I wrote this a while back and recently read it again. I realized how much I liked it, so please let me know what you think and if I should continue!

Flashback

It was December 20th, 2017. I was finally turning 21. The last liberating milestone birthday. Nothing could bring me down. I was going to my parents house for a special birthday breakfast, and that night I was supposed to go out with my friends to celebrate. But, then it all happened so fast. I was driving in the thick snow one minute and the next, everything was twisted sideways. I was lying on the ground and my vision was consumed in fire. Then, a bright white flash left me blinded with no sense of what happened. I heard a loud ringing and it destroyed my ear drums. Holding my ears, screaming my lungs out until I felt I had nothing left in me.

Present

I wake up in the woods. Laying on my back on a snow covered pine needle ground. As I stare up at the sky, arms by my sides, I close my hands around the snow pine needle mixture and take in a deep breath. Closing my eyes, the scent of pine trees and crisp snow air fills my nose, giving me a sense of calm. I open my eyes again and sit up, releasing the grip of my hands and letting the pine needles fall back to the ground.

Where am I?

Dusting off my gloves, I bring myself to stand up. There is nothing around me but trees. And behind those trees, are more trees. A dense forest of green surrounds me in every direction with no sign of anyone. I feel around the right pocket of my light pink knit cardigan and find my phone. Taking it out, I click the home button. It's 9:00 a.m. I have 7% and no service. There's only one thing I can think to do, and that's to start walking along the path I woke up on. With that in mind, I begin trying to find my way to the nearest road.

I check my phone periodically as I walk. When I first woke up I didn't feel cold. I didn't feel anything but peace, but as time dragged on, I started to get cold. I'm hugging my arms to my body and I see my breath rise above me as I take each step down the snow covered path. I check my phone again. 9:33 a.m. 6%. Then I saw it. The trees began to get less dense and I think I saw an opening a little bit further ahead.

Please be a road. Please…

I reach the street. It doesn't seem like the street has been plowed yet and oddly enough, it doesn't seem like any cars have driven past either. The snow is completely untouched. I glance to my right and notice a sign. I can't read it because of the snow. I walk over and dusting it off with my glove, I read it.

Welcome to Mystic Falls, Virginia.

As soon as my eyes read the word Virginia, I start to panic. I don't understand what could be happening. How I could have gotten here or who is with me or what happened before the white flash. I have no idea where to go, or what to do. I check my phone again. 9:42 a.m. 6%. I'm about to put my phone away when I realize I have service. I unlock it and the first person I think to call is my mom. She must be worried sick about where I am. How I didn't show up to her house for my birthday breakfast. I can't imagine the pain she and my dad must be feeling. I need to let her know that I'm okay. I dial her number and put the cold screen up to my ear. I listen to it ring. But no answer. I call my dad, no answer. My brother, no answer. My best friend. No. Answer.

Why isn't anyone answering. Wouldn't they want to know where I am?

Frustrated and confused, I begin to walk into the town called Mystic Falls.

As time passes by, I start to replay what happened before I woke up here. Loud crashes, flipping, flames. Pain. I believe I had been in a crash, but I don't know how I got here. I thought I was going to die. I don't know how I far I walked but when I looked up next, to the left, on the opposite side of the street was a small town grocery store. Looking both ways, I quickly crossed the street that was still untouched by any car tracks. The parking lot was empty. I walk across it, making my way to the doors ahead.

Cupping my hands above my eyes, I press them to the glass. The snow on my hands melts when it touches my face and starts dripping down my nose. I blink trying to focus on what's inside. No one is inside, and I don't see any sign of movement. I look around at the door, and there isn't any open or closed sign. The wind is starting to pick up and it's getting colder and colder every minute. I'm just so cold, out of habit I push the door, and miraculously it opened, sending me face first onto the cold tile floor inside.

The bell rings loudly. It's warm. I move my legs out of the way of the door and allow it to close completely. Just as it shuts, I stop feeling the wind, and relief washes over me. My heart beat is beating out of my chest. Still laying there on my side, I look up at the cash register, but no one is there. Or at any of them for that matter. I decide to finally say something.

"Hello?" I yell as I rise to my aching and cold feet. My shoes are soaked, along with the rest of my clothing. I may have escaped the outside wind and cold but my clothes are nothing but frozen ice shards.

