Misguided Ghosts

Chapter Fifty-Five

Fifty-Five – Tay

“Come on, come on!” I growled as I stalked down the road, pressing my phone to my ear. I kept trying Adam’s house, but the line kept dropping out. I cursed under my breath, causing the people I walked past to tut at me.

The moment my phone began to buzz, it was against my ear. “Jade?”

“Tay, I’m scared,” It was like she was whispering. “Daddy’s mad,”

“What’s happened, Jade?” I felt terrible for making her explain, but there was no other way to go about it. I couldn’t jump in without knowing what I would be dealing with. “Can you tell me what’s happened?”

“He got a phone call and started shouting. Then he started throwing things,” Her small voice cracked. “What if he throws me?”

“I’ll be right over,” I said soothingly. “What I want you to do is hide somewhere safe, okay? I promise I’ll come get you,”

I felt something snap my head up and I hissed sharply, rubbing my neck.

“Please hurry,” The line went dead.

My mind whirred. It would be quicker to walk over to Jade’s, not only because of various shortcuts, but because if I rang Ed, I would have to wait for him to drive over to where I was and then drive to Adam’s house, which would take more time. Taking a deep breath, the cool air stinging my lungs, I began to walk briskly.

Once I was past the town, I broke out into a jog. The weeks back at the pool had brought my endurance back up, to the point where it was almost the same as it had been before the accident. As my feet took me where I needed to go, I mulled over one question that I had only just started thinking about.

Why had I recovered so quickly?

It should have taken months at the least to get my strength and endurance back up to a level that I was happy with, not to mention my speed. My muscles should have needed to readjust to swimming again, and they shouldn’t have been as muscular as they were when I woke up. There had to be some kind of unworldly explanation for it – no medicine could have kept me that way. It was like I’d been suspended: everything about me just grinding to a halt until I woke up. My insides twisted into a knot. Had Ed done something stupid to keep me like that? I shook my head. He couldn’t have. He loved me the way I was, didn’t he? He had to. He’d seen me at my worst and at my best, so that had to count for something, right?

My mind suddenly changed subject, almost making me jump. What had that thing on my neck been? If I hadn’t known better, I would say that it felt like a noose had snapped around my neck, ready to kill me. My breath trembled, forming a cloud in the darkness. Now wasn’t the time to get scared. I had to be strong for Jade, and sort out what was wrong with Adam. Part of me thought that it had been Jade’s mother on the phone, because the subject of her always triggered some kind of negative reaction in Adam. I wanted to help both of them, but Jade was my priority. Adam was an adult and she was a child.

I stopped for breath, my chest heaving while I wheezed, struggling to catch my breath. My feet hurt thanks to the stupidly flat shoes that I was wearing and my swimming bags were cutting into my shoulder. Why couldn’t they have introduced rucksacks instead of duffle bags? It would certainly make running to someone’s house a hell of a lot easier. My breathing was getting better, steadier.

“Okay,” I said slowly, glancing around at where I was. “Almost there. Come on, Woodson, one final sprint,”

Even though I was talking to myself, it came me comfort. ‘One final sprint’ was what Adam always said to me when I was competing, in the few minutes I had before my final race. He would make sure I was as relaxed as possible, because I couldn’t race when I was nervous.  It was common knowledge amongst the team that I swam better with a clear head. If I was distracted, or had something on my mind, I tended to mess up. I took one final, deep, calming breath, just like I did when I was on the blocks, waiting for the klaxon to signal the start of the race, and began to run once more.