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Someone grabs my uninjured arm. “He’s dead, Lucas. There’s nothing we can do. We’ve gotta get out of here.”
I yank my arm away. Pain screams in the opposite shoulder. I bury the burning ache deep beneath the surface, to be dealt with after I save the boy. “He can’t be dead. He was alive a minute ago.”
But as much as I don’t want to believe the kid’s dead, I know the Marine’s words are true. The boy who Aiden and I have been sneaking candy to, the boy who always has a smile for us, is dead.
I stand and scream out a stream of curses. Then back away from his body, my own body numb.
And the ground disappears from under me.
“Lucas!” A voice yells, the sound barely heard over the rush of the wind.
My body slams into the rocky surface of the cliff, jarring me out of the flashback. That’s the only explanation I have for why I’m dangling over the side of a cliff when a moment ago I was checking the missing boy’s pulse.
I grab at a protruding piece of rock. My feet scramble to find purchase. If it weren’t for the safety harness and top rope belay, I would be a broken mess at the base of the fifty-foot cliff.
Sheldon yells my name again. I look up to where his voice is coming from. He’s lying on his stomach, leaning over the edge, and reaching toward me. “You’ve gotta help me here, Lucas. Grab my hand.”
I glance at the rock surface. He’s right. There are no other handholds near me beyond the one I’m gripping. He’s my only hope of getting out of this situation with as few injuries as possible. I’m in too awkward a position for the team to pull me up.
Using the footholds as leverage, I reach up. My fingertips brush his, but it’s not enough for him to grab my hand.
Sheldon wiggles forward another inch, and I try again. The wind is growing stronger, as though it wants to push me to the side, away from Sheldon. The muscles of my arm gripping the handhold of the rock are quickly fatiguing.
I try again. My feet slide on the rock as I push myself up. Just. A. Little. Farther.
Sheldon’s hand wraps around mine and he pulls me up and onto the ledge.
I climb up and collapse onto the ground, breathing hard. Sheldon has rolled onto his back, and for a moment, all we’re capable of doing is staring up at the stormy sky.
“Thank you,” I say once I’ve got enough air in my lungs to speak again.
“You’re welcome. But please promise me something, Lucas.”
I turn my head to him. “What’s that?”
“You never do that to me again. I think I just lost ten years off my life.”
“That makes two of us. Sorry, I had a flashback.”
“You okay?”
I sit up. “Will be once we get him out of here.”
We get to our feet and face the heart-wrenching task of retrieving the boy’s body for his family.
43
Simone
I scrub the kitchen cabinet like I’ve been doing for the past five minutes. Four minutes longer than I needed to, but I don’t care. I’ll scrub at it for another hour if it promises to distract me.
In the background, a steamy romance audiobook plays through the speaker on the counter. Jasper is snoozing in a sunny spot on the living room floor, his snores faint over the male narrator’s voice.
The doorbell rings.
Groaning at the interruption, I peel off my rubber gloves and wash my hands.
I pause the audiobook and walk to the front door. My legs feel as though they’re walking through a dense swamp. Every step I take seems slower than the last one, gravity sucking me down.
