Back Again (the novel)

Chapters 1 to 8

BACK AGAIN

BY SUSAN MAY

  

Chapter 1

4:29PM

4 MINUTES TO THEN

Fourteen seconds.

Dawn counted them down in her mind. On any other day, what difference would fourteen seconds make?

Today, they would be the difference between life and death.

Tommy would leave his music lesson any minute now. No, that was too vague. She knew the time. He would leave his music lesson at 4:33 and fourteen seconds. The seconds were what mattered. Fourteen increments of time that could—and would—change everything.

She checked the car clock. Dawn always glanced at it—she couldn’t help herself—though there was no need to note the time. She knew it.

4:29

Her hands twisted together in her lap before pausing to pull at a stray thread on her skirt. She wrapped it around her finger and pulled. The thread was always there. It came away from the material, but she kept it twisted on her finger like a ring, as if she were married to the moment.

Married. That was a few years ago. She didn’t think about Richard so much anymore. She used to, but there wasn’t the time to care and fuss about inconsequential things like a broken marriage since this.

How many times had she checked that clock? How many seconds had she counted down? Still, the beat echoed in her head as if she herself were a ticking time bomb.

Her mouth felt dry, not a normal dry but the draining thirst that no amount of water can quench. Without looking down at it, she pawed at the drink bottle sitting in the center console. Flicking the lid open, she raised it to her lips and sipped. As she did, the digital clock changed numbers.

4.33

She lowered the bottle, her fingers gripping the cylinder, as if it were the last rung of a ladder hovering over a long drop. The metal felt as cold as her heart in those times when it all seemed pointless.

The door of the music studio flew open. Tommy’s guitar, a large black case that seemed too big for his ten-year-old body, preceded him through the doorway. He paused and looked across the cars parked outside.

Catching sight of her, a smile erupted across his face and he waved. It was a small wave, one of those waves where you barely lift your hand. A wave that simply said I see you—you’re there. Not a wave to say I love you, you’re special or I am so happy to see you. Certainly, it wasn’t a wave to say goodbye.

Internally, she coughed back a sob as her hand raised to wave back. Her wave said more. It said I love you. I’m sorry. I will find a way to get you back.

Fourteen seconds to go.

 

Chapter 2

8:10AM

8 HOURS 23 MINUTES TO THEN

Today was not the best day of Dawn’s life. She’d had very little sleep thanks to last night’s phone call with Richard, her prick of an ex-husband. She tossed and turned most of the night, churning about his request.