The Ravine

Carol awoke to a pulsating, painful pressure. Her head throbbed violently and then the world came to again. Jameson, still cradled in her arms, was whimpering. He had been crying for awhile and was worn out by the time Carol regained consciousness.

“Ow. Damn.” Carol shook her head to reorientate herself and put her fingers to where her head ached. She felt something wet on her fingers and pulled them away. A red substance covered her fingertips. Blood. She wiped her fingers off on her pant leg below the knee. She screamed out as she brushed against it.

“Oh, God—” Carol shook her head again. “Jameson!”

“Jamey, sweetie. Are you alright?” She looked down at her son, nestled snugly between the seatbelt and her chest. He whimpered again. She inspected him, gently prodding his body with her fingers. He protested a little but there was nothing that signified to her that he’d been injured. At least not enough for it to be any kind of concern. It was a miracle. Carol, it seems, had taken the brunt of the injuries from the crash and that was fine by her. She could manage. It was Jameson she was most concerned about. Her attention returned to her leg and determining why it had hurt so bad when she brushed her fingers against it. To prepare to examine it, she looked around. As time passed she seemed to be able to focus better through the throbbing pain in her head. Somehow, after she was knocked unconscious, the sedan had righted itself before reaching the bottom of the embankment and settling into the ravine. That was fortunate. What was also good was that they were out of direct sunlight; nestled snugly beneath the thick fir canopy. This wasn’t to say, however, that the two didn’t feel the heat. It was still plenty warm. The canopy just provided a cooling barrier.

Carol’s thoughts returned to the situation; her leg, the condition of the car, and freeing herself up enough to check out the remaining injuries. With where she was situated, the front windshield was still intact, suffering only a few small cracks placed in random places where it had made contact with the sloping terrain. The window on the driver’s side, in their rolled-down state, were untouched, but hillside debris had made its way in, pressing against the doors and flowing a bit over the threshold of the windows. The passenger side windows were only partially rolled down and had substantial breaks along the top where they had collided with the earth and the doors were pretty banged up, as well. Carol could see that the space between the two doors had been pushed in at the bottom where it collided with the rock near the top of the hill. They did appear able to be opened, though Carol was sure she’d have to put some muscle into it. Finally, Carol stretched her neck to see the seat behind them. Jameson’s seat had been tossed around and now sat on its side behind her seat and there was broken glass with remnants of Jameson’s juice scattered about the seat and floor. The front passenger’s seat to her right was untouched, save for a few specks of dirt and some small rocks. Carol reached for her leg.

“Jamey, Mommy’s gonna move you into the seat right next to mine, okay?” She oriented him to face her and beamed a warm, confident smile at him. He now cooed and smiled back. His eyes had started growing heavy and he would soon sleep. Carol picked Jameson up to move him over, straining against his weight in her weakened condition. Everything moved as she shifted him over and set him down, especially her leg. When she was sure he was settled in comfortably, Carol leaned down to grab her left pant leg.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Carol grabbed both sides of her pant leg and gradually pulled it up. Tears welled in her eyes and her breathing became short and shallow. She had to stop mid-way. A few seconds went by before she took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and resumed. As she pulled it up the pant leg became tighter and the resistance caused a tidal wave of excruciating agony to lay her flat.

“Oh God,” Carol sobbed.

“Ma—,” Jameson called out softly.

“Momma’s okay.” Carol forced a smile and looked back down at her leg. Just below where the pant leg was caught she could see black and purple; swelling. Carol knew that her leg was bad. It was undoubtedly broken. On the floor on Jameson’s side Carol eyed the near-empty water bottle that she had been drinking from. She reached for it, straining in pain, before clutching it in her fingers. She opened the cap and drank.

The afternoon crept on.

Jameson was fast asleep and, with the pain in her head subsiding with the aide of hydration, Carol soon joined him.

In the short time she was out Carol relived the accident; the road, the sliding of the sedan, its suspension over the shoulder of the road, and its fall into the ravine. She could even hear the scratching of the metal; a monotonous, sliding shriek followed by a loud bang. Jameson screamed bloody murder and Carol jolted violently awake.

The sedan shook harshly and Jameson cried out again. Outside his door the scratching that she had heard in her dream continued, followed by an unearthly snarling and growling. Carol leaned forward, attempting to comfort her son when a head popped up and into the space of the open window.

“No. No!” Carol grabbed Jameson and pulled him to her. The head lunged forward, sending broken bits of glass into the passenger side. Its hind legs scrambled to vault the metal barrier between the beast and its meal.

“Fuck. Fuck You!”

Carol freed her one good leg and kicked at it, brushing against its muzzle. Jameson screamed louder. The beast growled and snarled more angrily, snapping at Carol’s leg. She kicked again and it snapped its jaws aggressively, catching Carol’s pant leg. She screamed in surprise and the beast pulled. Carol did, too. The fabric tore free and Carol cocked her leg, thrusting it at her attacker and landing her foot square on its snout. The beast cried out in surprise and retreated, yelping, snarling and sneezing. In the distance, Carol could hear the sound of it howling as it disappeared into the thick wilderness beyond.

“Shhh. Shhh, Jameson.” Carol rocked her distraught child in her arms. “It’s okay. We’re safe now.”

Jameson’s wild cries of terror transitioned into meek gasps of breath interspersed with fresh spurts of tears before eventually dying down in response to his mother’s soothing tones.

“It’s over, Jamey. It’s over.”