Chapter 2

The figure Kelly saw on top of the hill was, in fact, not her husband. She heard a voice call, "Down there! The van's down there!" In the background, there were sirens going off. Still keeping an eye on the form on the hill, wary, untrusting, Kelly sat up a bit. "J--Jason? Mary?" she cooed softly, as her hand crept back behind her, trying to make sure they were still safe.

"Mommy?" said Jason, the younger of the two children, groggily. "Mommy, what happened?"

"Shh," she replied hastily. "Keep quiet." She looked back and made eye contact with her son. "I'm right here. I'll be right here, okay?" She glanced back toward the person on the hill, and turned around to face her daughter, who had a look of pure shock on her face. She brought her hand towards Mary's face, and stroked her chin, saying, "I'm right here, Mary. I won't leave you." As a smile awoke on her face, Mary looked at her mother, comforted.

Kelly unbuckled herself, and got to the back of the van to get the two kids undone from their seats. "We're going to go talk to that man up on the hill over there," she said, pointing at the shape on the hill, "and see if he knows where Daddy is, okay?" The children nodded their heads in agreement.

Finally having gotten them out of their seats, Kelly took each of them in one hand, brought them out of the van, and began walking toward the man on the hill. She was a bit dizzy and light-headed from hitting her head, but she was going to get there. She needed to find out where her husband was, where her children's father was.

The person on the hill pointed down at them and yelled, "Hey! Down there!"

"H--Hello?" Kelly responded.

The silhouette began to scramble down the slope to them. As they came closer to view, Kelly recognized who it was. The face on the person approaching belonged to none other than her good friend Kristin Aria. She pulled her kids along after a moment of hesitation, and then smiled to the other woman.

Mary asked, "Where's Daddy?"

Kelly replied hoarsely, "I--I don't know. I think--I think he might be..." Her breath caught, and she looked at Kristin, teary-eyed. "His door was missing when I woke up, and so was he."

"No, no, he's fine," Kristin said with a pleasant smile. "He's fine. We found him already. He was looking for paramedics because you guys were out cold."

Kelly whipped up her head to look at Kristin, hysterical and smiling. "Thank God," she exclaimed, as she let go of her kids' hands and wrapped Kristin in a warm embrace.

"Now, we just need to get you back with your husband."

"Yes, yes, that would be good," Kelly said quickly, distantly. "It'd be very good." She took her children's hands again, shaky.

Mary looked at Kristin and asked, "What happened, Miss Kristin?"

Kristin slowed for just a moment, and then said, "I'll tell you when we get to the top, okay?" She winked at the girl.

"Okay," Mary said cheerfully. They made their way up the hill in silence. A slight breeze only added to the chilling effect that things were just too quiet around, but Kelly had no way of breaking the quietude that surrounded them. She was lost in her own thoughts, and concentrating hard on trying to figure how what happened, happened.

They reached the top, and a stream of black asphalt crept into Kelly's vision. She looked up and to the left as her husband called her name. Bringing Jason and Mary up to the road, Kelly let go of their hands and turned to take Jake in her arms. "Oh, god, Jake, I'm so glad you're alive!"

He patted her back blankly and pulled away. He smiled a second before bursting into tears. "I can't believe it's you. Kelly, it's you!"

"Why, yes, it is," she said, confused. Turning to Kristin, she continued sternly, "What happened?"

"Well," she said, "it's like this. When Jake came up the hill, he was fine, but something about what happened caused him to be..." She took a deep breath, closing her eyes, and finished, "To be blind."

"B--Blind? As in he can't see?"

"That's right," Jake said suddenly. "I can't see anything right now. We don't know if I'll be able to see again, but for right now, there's nothing we can do about it."

Taken aback, Kelly asked, "So what happened, anyway?"

"Well," said Kristin, hesitantly, eyes lowered, "we don't exactly know."

"Huh?" Kelly was confused, and somewhat downcast by the lack of understanding. "What do you mean?"

"We... don't know." They stood still for a moment. "We should go," Kristin said finally, breaking the awkward silence.

"All right, then, let me help you get Jake into the ambulance," Kelly responded. She was still unsure of what was going on, and it disturbed her. Something didn't quite feel right.

"No, you should let me do that," a masculine voice said from the front of the vehicle. A man stepped around and approached them.

"Nick, Kelly. Kelly, Nick," Kristin said quickly in introduction. "He's been my partner for a couple days now. He's new to the team. But he does his job well," she said proudly.

"Nice to meet you," Kelly said, pensive.

"A pleasure," said Nick with a nod. Nick and Kristin then took Jake onto the ambulance, and Nick headed to the front. Kristin popped out again and propped Jason on her hip while Kelly put Mary on hers. The two women pulled themselves onto the ambulance and Kristin shut the door.

"Are any of you hurt very badly?" she asked as she strapped Jake in. "We're ready to go!" she called to Nick.

"I don't think so, but Jason might have had a concussion. He was bleeding from his ear," Kelly responded.

"Let me take a look at 'im. C'mere, Jase, I need to check out that cut, okay?"

"Okay!" said Jason eagerly as he moved toward Kristin.

Just after he reached her and she had him on her lap, a loud "Oh, shit!" came from the front. Everyone lurched forward as the vehicle squealed to a stop. Mary began sobbing, and Kelly held her, whispering in her ear, "Shh, it's gonna be all right."