Chapter Five Ashley #3
It’s not like he has great people skills at the best of times, and I don’t think I could cope with the lecture I would get, like I was some kid in the principal’s office.
Besides, we haven’t really talked much since he told me a few years ago that he didn’t like Danika and didn’t trust her.
I mean he was right, but love is blind and I couldn’t see it at the time.
So, I fought back and told him that just because his marriage failed it didn’t mean mine would too.
It was an argument that almost came to fisticuffs but luckily my father walked in, and everything stopped.
We’ve never really addressed it since. He did try to call me when Danika left but I ignored the call.
I couldn’t take an “I told you so.” So now I’m just going to have to fix it myself.
So far I’ve sold off all my furniture to raise as much money as I can to live off while I’m in Abbey Falls, and made an arrangement with the bank to pay them off over time with the rental income.
They suggested I sell the house but at the time I was clinging on to it, hoping that Danika might change her mind and come home to me.
That she would realize that the grass wasn’t always greener on the other side.
And with the market as it is, I’d be losing money.
“Shit!” I slam my hand into the steering wheel and instantly regret it as pain shoots up my arm. What are these things made out of?
I only ever had three goals in life: marriage, family, and a business. I’ve failed at all three. So as much as Gran thinks I need help finding a new relationship, I can’t go there. I don’t want to just add someone else to my ever-growing list of failures.
Taking a breath, I remind myself I’ve got a plan.
I’m a good builder and have had a successful business for years, even if these last few have taught me that success can all turn on a dime.
I pull out back onto the quiet road. At least I have one thing I can do today—get those items for Gran.
Then I’m going to the woods. It’s time for a proper hike.
It’s the only medicine when I get like this.
Alone and breathing in fresh air is the perfect way to end the day.
I pull into the parking space at the grocery store and take the first couple of steps toward the front door. I just need to get in and out without being spotted.
“Good afternoon, Jake,” Mabel calls loudly from the counter and any chance I had has been blown out the window.
How quickly I can grab the seven things that Gran needs and escape is all I’m thinking as I smile back at her and say hi.
The woods are calling me. I can hear them. And I can’t get there fast enough.
Ashley
Between the work Jake has been doing each day and the few hours I’ve been able to spend when I get home from work, the long boundary fence is almost completely repaired.
If I keep going tonight until it’s dark, I might just get it done.
Which will be great because then there is no reason Jake will need to be on my land and there’s less chance I’ll run into him.
Because every time I see him, he stirs something inside me.
And that freaks me out. He annoys me and it’s getting harder to ignore.
Pushing that thought from my head, I move my tools a little farther up the fence line to continue working, but before I can go back to grab my water, phone, and the bucket of supplies, I hear a loud grunting noise inside the edge of the woods that runs along the top of this pasture.
I know it’s a deer, but it doesn’t sound normal.
There is a distressed pitch in the call that keeps sounding out.
Putting my hand up over my eyes to shield them from the light of the setting sun, I spot an older fawn standing looking at me.
But her back leg is cut open and has blood running down it.
“Oh no, you are going to need my help, little one.” Placing the tools down on the ground quietly so as not to startle it, I grab a short piece of rope that I had been using to tie tree branches out of the way while I fixed the fence.
All my years as a vet have given me the skills of how to deal with a scared injured animal.
Very slowly I edge toward the fawn as she keeps crying out in pain.
Any sudden movement will startle her so there is no way I can go to my car, which is a good distance from the fence, to grab my phone and supplies.
Otherwise, I’m running the risk of her taking off and injuring herself further.
“It’s okay, little one, I’m here to help you,” I say soothingly, but once I get within a few feet of her, she spooks and runs awkwardly on three legs into the woods. Then standing and listening out for danger, she stops not too far into the trees.
I knew I would jinx myself. I hate the woods at night, and I’m petrified of snakes of any kind, but I can’t leave her out here, injured and alone.
