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“Not far, I don’t think.”
“Cole?” I scream. “He’s bumping me. I’m going to lose control, or he’s going to run me off the road.”
“Stay calm. I’m not far.” He speaks slowly, drawing his words out. I realize how much he had to drink, and I instantly regret calling. “Can you give a description of the vehicle?”
“It’s dark. I can’t see anything. Not with his bright lights in my eyes.”
“It’s the Holts,” he says, although it feels like he’s speaking more to himself than to me. “I’d put good money on it. They’ve gone awfully quiet since Bobby died. And for them, that’s never a good sign.”
“Please hurry.”
“I’m coming up behind you now.”
Seeing another set of headlights allows me a sigh of relief, but just a small one. That’s when I hear it. Loud popping sounds. I hear the engine behind me rev and then there are headlights coming around me and up beside me. A vehicle passes doing at least a hundred and when I look in my rearview mirror, there’s only darkness.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ruth
I’ll give anything. I’ll do anything. Just let him be alive. Without even thinking, I slam on the brakes quickly, bringing my car to a full stop. I throw it into park, push the door open, and take off in a full sprint toward Cole’s truck. A nearly full moon lights the sky, but still it’s dark and I can hardly see where I’m running to. But I am not thinking. At least not rationally. I am running, and I have only one goal. That’s getting to him and making sure he’s alive.
His truck is partially in a ditch, which makes it hard to see from the road, unless you’re looking. His tail lights are lit, which helps. I use the flashlight on my phone to guide me down the embankment.
I pray the short way down. Let him be okay.
When I reach the truck, I try to open the driver’s door. It won’t budge, so I try to go in through the passenger side and I realize they’re both locked. I search the ground and then the bed of his truck, looking for something to break a window. I can see Cole inside, slumped over the steering wheel. I beat on the window with my fists.
The heavy scent of gasoline fills the air.
I work up the courage to break the glass with my hand. Pulling off my T-shirt, I wrap it around my arm as many times as I can manage. Briefly, I consider running back to my car, but I worry that the truck will go up in flames in the meantime. He would burn alive, and I would never forgive myself.
Thankfully, I don’t have to make that choice because I hear sirens in the distance, and within seconds state troopers are on the scene.
I watch helplessly as they break the glass and pull Cole from the truck. They lay him out on the pavement.
An officer pulls me back and peppers me with questions, and I am so sick of this. I only want to make sure Cole is okay, and maybe that makes me combative and uncooperative. But I’m sick of ambulances and hospitals and seeing people I care about require medical attention.
Eventually, Cole regains consciousness. I answer their questions and calm down enough that they allow me to ride with him in the ambulance. He doesn’t remember anything prior to the crash. He can’t recall why he was on the road, or what he was doing, or even whether he was following a truck. He doesn’t remember me calling.
I tell the officer about being followed. About being rammed from behind. I explain I know it was a Ford by the emblem on the grill. I know it was a dark truck with a crew cab, and that I suspect it being one of the Holts’, but I do not know what they drive because I’ve never paid much attention.
They ask me to do a sobriety test.
They tell me Cole failed his. His blood alcohol level is two-and-a-half times the legal limit. He has a concussion and cervical sprains.
And I may have just ruined his life.
Chapter Thirty
Passerby
Some people. They just don’t know when enough is enough. It’s the greatest travesty, really. When a good person sticks their nose where it doesn’t belong. When they don’t know when to leave well enough alone.
It happens. I get it. We’ve all been there.
I may or may not be there now.
It’s just… In that case, you have to do something about it.
