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sound of water seemed to be everywhere, spraying
up with great force along the bottom of the floor and under the skidding tires
as we took on a sideways direction.
    I
wanted to call out. It wouldn’t have helped me. All I could do was attempt to
shield my head as I tumbled around unsteadily on the floor. There was another
loud bang, followed by the sensation that we were sliding off the road and into
the grass. Everything tilted upwards. I slammed hard against something…or
someone. With my fingers wrapped around the sharp edges of the metal anchors on
the bottom of my seat, I felt my legs lift up above me as the bus surrendered
to momentum and rolled over.
    Everything
was circling around me for an instant in slow motion. My heart beat once and
then time burst ahead with incredible speed. Crashing of metal and breaking of
glass surrounded me in chorus, along with the panicked shouts of the other
passengers. It was screaming that I’d heard that first time. How could I
have mistaken it for laughter?
    My
fingers lost their purchase and I was in the air. Pain came to me for an
instant and then I was swept away, into the darkness.

Five
     
    I
hardly remembered anything past the few blurry images of being trapped in the
burning wreckage or being pulled out of it by Shane. When next I woke, I found
myself drugged and tired, lying on a bed with stark white sheets that were pulled
up to my neck.
    My
entire body ached like never before. I weakly traced one hand down my arm and
touched the wires which ran between the machine that hung beside my bed and the
sticky connectors fixed on my chest. On the inside of my elbow, there was the
sore feeling of an IV catheter that had been in place for several days.
    We
crashed…
    I
opened my eyes and peered around the room blearily. The hospital-issue,
off-white horizontal blinds had been drawn to the haze of early morning
outside. Hunched over on a chair in the corner, with his head down and his face
hidden beneath a work-soiled baseball cap, was my father.
    “D-daddy?”
    He
came awake with a start and looked over at me like he might have been dreaming.
It looked like he hadn’t had a moment’s rest in days. Tired, darkened bags hung
under his still-gleaming blue eyes and his chin and cheeks were covered in a
thick layer of graying stubble. Once I tried to smile and reach out for him, the
tiredness disappeared from his face and he rushed to my side to give me the
lightest, most cautious hug I’d ever received.
    “Don’t
wanna squeeze ya too hard, darlin’. ‘Fraid I might hurt you. Goodness me, I’m
so glad you’re ok.” He held me there for a moment and I breathed in the smell
of his old, dusty jacket; the scent of fresh hay and the farm where I’d grown
up. “Mercy, Kat. We was so worried ‘bout you. Your momma near ‘bout got into a
fistfight when the doctor said we couldn’t come back to see you earlier. And then
after that, we started to think you might never wake up.”
    “Momma?”
I asked groggily as he pulled away. “Did she get her surgery? Where is she?”
    “She
did, and she’s at the house. Doin’ fine considerin’ what she’s been through and
all. I didn’t want to wake her up jus’ yet – she’d been sitting here with me
ever since they brought you back out yesterday, least till I took her home last
night for a rest.”
    “I’m…I’m
sorry I missed it. I tried…” I stammered, wanting to explain.
    “Pay
it no mind, Lil’ Bit. Your momma went under the knife right before we heard
about what happened. It was all over the news, and I saw it, but heck, I didn’t
know you was on the dang-blamed bus till a man called and tol’ us later on.”
    “A
man?” I thought of the one I’d met. Shane . Was he alright?
    “Heck,
I was still wonderin’ why you hadn’t got home yet for your momma’s surgery when
he called. Ain’t like you to be late for somethin’ like that. I musta left a
trail in the floor from pacing all over that waiting