Cold Hearts in The Rain

Chapter 28

My mom looked nervous at the wheel of the car. She kept repeatedly looking behind her, past me. I didn't know what was happening, or what was wrong. I just knew that her fear scared me.

"He's following me again," my mom growled. "That bastard." She stopped at a red light and quickly fumbled in her bag.

"Baby, I need you to call your father for me. Can you do that?"

"Yes, mommy." She handed me a flip phone. I knew about speed dial because it was a thing then, and clicked it. My dad picked up after the third ring.

"Daddy, mommy told me to call you."

"Tell him Clark is following me again."

"Clark is following mommy again."

"Tell her to come to my office," my dad said.

And then I'm suddenly not there anymore. I see a man talking to my mom outside of the car with pleading eyes. My mom, however, was not so receptive to his pleas.

"You stay away from me and my family!" she snapped. He went to grab her but she easily moved away and stepped into the car, locking it.

"Mommy, who's that man?" I asked.

"That's Clark," she said, as I looked out the window to see him. He gave me a weak smile and a wave. He had a scruffy goatee and green eyes.

"He's a very bad man. He's not to be around you without me there. Understood? If he is, you scream and get help. You hear me, Doe?! Stop looking at him!"

I snapped my attention towards my mom and said, "he's being so nice."

"No, Doe," she said, sighing. "He's not." She began driving away. When I looked at him again, the look he gave my mom sent chills down my spine.

I turned back to my mom.

And then I woke up.

Someone was holding me by my armpits, dragging me away from the burning car. My head lolled back to look to see who it was: Mr. Russell.

Oh god. It wasn't Caleb. He must've been really hurt...

"Where's... Caleb...?" I asked. My head was throbbing and my ears were ringing. The police were rushing around calling for ambulances and backup to help them investigate. But I didn't see Caleb among the crowd.

"He's okay," Mr. Russell said, immediately alleviating my fear.

"Is he hurt?" I asked.

"No..." he trailed off, and I think I heard him say, "not as much as you."

I went to look down at my body but he covered my eyes while sitting me down and snapped something back into place.

I screamed, noticing the pain for the first time. Vomit came streaming out of my mouth as Mr. Russell removed his hand from my face and pulled off his sweater. He made a sling for my arm and put my arm in it. I started crying--like a two-year-old--trying to hold down more vomit.

"It's okay, Doe," Mr. Russell soothed. "Your body flew backward. You just landed wrong. You're going to be okay." There was sadness and a hint of guilt in his voice.

"Doe," Caleb stumbled over to me.

"Caleb it hurts," I cried. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me softly.