She Never Stopped Talking

Synopsis: A knock on the door in the middle of the night. Your heart races and you know if you answer that knock, your world might change forever. Nichole opened the door the night that knock came and, in one split second, her world came crashing down.

A horrible car accident starts the downhill plunge that slowly begins to destroy a once happy family. Never in a million years did Nichole consider, when she opened the door, that she would be spending months in a hospital sitting next to her comatose daughter.

Somethings are not what they seem and, soon after the accident, Sheriff Katts determines that it wasn’t an accident at all but a deliberate act of a jealous ex-boyfriend. However, knowing it and proving it are two different things. Before Sheriff Katts can make an arrest, the young man is found murdered. And, there are plenty of suspects, including Nichole.

When Sheriff Katts is sure he has his man, new evidence points him in an entirely different direction and to another body, discovered in a place where no one ever wants to be.

Excerpt From: She Never Stopped Talking

Taken from Chapters: May/Prom Night and Chapter One

“What the hell?” Blake Armstrong exclaimed, as he rolled over and glanced at the clock on the nightstand. “It’s one-thirty in the morning,” he muttered. “Who the hell could that be?”

“Maybe Kari forgot her key,” Nichole mumbled as she reached up and turned on a light. “Do you want me to get it?”

“No,” Blake answered. “Stay here. I’ll see who it is.”

Nichole watched as her husband grabbed his robe and walked out of the room to answer the door. A few moments later, Nichole heard loud voices coming from the living room. Concerned, she jumped out of bed, threw on her robe, and ran to see what was happening.

As she entered the living room, she saw two police officers helping Blake to the couch

“No!” Blake sobbed. “It has to be a mistake.”

“What’s a mistake?” Nichole asked.

“I’m sorry, but there’s been an accident, ma’am,” one of the officers told her.

“Oh, my God. Please, tell me nothing has happened to one of the kids.”

“It’s Kari,” Blake told her. “She’s been in an accident and it’s bad. They don’t think she’s going to make it, Nichole.”

Nichole grabbed the back of a chair and braced herself. “What kind of an accident?” she asked the policemen.

“It was a car accident. I’m sorry, ma’am but the driver didn’t make it and . . .”

“Was it Logan Sands? Kari went to the prom with him tonight.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry to say he was killed instantly.”

“Oh, dear God, no. What about his parents? Do his parents know yet?”

“I believe they are being notified right now.”

Nichole took a deep breath and let it out. “I need to go to her,” she said, trying to calm down. “Please, tell me, where have they taken my daughter?”

One

December – Seven Months Later

Nichole looked over at her daughter and sighed. “Come on, Kari,” she said softly. “Wake up, will you? Enough already. We need you to come back to us.”

“She can hear you, you know. One of these days she just might answer you.”

Nichole jumped at the sound of the man’s voice. She turned and smiled. “You scared me.”

“Sorry.”

Nichole glanced over at Kari and shook her head. “How can you be so sure she hears me?”

“I’ve had patients that have been in comas for hours and some for years. Almost all of them have said that they remember people talking to them. I’m pretty sure that Kari knows you’re talking to her.”

“I don’t know, Doctor. I’d like to think so, but sometimes I think I’m wishing my life away. It’s been over six months since the accident. Maybe, I should give in to Blake’s wishes and let her go.”

Dr. Ben Campbell pulled a chair over next to Nichole and sat down. “When I was a teenager, I had a friend who was in a car accident and sustained injuries much like what Kari has experienced. It happened on a Christmas Eve. Seven years she was in a coma, Nichole. She hung on for seven years. Finally, her parents gave up and made the decision to pull the plug - so to speak - and you know what happened?”

Nichole shook her head no.

“She woke up. Just like that. No warning. Nothing.”

Nichole glanced up at him. “And?”

“When she went home, she found her Christmas presents waiting for her. All wrapped up just like they had been seven years ago. Her parents had so much faith that she’d wake up and come home that they never threw the gifts out or changed a thing in her room. Everything was exactly the same.” Dr. Campbell smiled. “So, to answer your question. Well, Nichole, I had dinner with her and her husband last week. So, don’t you give up yet, you hear?”

Nichole smiled. “I won’t. It’s just that it gets hard sometimes, you know.”

Dr. Campbell stood and put his hand on Nichole’s shoulder. “I know. But, hang in there a little longer. You never know what God has planned for you. And, for Kari.”

“Thanks, Ben. I need a little pep talk now and then.”

“How’s your boy doing?”

“Keith is fine. He misses his sister, of course, but he’s doing okay.”

“Good. And, how is Blake? I don’t see him here very often.”