Chenford Story ✔️

53

Tim's POV

This time Lucy wasn't wearing any jewellery for me to find her with. I could see that even in the few seconds of video I got from the chat with Rosalind. Unless she by some miracle made another signal for me to find her, which I doubted considering how absolutely terrified she seemed at even the thought of another oil barrel, there was no way we were going to find her in time.

I started kicking at the ground around me as officers fanned out. Almost every officer spare in the entire Mid Wilshire station was here. All kicking at dirt trying to listen for a single metal noise.

Nothing.
I moved to the next location.
Nothing again.
Again. And again. And again.
Hundreds. Of. Times.

Lucy was definitely dying now, if not already...
I brushed the awful thoughts away to continue kicking aimlessly at dirt and leaves hoping to hear the collision of my boot with a metal lid. Nothing.

We continued for what felt like days, but was probably only a few minutes.
*Clank*

I felt the sole of my boot connect with the lid of a barrel.
"Barrel over here!"
A dosen or so officers started helping me dig out the opening of the barrel.
Letting me pry the lid off with my bare hands.
Empty.
No one was inside.
No evidence anyone ever had been.
Lucy wasn't there.

I got up and just got back to kicking, trying to stop the few tears that I had allowed to fall stung my eyes. After that more officers started finding barrels. Each and every one empty. No signs of anyone ever being there.
Still we dug each one out as fast as possible.
Hoping. Preying that Lucy would be inside one of them.

My eyes searched the ground for something.
Another ring maybe? A scrap of clothing?
Anything to give me some direction in this massive forest.

I saw a small trail of blood.
One way was leading in the direction of the house where Rosalind and Emmet had tortured Lucy. So the other way...

I took off at a sprint, not waiting for even a second to catch my breath while I darted through the trees down a thin track.

I had been sprinting for about five minutes by the time the trail stopped.
I stated kicking. Knowing the next nearest officer would take at least a few minutes to find me.
Please.
I heard the now familiar clank of metal on the soul of my shoe. I started frantically digging, grabbing out rocks and handfuls of dirt as quickly as possible. I saw the lid of the barrel after a minute of digging and radioing my position to dispatch to alert the other officers.
I pried open the rusty lid.
Lucy's curled up body lay inside.
In a small pool of her own blood.
She wasn't conscious.

I dragged her out as carefully as I could while going as fast I could allow.
No pulse. Not breathing.
I started pushing down on her chest.
1,2,3...
15,16,17...
28,29,30...
I gave her the two breathes before starting the compressions again.
Please Luce...
At this point I didn't care about the tears streaming down my entire face.
I needed to save Lucy.
7,8,9...
18,19,20...
28,29,30...
Two more breaths.
I felt for her pulse again.
A feint beat sounded back.

Oh thank god.
She was alive.
So close to death but still hanging in.
I saw the blood seeming out of almost every inch of her skin.
The bruises and cuts that covered her.
The amount of bones definitely broken.

I had seen her die three times now.
The first barrel.
Her suicide.
And now.

Hopefully never again.
I couldn't handle having to bring her back again.
Doing it successfully three times was already a miracle. I couldn't hold out for a forth.

A heard the blades of a nearby helicopter.
Thankfully the air ambulance found a clearing nearby big enough to land in and they loaded both me and Lucy into the back of the helicopter before flying to the nearest hospital.

I felt her pulse weaken further as I held her hand.

Lucy's POV

I stood up in the....
Where was I?

My mind flashed back to the barrel.
It seemed like a lifetime ago.
I looked around me.
Everything was so white.
So clean.

Jackson came running up to me, Zoe Anderson behind him.
"Lucy!"
I blinked at seeing them.
Oh yeah.
That was where I was.
Dead.
I had died.

This didn't feel like it did last time.
When I tried to kill myself.
N

ow I felt split.
Now I didn't want to stay here.
Jackson out his hand on my shoulder.
It was a cold hand.
A dead hand.

I wasn't sure what else I expected.
He was dead after all.
"You don't have to stay here you know? It's your choice"
Jackson spoke again.
A week ago I was so sure what I wanted.
To marry Tim and have more kids with him and be together forever.
That was before I got my memory back.
Before I knew that he lied to me.
"You're conflicted."
I nodded at Zoe.

"It's ok, to be conflicted I mean. Just...
Jackson and I... We weren't saved in time. No one was there in time to save us. But they're still trying to save you Lucy. Your physical body is going to the hospital. Tim saved you again. You don't have to stay here."
I shook me head. I didn't want Tim to have saved me. God I never even wanted to see him again.
I was meant to solve all for our issues by sending him away for a few days.
"Luce..."
Jackson started talking again. Softly and quietly, almost like he didn't truly want to say what he was saying.
"You'll come back here. Back to us. When you die properly. After you and Tim grow old togather and have your fami-"
"Tim and I aren't growing old together. We're over. Forever."

Jackson and Zoe seemed momentarily shocked.
"So.... You don't want to go back?"
"I-im not sure... How long d I have to decide?"
"Not really sure. I guess however long you want everyone in the land of the living room worry that your dead."
I chuckled at that.
"You will see us again Lucy. But you won't be able to live again. Just go back..."
Anderson gave great advice, like usual.
"Sure. I'll go back to the land of the living. I'll survive."
I started walking in one direction. Not entirely sure where I was going but positive that I was going where I needed to.
Jackson and Zoe would have to wait for me to die. I still had a life to live.