered
more than half a block from the accident. The pickup truck driver was sitting on the tailgate of another truck, talking on a cell phone, and I collapsed next to him in time to see my SUV explode into flames.