A NEW DAY 
by Michelle T
© 2000

PROLOGUE

For twenty minutes she had sat dazed inside the car waiting for someone, 
anyone, to drive by.  She finally snapped out of it and reached for her cell 
phone on the seat next to her.  She brought it up close to her face and 
groaned when she realized the battery had gone dead.  She slowly and 
painfully pulled herself out of the car, for fear it may catch fire.  Once 
outside, she was soaked to the skin immediately, her long blonde hair 
plastered to her head.  She crossed her arms over her chest as she started to 
shiver and swore to herself for not having a sweatshirt or jacket to pull on.

As she stood beside the car, looking around at the deserted road, it dawned 
on her she had no idea what to do.  She walked a few steps and felt dizzy.  
The rain was lashing down upon her as she sunk to the wet ground and started 
sobbing her heart out, her back leaning against the bumper of her totaled 
vehicle.  Fear and anger raged through her body.  She didn't know these roads 
and she should have driven slower when the downpour began.  Her car had 
seemed to take on a mind of its own when it suddenly hydroplaned and spun 
completely around.  It finally came to rest on the wrong side of the road 
against a telephone pole.  

She groaned loudly from the throbbing pain coming from her right hand and 
wrist.  She pulled her arm away from her chest and looked through the rain at 
her hand.  "Damn it," she shouted, "What the hell am I going to do now?  I 
have to get back to Kim.  My God, she doesn't even know I left."  She turned 
slightly to her left and rested her head against the bumper and squeezed her 
eyes shut against the pain.  Within moments, blackness engulfed her.