AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Some kind of love
Now
I’ve been sleeping—exhaustionand shock claiming my unwilling body—when a voice calls me from my nightmares. One glance at Isaac tells me that the pressure pad I tied around him is failing; the warmth spreading across my lap only confirms this.
“Amber!”
My mind snaps to attention, pulling me far from my cold slumber. I know that voice. I know it in my very soul. And now that I’ve heard it in the dark, empty woods, I know that it would never not find me, no matter where I went.
“Freddy?” My voice is stiff with disuse, and I cough to free my vocal cords so I can do what I can to save my son. “FREDDY!”
“Keep shouting,” he calls back, and now I’m focused, I can hear other voices alongside his.
I do. I shout and shout until my throat is screaming in protest. Isaac doesn’t stir once, and that desperate, panicked, clawing sensation builds up in my throat again. It’s worse than anything I’ve ever known. Worse than at the racetrack all those years ago when I watched Freddy’s car spin, engulfed in flames. Worse than a few months ago when I held my mum’s cool hand, unresponsive in mine. This is the worst feeling I’ve ever known, and I know in my heart I will never survive it.
I don’t think it’s going to happen, but just when I think Freddy is going to circle me all night, our voices passing in the dark, I see a beam of light sweep across the tree one across from where I am.
“We’re here. We’re here. We’re here.” I start to weep uncontrollably as Freddy steps through the trees, his tall frame filling my whole vision. He’s at my side in a flash, falling onto his knees next to me. His hands grab my face roughly, his lips crushing against mine.
“I thought I’d lost you.” I remember the promise I made to Isaac that if he would survive this, I would leave. Freddy may have lost me anyway. Lost us. My sobs turn into painful wrenches that tear through my chest.
“Freddy, Isaac needs you. Please help. Please help.” Hysteria rises again and I start to shake uncontrollably.
Freddy’s dark gaze sweeps along Isaac, his expression calculating as he works on a plan. “I’ve got him, Amber.” He tries to prize Isaac out of my hands, but I can’t let go. My grip on my son is so tight my fingers won’t relax. “Amber, I’ve got him.” Freddy repeats, his voice low and his meaning clear.
In that one defining moment, I let go of my son and let the man who should have always been in his life take control. Exhaustion washes over me.
Freddy stands, his jaw firmly set. “The others will be here in a minute. Don’t move and hold the light up into the sky.” He tosses a spare torch onto the floor next to me. "She’s here, she’s here," he booms through the dark night. Before the answering calls can be heard, he starts to run through the woods with Isaac held tight in his arms.
Clutching at the torch, I wave it up high, making the beam dance into the night sky. I haven’t been by myself long when I spy Henry running towards me. “Where’s Isaac?” he asks as he drops down next to me.
“Freddy,” I say simply.
“Are you hurt?” I don’t have time to respond. He grabs me in his arms, holding me tight as he lifts me from the ground.
“Thank God.” Grant rushes into the clearing. “What were you doing, Amber?”
Dizziness and vertigo are making it hard for me to focus on him. “Nine-year-olds,” I say even though I’m not clear on where he’s standing. “Isaac’s not going to make it,” I state simply. “Hurt.”
“Freddy’s got him. He’ll do anything to save his son,” Henry tells me gruffly.
My eyes fly open up and I look up into Henry’s face. “You know.”
“We all know that you’re family.”
As we work our way through the dark forest, I close my eyes and think about my unexpected family who I know I will lose again if Isaac makes it through and we leave. I can’t bring myself to think of Freddy, the man who found me in the dark, nor the pain I will feel at leaving him.
The hospital is sostartling bright after my hours in the dark that my eyes screw automatically shut when we hit the reception fluorescents.
My legs are barely working, one foot dragging after the other as Grant and Henry flank me from either side, holding my weight between them. The car park, empty of all other cars but one, shows me that Freddy had decided to drive the few miles to the hospital rather than ring for an ambulance and wait for its arrival. It was the same decision I would have made.
Waiting for us inside the sliding doors are Dani and Charles. Dani rushes for me, nearly knocking me off my feet. “Amber, I’m so sorry I couldn’t come to find you.”
“How did they know where to look?” It’s been hours since I marched my son out of the race and put him in the car.
“Freddy drove and drove until he found your car.” She hesitates. “Amber. They are in surgery.”
“They?”
