The story below was inspired by The Last Sunset, a story written by Hez, which deals with Chet’s point of view during the same period of time. The two stories compliment each other. This is The Last Sunset from Annie’s POV. . .

Annie’s Last Sunset    by Linda2

A man stood outside the window of her crumpled car.  Annie had been watching the sunset, knowing it would be the last she would see.  She had been surprised when the man appeared.   At first she had thought he was another fireman, but then she realized he was dressed in white, rather than in a blue uniform.  The man held out his hand to her.

“It’s time for you to go now,” he said quietly. 

At first Annie was confused.  She could not go anywhere pinned as she was by the rods sticking out of her.  Then she knew what he meant.  She reached out her hand to him and he helped her to stand.  For the first time in hours, Annie was free of pain, she was able to move about freely and was able to pass through the wreckage that had once been her car. 

“Do we have to go right now?” she asked, unwilling to leave behind all that she had known.  Unwilling to leave behind the man whose loving care she had felt so briefly.

“No.  We can stay as long as you need to,” he said, smiling reassuringly. 

Annie looked back at the wreckage, seeing it from a whole new perspective.  She saw the tanker being lifted off of her car.  Then she looked in the car for the first time and saw herself sitting in the seat with the rods sticking out of her body.  The man who had stayed with her through it all still sitting beside her, holding her hand, staring out the window at her.  It took her a moment to realize Chester was not staring at her, but at the sunset they had been watching.  The sky was now black and the ocean behind her reflected only the stars. 

“Chet?”  Annie heard the voice of the man Chester had called Cap.  Looking at him now, for the first time, she saw a tall lanky man with dark hair.  He had a look of concern on his face.

“Cap! She’s not breathing!”  Chester yelled franticly, moving his hand to her wrist, searching for her pulse.  “I can’t get a pulse!”

“Come on outta there, Pal,” Cap said and then turning, walked away.

Annie watched as Chester took one last look at her face and then climbed out of the car.  He approached the two men who had been standing with Cap.  One had dark hair and was lanky, she saw him bend down and begin to place equipment in two boxes.  The other was the paramedic she had met when he had taken her vital signs and started the IV.  She watched as Chester climbed out of the car and went towards them.  Both men looked grim.  She could see Chester was angry.

“Whaddya waitin’ for?” he practically shouted the words at the paramedics.  “Get in there and help her!”

“I’m alright, Chester,” she cried, not realizing the men could not hear her. 

The two paramedics looked at each other, then the dark haired paramedic turned and started to walk away carrying both the drug box and trauma box.  The other one sighed.

“Chet…” he started but Chester interrupted him.  Annie could see how upset he was becoming.  She turned to her companion and he shook his head.  There was nothing either of them could do for Chester.

 

“Don’t ‘Chet’ me, Roy!” he said fiercely. “She’s stopped breathing and doesn’t have a pulse!  You need to get in there and do something!” He ripped the stethoscope from his neck and flung it at Roy.  Roy caught the instrument deftly with one hand.

“Chet,” Roy said, more firmly this time.  He moved closer to Chester and looked him in the eye. He spoke slowly and sadly. “We can’t help her now.”

“Whaddya mean, you can't help her?” Chester yelled, becoming more agitated with each word.  “You're paramedics, aren't you? What good are you if you can't help her?"  Annie watched feeling helpless, as Chester and Roy looked at one another for a long moment.  Both wished Roy wasn’t right, but, ultimately, both knew he was.  Chester turned to head back into the car, then, and to Annie, but Roy stopped him. He grabbed Chester’s arm and turned him so they were face to face.

"Chet," he said, "listen to me. She was too badly injured. Even if we'd gotten her out sooner, I don't think she would've made it! She was bleeding too badly, too fast. She’d lost too much blood already . . ."

"Don't you think I know that, Roy?" Chester yelled at him. "I've been sitting in there with her for hours, man! Hours! I've been kneeling in it! I'm covered with it!"  Chester stood back showing Roy what he meant. 

Annie was surprised to see Chester’s turnout coat and pants were covered in blood.  She gasped as a sick feeling went through her as she realized it was her own blood.  He was covered in her blood!  She had had no idea that he had been kneeling and sitting in her blood, he hadn’t said a word.  She looked back into the car and saw, illuminated by the spotlights, pools of blood on the passenger side of the car as well as all over her body. Blood that had been flowing slowly but steadily from her body over the past couple of hours, and pooled up on the seat where Chester had been sitting, kneeling, and crawling around.

Annie felt a sense of shock.  Before only a detached part of her brain had known she was dead.  It was obvious she was dead, but she hadn’t felt dead.  She didn’t feel dead now.  But to the deepest part of her, she knew she was dead.  She had known she was going to die when she had awakened and found herself trapped in her car, pinned to the seat by the rods.  She had, indeed, wondered why she was not already dead. Somehow the knowledge hadn’t bothered her.  She had accepted it.  What else could she do?  She hadn’t felt fear.  She had mostly felt annoyed.  What had annoyed her the most was the radio.  It was blaring and she couldn’t reach the volume switch to turn it down or off. 

Then suddenly the sound had stopped.  “Thank you,” she had said on a sigh of relief to no one in particular.  She had been surprised when a voice had answered her.  She had never believed in ‘love at first sight’ before, but then she had never met Chester B. Kelly before, either.  She knew as they talked and waited and watched the sunset that they had met for the first and last time.  She watched Chester now as he showed the men his blood covered self and wished that she could go to him and comfort him as he had comforted her.  She wished she could do for him what he had done for her.  Let him know he was not alone, that she cared for him.