What time is it?

I reach for my phone in my pocket again. I pull it out to check the time. 10:05 a.m. 5%. I have been out in the cold for at least an hour. I don't know how long I was out there laying on the ground. And I still have no recollection of how I got there. Not having any memories of getting here absolutely terrified me.

"Hello, is anyone here?" I begin walking in between the check out registers. And a cloud of worry washes over me. "Please, answer me! Is anyone here?" Still no response. The market is just how I entered it. Completely silent. I'm cold, and frustrated. And alone. And I don't know what is going on, so I cry. Staring at the ground below me, I just let it out frozen in fear. My tears begin to fall down my face like drops of rain on a window. My heart aches for a sign of anyone else here with me. Just someone to hold and comfort me, because I can't stand to be alone and confused any longer. Then a bell rings behind me.

I look up with the echo of the bell ringing in my ears. I stare straight ahead for a moment, making sure what I just heard wasn't just my mystified mind playing tricks on me. I slowly turn around to my right, arms pulled in tightly to my shaking body. I'm facing the glass doors in which I fell through not even 5 minutes ago. But, this time there is something standing between me and those same exact doors. A tall man.

"Please help me.." A shock of cold washes over my body, and I fall down to my knees. Still looking at him, I watch as he rushes over to me removing his jacket as he gets closer. He bends down to my level breathing heavily, looking into my eyes.

"This sweater you have on is soaked. Here, let's get that off. You can have my jacket." He grabs the neck of my cardigan, pulling it down, leaving my shoulders bare. I only had a tank top on underneath. He grabbed my right wrist, slipping it into his already warm black leather jacket, and did the same with my other arm. He moved gently but without any hesitation. Pulling the jacket up over my shoulders he spoke once again, looking back into my eyes.

"You're freezing. Come on, let's get you somewhere warmer." He continued to look into me eyes while he tried to lift me to my feet. I couldn't hold myself anymore.

"I can't… who are you?" I spoke slowly. I could barely think. I could barely stay awake. I felt so tired. I felt like I had no strength left in me.

"I will answer all your questions soon, Charlotte." It was after he spoke that that I closed my eyes and was completely at his mercy. He reached his arm around my back as I started to fall. His other arm scooped under my legs as he lifted me off the ground. My head rested on his left shoulder as he turned me around and began walking to the doors of the market.

I was still completely conscious of what was going on, I was just exhausted from the cold and worry that my body was under. As he carried me out of the doors, I felt his body tense up in the cold. I couldn't believe what was happening. Why he was helping me either. Or how he knew my name. All I knew is that as soon as I could, I needed to call my parents and let them know I was okay.

He carried me for what felt like forever in the cold. I'm not exactly sure how long it actually was, or how far we went, but I opened my eyes when he set my feet down into the cold snow. They couldn't get any colder, so I didn't have a reaction to it, but they ached. As my feet hit the ground, he still had his left arm wrapped around my waist pulling me in close to him to hold me up. My eyes were open just enough to watch as he reached for a car door.

"A car…" I spoke slowly and softly once again, "I need to get… I need… can you get me home?" There was a pause between what I said and what he said next. I had spoken as he gently turned me around and guided me to sit down on the back seat so I didn't fall. I don't know if he didn't hear me at first or if he didn't quite get what I said. But then, as I sat there, wearing the jacket of this stranger, in the car of this stranger, looking up at this stranger, he spoke.

"Don't worry…" He stood there, shivering in the cold as the snow and wind whipped back and forth, resting his forearm on the hood of the car. "We're going home right now."

We? Did he just say we? I don't even know you?

I had no memory of ever seeing this man in my life before. Yet he's here. He's helping me and going through far more trouble than necessary for me. I know how unsafe I could be right now. I know I need to get away from here and get home. I know I needed to contact my family and let them know I was alive. But I couldn't do anything. My body was so cold and so exhausted. I don't even know how long I was laying in the woods. I don't know how I got here or how to get home. All I knew was I was somewhere out of the wind and all I wanted to do was close my eyes. All I wanted to do was lay down here in this backseat and sleep until Spring. Despite everything telling me not to. But that's what I did.