Little Buried Secrets

The clock is ticking, and for Margot, time has just run out.

Margot Remington exits the wood-lined boardwalk at Moonstone Beach and pedals her bike onto the highway. It's dusk, and the sky has started to grumble, the clouds shifting and bending as they turn a melancholy shade of gray. Rain is coming. Margot can smell it in the air. But after the argument she’s just had with her sister, she isn't ready to return home just yet.

Glancing at her watch, Margot realizes she’ll have little time to freshen up before her date if she doesn't return home soon. She pedals faster, slowing when a pickup driving in the opposite direction swerves, its headlights blinding her as it zooms her way. Margot skids to a stop, realizing her mistake when the pickup shows no signs of braking.

In a split-second, the pickup collides with Margot, and she finds herself hurdling through the air, the bike going one way as she goes the other. Mind whirring, her life's memories flash before her, along with a single wish--that today isn't the day she's going to die.

• Mystery & Suspense