Three Hey, lady, are you all right?”With the sound of the stranger's voice, the world came back slowly, vaguely, as she were swimming toward the surface in a cloudy pool of water. Denise couldn't feel any pain, but on her tongue was the salty-bitter taste of blood. She still didn't realize what had happened, and her hand traveled absently to her fore- head as she struggled to force her eyes open. "Don't move... . I'm gonna call an ambulance..." The words barely registered; they meant nothing to her. Everything was blurry, moving in and out of focus, including sound. Slowly, instinctively, she turned her head toward the shaded figure in the corner of her eyes. A man... dark hair... yellow raincoat... turning away... The side window had shattered, and she felt the rain blowing in the car. A strange hissing sound was coming from the darkness as steam escaped from the radiator. Her vision was returning slowly, starting with the images closest to her. Shards of glass were in her lap, on her pants... blood on the steering wheel in front of her... So much blood... Nothing made sense. Her mind was weaving through unfamil- iar images, one right after another...
Nicholas Charles Sparks (born December 31, 1965) is an American novelist, screenwriter and producer. He has published eighteen novels and two non-fiction books. Several of his novels have become international bestsellers, and eleven of his romantic-drama novels have been adapted to film with multimillion-dollar box office grosses.