Annie knew Roy was right. She knew he and John had done everything they could for her. She saw Chester’s face fall as he acknowledged to himself that he knew it, too. Letting go of Chester’s arm, Roy headed into the car, to check on her one last time and to retrieve his equipment.  As Roy walked away, Annie could see there was blood on his pants, too.

The atmosphere changed from controlled chaos, to solemn calmness, as the men shifted from rescue operation mode to recovery mode.

 

Cap grabbed Chester’s shoulders and led him back to the engine. He sat him down on the bumper. Annie went with them, unable to let Chester out of her sight.  They were away from the action here. Away from other people: away from prying eyes. Cap stood a moment looking down at Chester in concern, but Chester didn’t look up at him.

"You okay, pal?" Cap asked.

Chester nodded his head. Cap nodded his head in return, and said, "Just sit here for a bit, while we finish up over there, okay?"

Again Chester nodded. Annie could see the hurt and confusion in Chester’s eyes.  She wished she could speak to him, tell him she was okay.  But she knew she couldn’t, she knew he wouldn’t hear her any more than he had earlier.  She reached her hand out to place it on his shoulder, but drew it back when she realized she could not physically touch him.  She felt tears well up in her eyes.  She had known that a good bit of Chester’s talk had been bluff and bravado.  But seeing her valiant rescuer hurting and confused nearly broke her heart.  

Off in the distance, she could hear a song playing. Someone had a radio going. It was not the same song that had been blaring from her radio earlier. It was a different song, a sweet, sad song.

Now that she's back in the atmosphere, with drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey, hey . . .

Tears began rolling down Chester’s face.  She could only watch as Chester just sat there, letting the tears fall, not even trying to stop them.  As she watched, Annie could feel tears on her own face.

Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and head back towards the Milky Way?

As Chester cried, Annie cried with him, her heart broken at the sight of his pain.

Annie watched as much as she could endure.  She watched as the men removed her body from the car.  She watched as they pulled the zipper up over her face.  A face she had seen only in mirrors, until now.  She watched as Chester swiped at the tears and tried to collect himself.  She thought he looked guilty about something, but she couldn’t fathom what it could be.  She watched as they all climbed into their vehicles and drove away.  Only then could she leave. 

She returned to the sight later.  It had been cleaned up quickly. Little evidence of the accident remained. The skid marks were still visible on the road, and there was some broken glass covering the dirt and gravel beside the road. The large rock still bore the scars from where the tanker truck and her car had hit it.  Everything else was gone. If you didn't know there had been an accident there, if you didn't know what to look for, you would have missed it.  Mercifully, the blood was also gone. The pavement had been washed down and was almost dry now.

 

She saw Chester pull up in his car.  She had known he would come.  She wanted to say goodbye.  Wanted to tell him how grateful she was, even if he couldn’t hear her.  Maybe now that the emotions were not so high and all the commotion was gone, he would be able to hear her on some level. 

She saw Chester look out over the ocean as the sun began to sink down.  He was more at peace now.  He listened to the radio, and watched the sunset.  She watched it along with him, knowing it would be her last.  A feeling of peace began to pervade her as she watched.  She knew she could leave all of this now.  There was only one thing left for her to do, then she could go.

After the sun finally sank into the Pacific, the sky went dark lavender pink at the horizon line, gradually changing to a light orange, then peach, then yellow, then up into the white blue, light blue, on into a darker blue way, way up. A few wispy clouds hung there glowing orange in the swiftly fading light. The sea was lavender blue, the waves, large and small, were indigo lines dancing across the surface. It wasn’t as spectacular as the one they had shared before, but it was beautiful and peaceful.  A light breeze blew off the ocean ruffling Annie’s hair.  She held up her face to it and breathed it in, eyes closed.  Contentment filled her, from the top of her head to her toes. 

When she opened her eyes, the sight that met them was beautiful. The sea was a silver indigo now, with a smudged dark blue line on the horizon. The muddy orange now melted into a dirty, yellowed peach then up into various shades of blues and into the black of the night sky. Little pinpoints of light flickered there. Stars.

Chester was looking at the stars speculatively, a peaceful look on his face.  She knew it was time for her to speak.  To tell him what she had come to say.  Even though she knew he could not see or hear her, she looked directly at him as she spoke to him. 

“Chester,” she began, “I just want to let you know how grateful I am for all that you did for me.  I know it wasn’t easy and you could have bailed out at any time.  It was such a comfort having you there to help me through it.”  Suddenly Annie was overcome by emotions, tears welled in her eyes.  “Without you,” Annie felt choked up, she had thought she had herself under control, but this was harder than she had thought it would be.  Swallowing the lump in her throat, she continued, “without you it would have been so much harder.  I hope you know how much you helped me, how much you meant to me.  I love you, Chester.  I will never forget you,” she finished, wiping the tears from her face.  

She noticed Chester was staring up into the sky, smiling.  She turned to follow his gaze curious as to what held his attention.  A particularly bright, sparkling star caught her eye.  Suddenly Chester spoke, startling her. 

"Goodbye, Annie. I'll never forget you."

 

“Goodbye, Chester B. Kelly,” Annie said, looking into his face.  It was no longer suffused with pain and sadness.  Peace returned to her, Annie knew she could go now.

The End

 Guest Dispatchers