Page 55

Claire

Now

The first thing I notice when I come to is the pressure.

My head feels like a balloon. Strobe lights of pain flicker through my vision, complemented by a ringing in my ears.

And then I understand why. The crash comes back to me in flashes. My hand on the wheel, the SUV flipping through the air, the bone-crushing contact as it collided with the ground.

When I force my eyelids open, I take in a blurry view of the windshield, so smashed it’s almost unrecognizable. And close, far closer than it should be. Then I feel the pain in my chest, the sharp, digging pressure of something cutting into my heart. The seat belt.

I try to unbuckle, but everything feels wrong, disorienting.

I blink and realize the ground is where the sky should be. I’m hanging upside down. I contort my body, every single bone and muscle screaming, and eventually manage to unbuckle the seat belt with one hand and prop myself against the roof of the car with the other.

I force open the door, which became unlocked at some point during the collision, and collapse with a grunt onto dirt and glass.

Shards dig into my back and legs, and my head feels as though I recently extricated it from a blender, but I force myself to a standing position. I realize with a wince that I can’t put any weight on my right leg.

Since I regained consciousness, my thoughts have floated around me like clouds, light and ethereal and just out of reach. But suddenly, the memories break through with sudden clarity.

Josh.

It’s then that I hear it. Something between a grunt and a groan filtering through the hazy, disturbed air.

He’s awake.

I hear glass crunch as he heaves himself from the vehicle, but I don’t bother turning. Instead, I run. Each step is agony, pain screaming through my leg. But I continue to hobble. I don’t have a specific destination in mind; I just need to get away.

I try to think how far we must have driven from the gas station. Josh had been weaving his horrible story for what? Ten, fifteen minutes maybe?

Could I get back there before he catches me?

No. The pain in my leg answers the question for me. In this condition, there’s no way I’ll make it.

But I need to try.

I don’t know how far I go, my breath shouting in my ears, drowning out everything aside from the pain that spasms through my body with every step.

I don’t even hear him behind me. Not until it’s too late.

And then he’s on me, his hands pushing into my back, forcing me onto the ground in one fell swoop. The air rushes from my chest, the pain in my leg temporarily forgotten as my forehead smacks the ground.

Suddenly his hands are around my neck, forcing out whatever air remains. I try to breathe, to tear his hands away, but the pressure is too much. Black dots dance in my peripheral vision, and I wonder if this was what it was like for Phoebe in her last moments.

I wish for someone to save me, but I know it’s futile.

I’ve exiled myself, worn my friendships down to razor-thin lines, so threadbare they may never be able to be sewn back together.

Just as Phoebe did. I think of Kyan, clinging to life in some remote hospital.

Of Ellery, shocked and hurt by me turning my back on her at the first chance.

Of Adrien, reeling from my brazen accusations.

And finally, of Declan. The man I lost twice.

I can tell I’m near the end. My muscles spasm as if I’ve lost all control over them. The black dots before my eyes become larger.

I prepare myself for it all to disappear.

And then the feeling is gone. Josh’s hands release. I don’t have time to question it. I’m too consumed with sucking in oxygen, my lungs burning deliciously as I gasp.

Seconds later I hear the sputtering of an engine, the crush of tires against the earth.

A car door slams, and I turn my head painfully, just in time to see a figure fly out of the driver seat. Taking after Josh, who’s already running in the opposite direction, back towards the car.

I blink hard, trying to clear my vision. It barely works, but it’s enough to identify the person chasing him.

Luke.

And suddenly I’m surrounded by three figures, all of whom are asking me questions in voices that are far too loud. I blink again as I take them in, their words humming around me like the flies I can never seem to escape out here.

Adrien. Ellery. And…

“Thank God you’re okay.”

Declan’s breathless words break through the haze of trauma and pain.

I move my arm towards him, a pathetic gesture, but one he accepts all the same, dropping down to the dirt, pulling me onto his knee.

But I need to know that Josh won’t get away. That after all these years, he’ll pay for what he did.

Declan tries to stop me, but I twist my body to follow the two figures running through the Outback, already so far away that they look like caricatures of themselves.

I briefly wonder why Josh is heading in that direction, back towards the car.

And then his earlier comment breaks through the haziness of my mind.

About the shovel he took from the Inn and threw in the trunk.

He’s going to use it as a weapon against Luke.

I try to call out, to warn Luke what’s coming. But before I can force out the words, the world around me erupts in flames.