Taking a deep breath, I start walking past the tree line, my eyes adjusting to the dim light just enough to spot the injured fawn about thirty feet away.
You can do this, Ashley, patience is the key to gaining her confidence. Concentrate on the fawn and not what’s around you. If I don’t see a snake, then it doesn’t exist. That’s my motto, even though I know these woods must be full of them.
Step by step, I push tree branches out of the way ever so gently, but every time I get within a few feet of the fawn, she keeps moving farther into the woods.
My full concentration is on her, and I keep one eye on her leg that still has blood trickling slowly down.
The noise of water in the background breaks my concentration for a moment, because it triggers me to realize that I’ve walked a lot farther than I meant to.
But the fawn is getting tired and is within a few feet.
If I can just get hold of her, then I can get her to safety.
Looking around, I notice the dim light isn’t just because of the tree cover.
I don’t have my phone with me either and I think I’m lost.
I’ve been so stupid. I should have at least grabbed my phone and medical bag so that if I caught the fawn long enough to bandage her leg without bringing her back to the farm, then I could release her and hope for the best. But instead, I’m out in the dwindling light with absolutely nothing to help me except a piece of rope.
The fawn lets out a grunt that is so weak that I know it’s now or never to grab her. You can do this, Ashley.
Inching forward and holding my breath, I take two quick steps and lunge for the fawn as my fingers clasp onto her fur, but she panics and shoots off, leaving me totally off-balance, holding clumps of fur in my hands.
As I lunge at her again, I’m horrified to notice that the ground beneath us starts dropping off toward where the sound of the water is coming from.
Trying to stop myself from falling, I grasp for any branch to hold, but they all start snapping in my hands, and my feet are slipping on rocks like I have marbles under my feet.
“Ahhhhhh!” I scream as my foot slips into the crevice between two rocks and gets stuck there as I fall sideways. I land in an awkward position on the rocks, my body facing downhill.
Panting, I try to get my bearings.
It’s then that I realize that I’m on my back and staring up at the treetops and the darkening sky. I try to look around to see if the fawn is still here, but she’s long gone. Goddamn it!
The movement sends shooting pain up my leg and I screw my eyes shut.
“Shit, that hurts,” I mutter quietly, tears running down my face. “Shit, shit, shit.” My breathing gets quicker as I start to feel my panic rising.
I’m stuck, hurt, with no way to get help, and it’s getting darker by the minute.
I never noticed the noises before, but now they bounce around me as if they are in surround sound, confusing me further about where I actually am.
There is no point screaming for help, because no one will hear me.
I try to push up with my hands so at least I’m sitting and don’t have sharp rocks digging into my back.
My head clears a little once I’m upright, and my hands fall to my ankle that is wedged between two rocks. I try to move it again, but the pain just gets worse. It’s unbearable.
Panic and frustration explode inside me, and I scream as loud as I can, hoping it will scare off any critter that thinks I might look like some sort of snack.
“Arrrrrgggggghhhhhhh.” My voice echoes in the surrounding woods as I cling to the tiniest shred of hope that there will be a reply, but of course, there is nothing. Only the terrifying chorus of woodland creatures moving around me.
I burst into tears. And when I’m too exhausted to cry anymore, I sit, staring into the nothingness, telling myself I can do this. It’s just one night in a dark, dark wood.
When I don’t turn up at the clinic tomorrow morning, Adi will send out a search party. Surely.
I have to believe that’s true. Otherwise I may as well give up now.
I hear a rustle in the leaves to the side of me that sounds suspiciously like the slithering of a snake, and it has my hands on these damn rocks and pulling as hard as I can. I’m not waiting for the morning.
I can hear Tiffany in my head, reciting the mantra she used to make me repeat when I didn’t want to get out of bed after Jeremy left me.
“No one gets to keep you down once you decide you’re ready to get up. So, choose to get the fuck up.”
“Time to get the fuck up, Ashley!”