Chapter 86 - Am I Dying?

Feng Xuan was awakened by the pain on the top of her head. She tried to wipe her eyes but her hands landed on something thick and sticky on her skin, it matted her hair and turned them in clumps. Her eyes were already open but everything was blurry. She could see that it was morning—or afternoon. There was light still and when her vision slowly cleared, she saw that her hands were in deep red color, almost brown—

Her chest tightened and her hands shook. She turned to the side and saw her mother. Her normally white face pale as a chalk. She gave an alarmed whimper as she saw the blood coming from her head. She shook her. "Mom."

There was no response. She touched the shoulder tighter and harder. "Mom!"

No response.

She was about to cry in distress, thinking her mother had died. But she saw the slight rising and falling of her mother's bloody chest. It was almost non-existent. The blood had dripped on her collar and pooled in a red-black shape.

Her mother was alive. She was breathing. Feng Xuan huffed out a breath, putting her fears on hold.

"Okay," she whispered to herself and she saw the bent tree that they hit and where the hood of the car met it. She tried licking her cracked lips but even her mouth was dry. Her breathing came hard and she saw that there was smoke coming out from under the crumpled hood. "No, no!"

She quickly pressed on her seatbelt buckle and when she moved, her head spun. What is happening? she asked herself. Her fingers bewilderedly fumbled around until it rested on her mother's seatbelt. She tried pushing the button that would let her mother free but it was jammed.

Feng Xuan swore under her breath and turned to the empty road. "Help!" she cried. But both ends of the long pavement was empty. She could hardly unzip her bag with the way her hands were shaking and took out her phone.

No service.

Feng Xuan swore louder and threw it on the floor.

There was no one that would and could come for them. Of all the days why did they choose to take this shortcut? Fear started to grip her chest and she could hardly breathe as tears pricked her eyes. She tried the seatbelt buckle again but it still did not work.

"Mom," she tried again but still no response.

The pit of her stomach did not exist anymore. Her pulse seemed to vibrate on every muscle of her body. She tried pulling the belt itself but she was rewarded with nothing.

Sharp. She needed something sharp. She pulled out everything out of her bag, the glove compartment—nothing sharp.

She turned and saw her cracked window. That would have to do. Her elbow was covered with her thick coat and without even a second thought, with all her remaining strength, she elbowed it and it came away and fell on the hard soil. She quickly got out of the car and grabbed a shard, her heart feeling a little relief as the belt was slowly fraying.

Finally, it snapped. She pulled it and held on her unconscious mother. "It's going to be fine. I'll get us out of here."

Pain was shooting from her elbow and from her sides. On top of that, her head felt like it was being split into two (and maybe it was). But the blood trickling from her head had slowed down. That was a sign she was going to be fine, right? Her legs and feet were felt half-numb as she dropped to the ground off the road and rounded to her mother's side.

She pulled at the handle but it didn't open "NO!" she pounded on the window with her fist. The cracks on the glass multiplied. She tried again, feeling like she was going to lose consciousness herself.

But no. She had to keep herself awake.

She took a shaky breath and immediately coughed. The smoke from the hood was getting bigger. Surely, something under there could be on fire. Panic started to make her body move. Suddenly, she did not feel too much pain anymore as she helplessly tugged on her mother's door.

"Please," she whispered. But nobody listened.

She rounded back to her door. Her mother had to come out of here then. Half of her had already managed to climb in but then she was pulled back by an iron grip on her calf and arm.

"No!" she screamed as she was pulled away from the car. Her head hitting the handlebar. She blinked away stars from her vision but only saw that her mother was still inside the car. Her eyes slid to the hood and saw a lick of fire from under it.

"Let me go!!" she protested and thrashed—but whoever was holding her was not going to let her go. She did not know who this person was and where on earth did they come from, but she was going to kill them—but she needed to get her mother out first.

She tried to twist, to get a better movement space, but she was helplessly slanted over the ground, not really on her feet. Her legs tried push up from under her as she was being dragged away from the crash.

Finally, with her endless flailing, she had managed to free an arm and she quickly used her good elbow to jab the nobody on the side. She got to her feet and was about to sprint away but another pair of hands grabbed her from behind, pulling her from her stomach, crushing her already aching torso.

She cried out in pain, hoping for something—someone to come and save them. But as she was roughly hauled inside a heavily tinted car, her hopes began to die down. "Please," she said, tears streaming down her face. "Please, just let me save her and you can have me. Please."

She was still trying to move even though the silhouettes in the car crowded on her. "Please, I'll come with you. But you have to let me pull her out of the car."

"She's talking too much," said a voice. She looked around but it seemed to have come from somewhere else. "Give her a good dream."

"A good dream?" she uttered. What the hell were they talking about? When they gripped her, she suddenly understood what they meant. They were trying to press something on her face. They wanted to make her fall asleep.

She turned away from the hand. "Please, just a few seconds—"

But they were not listening and her body seemed to stop too. Her muscles ached—her everything ached. She could hardly feel anything, not even the fingers painfully tightening on her forearms. Am I close to death? she asked herself just before they pressed something soft and sweet-smelling on her face.

She started to lose grasp, her vision swam and blurred, her arms went slack and her legs stopped kicking.

No, her mind said. I can't die yet.

I have to save Mom.

But there was nothing else to do. Her eyes began to flutter close and she saw that the fire was already eating on the roof and her mother still had not moved an inch in the driver seat.

Am I dying?

No, not yet. I can't. Not yet.

But her body gave out and she was taken in darkness yet again.

**

Back in the hospital, Qing Chen was awakened by the screams of Feng Xuan.