4. Four Strikes

"It's ok Nissa, really! I'm sorry I worried you. I couldn't find my..." 

"Rah-rah!" Lila interrupted again, stretching her bulgy fingers toward Sara's gurney. Instinctively, Sara moved to meet her reach, until sickening pops cracked midway down her torso.

"God, your poor face. Oh, Sara! We drove by your car; it's so... Jesus, I'm relieved you're safe. I spoke to the officer who found you. God, I'm so grateful he was there!"

"I wasn't arrested, it was a guy with sunglasses. I tried to start the car on my own, but the stupid thing's gonna need another tow." Sara's fuzzy mind tangled with the disjointed logic. 

Nissa placed a loving hand on her friend's tattered arm, "Your car... sweetie, it rolled down a cliff onto a private prison road. Officer Nurelli was the only one scheduled to drive that way today." Salt pricked her eyes, but she fought to maintain control, stopping and starting to make sure she did not upset her fragile audience. "Oh God, Sara! I'm still shaking from thinking of you inside there!"

Broken images scattered beneath Sara's dazed expression, further muddying the troublesome sequence of logic. She squinted until the pressure on her corneas choked-out her buzzing thoughts, then meekly whimpered, "I want to go home now."

Nissa tenderly stroked Sara's blood-scored skin, "Yes, hon, we will take you home with us, okay? Jacob and I will go over later and collect your things, so you don't even have to go back."

"W-why can't I go back?"

"Sweetie," Nissa gulped, searching her mind for every possible way to avoid bringing up Sara's fiancee, "you suffered a major concussion hours before the accident. They actually said that might be the reason you survived and didn't break any more bones..."

This time, Sara only narrowly resisted unconsiousness, "More?"