The beeping quickens.
What, exactly, does he think we did?
What story has he been told?
Surely not the truth. He wouldn’t be sitting here so calmly if he knew the truth.
He leans forward and takes my hand. “You scared us half to death.”
“I’m sorry, Dad. I?—”
The door opens.
A nurse steps inside.
“Well, look who’s finally awake,” she says with a kind smile. She pulls a penlight from her pocket. “I’m going to check your eyes, okay?”
The light flashes briefly across my vision.
“Good,” she says. “Can you tell me your name?”
“Selah Whitlock.”
“Do you know where you are?”
“The hospital.”
“Do you remember what happened?”
I swallow.
She doesn’t ask it like a police officer.
This isn’t an interrogation.
I get the sense she just needs to make sure my brains haven’t been addled. “We had a confrontation.”
“I’ll say.” She slips the penlight back into her pocket. “You kids have given us quite the night around here. ”
She lifts my bandaged hand and adjusts it slightly. “You got yourself a pretty deep cut. We stitched it up. You have a couple staples in the back of your head, too. Nothing to worry about.”
She glances at the beeping monitor. “Your vitals look good.”
With another smile, she taps something on the chart and turns to the door. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake.”
A moment later, she’s gone.
The television catches my eye again. Footage of flashing lights near the Vandenberg Estate flickers across the muted screen. The ticker tape continues to scroll. This time, with a jarring name.
Simon Vandenberg.
“I can’t believe it.” My father frowns at the television. “Him, living in the woods all this time, so close to the estate. Kidnapping kids.” He rubs the stubble on his jaw. “When I think of all the times you’ve gone jogging through the property, back in those woods by yourself…”
I squeeze his hand. “I’m okay, Dad.”
“You should never have gone after him like that.” He looks at me—stern, exasperated, relieved. “It’s hard to be angry when so many lives were saved. But Selah, things could have gone horribly wrong.”
“I know.”
