1

Prologue

Pain.

That’s all I could feel.

Excruciating, blistering pain.

“H-help…” I forced the word from my lips in an agonizing breath. My lungs felt tight, burning me from the inside out.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

I tried to shift against the crushing weight, but pain lashed up and down my spine, exploding inside me.

A whimper tore from my throat.

“A-Ashleigh,” a voice called out to me from the darkness. “Fuck.”

Something crackled. Heat licking up my skin. I tried to strain against the darkness again, but it was futile.

I couldn’t see.

I was powerless. Alone.

Except, I wasn’t alone… was I?

“H-help,” I choked out again, blindly trying to reach out and find something—anything—to help me.

Think, dammit. Think, Ashleigh.

But it hurt too much.

Everything hurt.

My limbs, my muscles, my head. At least I could feel everything. My arms and legs, fingers and toes. Everything felt whole.

That was a good sign, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

“Ashleigh,” a voice cried out from the darkness. “Hold on, you have to hold on.”

“W-what…” the word died in my throat, the pain too much to bear as I hovered in and out of consciousness.

“I’m sorry.” The voice sounded further away now. A whisper on a distant wind. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

Ashleigh

My eyes fluttered open, the sunlight streaming into the room. I blinked, then blinked again, scanning the unfamiliar room.

Where the hell was—

The rhythmic beeping caught my attention and that was when I spotted the wires connecting me to a monitor.

A hospital monitor.

I was in the hospital.

But… how?

I racked my brain searching for an explanation but came up against a thick fog. As if the memories were there but just out of reach, enveloped in an impenetrable haze.

“H-hello?” It was a weak croak against my dry, sore throat.

Panic began to snake through me. Something had happened, something bad. You didn’t wake up in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines with no memory of how you got there, for a simple case of strep throat or mono.

Clutching the wires between my achy, stiff fingers, I found the call button and pressed it. I needed answers. I needed someone to tell me what the hell was happening.

The door burst open a second later, and a nurse appeared, looking at me with kind eyes and a warm smile. “Hello, sleepyhead. It’s good to see you awake,” she said, her soft voice instantly putting me at ease.

“W-what happened? Where am I?” I asked, a trace of fear in my voice.

“You’re at Rixon General, sweetie. You were in an accident.”

“I was? I… I don’t remember.” The fear snaking through me turned to blind panic, making my blood run cold.

“Try to relax.” She looked over at me. “Take a deep breath for me, okay?”

I nodded, forcing myself to inhale through my nose and exhale out of my mouth. My heart galloped in my chest like a band of wild horses, but the deep breathing helped, slowing my pulse.

At least enough not to send me into an all-out panic attack.

“Are my family—”

“Ashleigh, thank God.”

“Mom, Dad.” Tears sprung from my eyes as they rushed to my bedside. Mom took my hand gently in hers, brushing the flyaway hairs from my eyes.

“Gosh, baby, we were so worried.”

“The nurse said I was in an accident, but I don’t remember… I…”

Dad glanced at the nurse, something passing between them, but then he was smiling at me, leaning down to kiss my forehead. “We’re just glad you’re okay.”

“I’ll give the three of you some privacy.” The nurse made some notes on my chart and dropped it back in its holder. “The doctor will want to see you soon.”

“Thank you,” Dad said.

The second she left the room, I turned to my parents. “I’m okay, right?”

“Of course, sweetheart.” Another smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“Dad?” My voice cracked, reminiscent of the little girl I used to be. Unsure and afraid of the world, always looking to her father, her hero, for support and guidance.

Daddy’s little girl.

He swallowed back the emotion written all over his face and said, “You were in a coma, Ashleigh.”

It was a good thing I was lying down because that revelation tipped my world upside down.

A coma?

“F-for how long?”

“Almost a month.”

A month? No, it wasn’t possible.

“But… I don’t understand.”

Dad and Mom both pulled up chairs and sat down, Mom taking my hand in hers again.

“There was a car accident, sweetheart. You and Ezra—”

“Ezra?” I lurched forward, pain slamming into me. “Is he okay?”

“Ezra’s fine, sweetheart.” Dad shifted as Mom encouraged me to lie back down. “You came off worse. You had a nasty bump on the head, so the doctors put you into a coma to give the swelling on your brain a chance to go down.”

Thank God, Ezra was okay. He was… well, it was hard to put into words what I felt for Ezra Jackson. He wasn’t my boyfriend or even my friend really, but he was important to me. If anything had happened to him… it didn’t bear thinking about.

“I… I don’t know what to say.” It’s only then I realized my right leg felt clunky. Lifting up the sheets, I frowned. “I’m guessing I also broke my leg.”

“Your ankle, and two ribs.”

“Wow.” I sucked in a sharp breath and my rib cage smarted.

“Okay, baby?” Mom asked, concern pinching her brows.

“Just a little sore.” A beat passed as they watched me, and I couldn’t shake the feeling they weren’t telling me everything.

But things were hazy still, a giant black hole where the memory of the accident was supposed to be.