THREE YEARS AGO

"Sam, wait!" I called to him as he came charging up to us, a murderous expression on his face.

Before I could stop him, Sam punched Will in the jaw, making him stagger backward. "You son of a bitch!" He yelled and went to hit him again.

Will was ready for it the second time, stepping away and touching his mouth, instinctively. "Look, man..."

"Don't 'look, man' me! She is fucking married, you asshole, AND pregnant! How can you take advantage of her like that?!" Sam shouted, taking a step towards Will as if he was going to try and hit him again.

I grabbed Sam's arm to try and stop him, but he shook me off.

"No," he said, sternly, turning his head to look at me. "You don't get to defend him. You're just as guilty. The only difference is, you're a girl and I can't hit you."

Then, Sam stormed out of the kitchen, making his way through the crowd and out the front door.

I didn't even blink at Will; I immediately chased after Sam, but I was stopped by Will's hand tugging on my wrist. "Beth..."

I turned my head to look at him. "No, Will. He's my husband. I have to go." I yanked my hand out of his grip and rushed out behind Sam.

Sam was getting into the car as I finally caught up. "Sam!" I called out to him, but he didn't stop. As he started the car, I climbed into the passenger seat. "Sam, please! Let me explain!"

"Either put on your seatbelt or get out," were the only words he spoke.

"You're going to drive?!" I asked him, incredulously.

Sam rolled his eyes. "Yes."

"Let me call an Uber," I suggested.

"No. I'm not leaving my car," he huffed.

"Then, let me drive," I compromised.

Sam narrowed his eyes at me and practically growled when he spoke again, "No! Now, put your fucking seatbelt on or get out of the goddamn car!"

I quickly buckled myself and half-turned to look at Sam as he backed down the driveway. "Sam, I didn't mean to..."

He cut me off. "You didn't mean to what? Make out with that douchebag? Damn near fuck him in the kitchen while you're carrying my child?"

"No, Sam," I told him, shaking my head. "It wasn't like that at all."

"Really? Sure looked that way to me. You were practically humping him when I showed up."

"I didn't mean for any of that to happen."

He turned his head to look at me. "Are you fucking kidding me, Beth! He has been following you around like a lost puppy since high school! He's been sniffing around, trying to get in your pants and you were gonna let him!"

A flash of light came across his face as he continued to yell at me, but I turned to look at the road ahead of us, realizing that he wasn't paying any attention to it.

"Sam!" I shouted, trying to get his attention, but he wasn't listening to me. "Sam!!"

"What?!" He snapped before turning to look at the car sliding towards us. "Shit!"

He tried to swerve but ended up hitting the guardrail and flipping us end over end until we finally came to a stop in the bottom of a very large, cavernous ditch.

I was hanging upside down and there was a throbbing pain in my stomach where my seatbelt sat; the baby inside me kicking wildly. I prayed that it was ok. I looked over at Sam, but he didn't seem to be awake.

"Sam! Sam, wake up!" I cried, but he didn't move. "Sam, please!!"

I tried to reach the buckle to release my seatbelt, but I couldn't seem to move my left arm and it was too far out of reach for the fingers on my right hand to touch it. My body hung there, suspended in the air, blood rushing to my head. Panic crept in as I realized that the only thing holding me up was my seatbelt that was strapped across my chest and stomach, meaning that all of my weight was on my baby.

"Sam!!" I screamed, tears swelling in my eyes and rolling up my forehead, into my hair. "Sam, wake up!!"

It was pointless. I screamed his name repeatedly until my throat went dry and my voice was hoarse, but he didn't budge. I bawled, fearing that Sam was dead and as the movements in my stomach subsided, I had a feeling my baby was dead as well. Slowly, everything started to get hazy as the pounding in my head and the ringing in my ears got worse until finally, I lost consciousness.

*****

"Beth...."

I heard someone call my name, but my head felt really hazy and it sounded distorted like I was underwater.

"Beth..."

There it was again and this time it was accompanied by my body feeling like it was falling- falling into the ground; the hard, cold ground.

"Beth..."

This time the voice sounded closer and as I tried to open my eyes to see who was calling for me, everything appeared contorted, almost malformed in a way. As I focused, however, the misshapen blob in front of me transformed into Sam.

"Beth!" He breathed out a sigh of relief. "Oh, I thought I had lost you!" He hugged me tight to him as we sat on the roof of the inside of our car.

"Sam...," my voice was barely a whisper. Everything in my body ached like I had overexerted myself. My left arm screamed in pain, but I couldn't see an injury. I felt my belly; it was hard and unmoving. "Ambulance...," was all I could mutter.

Sam skimmed over my body, checking for visible injuries. His eyes stopped at my belly. "Are you...ok?" His voice cracked some when he spoke.

"I...I...," my head was spinning and it took everything I had to remain conscious. "My belly....is..."

Sam's eyes hadn't moved from it. It was as if he was in a trance. He placed his hand against my abdomen, jerking it back quickly as if he had just touched something disgusting.

I was watching him. "What is wrong?"

"I don't know," he breathed. His hand was shaking as he reached out towards me, grabbing the end of my shirt and gradually peeling it back.

I couldn't see what he was looking at, but his face went white and he quickly tugged my shirt back down. "What does it look like, Sam?"

He turned his head to look me in the eyes and half-smiled. "Everything is gonna be ok," he tried to reassure me, but I knew there was something wrong; he couldn't fool me.

"Sam..."

"Shh...shh...it's gonna be fine, ok?" He attempted to comfort me as he stroked my head. "I gotta go get help. Can you get up?"

Tears sprung to my eyes as I tried to make my body move, but it wouldn't budge. "No," I shook my head slowly.

"Ok," he replied, kissing my forehead. "I'm gonna see if I can flash someone down. I'll be right back."

I nodded and he moved me off of his lap, laying me down gently before he began kicking out the cracked windshield, causing it to fold out. With one swift glance back at me, he climbed out and disappeared into the darkness.

I laid there for a while, listening to the crickets chirping around me. Our car had long since quit running. The lights were barely on; their glow flickering to signal that they're almost dead...just as I had thought Sam was, as well as this poor soul trapped inside me.

My head was throbbing, my body trembling from the cool midnight air that poured into the car from the broken windows. There was a stabbing pain pulsing in my arm and my stomach felt like it was filled with bricks. I'm sure that my hip was dislocated and my chest felt like it was on fire, the skin tender to the touch; no doubt due to the seatbelt that had etched its way into it.

Just when I thought I would pass out again, I could hear rustling and people shouting outside of the car. "Here! The car's here!"

Next thing I knew, they were cutting apart the car, because I couldn't move, and pulling me out. The ditch we drove into, was so big, it had swallowed the car whole. The people standing on the car were nowhere even close to being able to reach its opening. The paramedics, firemen and police at the top looked so small in contrast.

They managed to lift me up to the top and onto a stretcher. I searched the sea of strangers, looking for Sam, but he was nowhere to be found. "Where is my husband?" I asked the paramedic as they loaded me up in the ambulance.

"Your husband?" She gave me a troubled expression. "There was no one else here when we arrived ma'am."

Panic coursed through me. "Well, where did he go?!"

She shook her head at me as pity started to creep across her face. "I'm not sure ma'am, but we're going to take good care of you." She rubbed my arm, trying to soothe me.

I stared up at the roof of the ambulance as confusion filled me with so many questions. Where had he gone? Didn't he go to get help? Isn't that why they're here?

I turned to face her again. "How did you find out I was here?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "They don't tell me. I'm sorry. All I know is a call came in about a car in a ditch." Then, she went back to looking me over.

Sam...where are you?