Chapter 69
Isat on the back of the ambulance, one of those space-looking silver blankets draped over my shoulders. As the early morning sun began to rise over the mountains, I finally started to feel something close to my normal body temperature again.
I was speaking to a police officer, and my voice shook a little as I recounted the terrifying events of the night.
“…and then I managed to break free and ran until I found this gas station. And then Jay found me,” I explained, my eyes still wide from the lingering shock.
Jay stood beside me while I told the story, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. When I hadn’t come home after being at the Velvet Anchor for a few hours, he’d tried calling.
When I didn’t answer, he started to worry.
He called Macey, and when she told him I’d left hours earlier, he went looking for me.
He’d checked my location after that, even though I had no idea my iPhone still had us connected to each other’s location.
Thank goodness I never tried to turn that off, or I don’t know what would’ve happened to me.
When he saw that I was somewhere in the San Bernardino forests, he really panicked.
He started driving up the mountain to where my phone said I was. He just wanted to make sure I was okay.
It was a miracle he’d seen me at the gas station.
The officer nodded after I finished. “You did well, ma’am. Breaking a car window isn’t easy. We’ll make sure he’s brought to justice.”
They’d found his car a few miles down the road, half-buried in the snowbank. They arrested him immediately and took him into custody. Somehow one of the officers was able to find my phone in the snow, and it miraculously was working fine too.
There would definitely be a trial now.
But for the first time, I felt certain we would win. That Pike would go away for a long time now.
“Thank you, officers. I appreciate your help,” I said.
Jay stepped forward and shook one of their hands. “Yes, thank you—especially for getting here so quickly.”
“Of course.”
The officers walked back to their cruisers, red and blue lights still flashing, before finally dispersing.
An EMT approached me again for one last check.
“You sure you don’t want to ride in the ambulance to the hospital?”
“I’d rather have Jay drive me,” I admitted. “If that’s okay.”
“Of course. You can follow behind us.”
I slid off the back of the ambulance, and they shut the doors. Jay placed a steady hand on my back as he guided me toward his truck.
“I don’t think anything’s wrong with me,” I said as I climbed into the passenger seat.
“It’s best to check, just in case. Internal bleeding isn’t something to mess with,” he replied, rounding the hood and getting behind the wheel.
We pulled out and followed the ambulance down the road.
As we left the scene, a strange sense of relief washed over me. The sun was casting streaks of yellow and soft purple across the forest. Just hours ago, those trees had felt like something out of a nightmare.
Now they looked… almost peaceful.
I was safe.
And as terrifying as the entire ordeal had been, there was a strange comfort in knowing Pike wasn’t out there anymore.
He couldn’t hurt anyone else.
And he couldn’t hurt me.
“I should call my mom and dad,” I said suddenly, letting out a long sigh. “And Mason too…”
I didn’t particularly want to reach out, but I knew it was important that they know what had happened.
Jay nodded. “I think that’s a good idea.”
I pulled out my phone and pressed on my mom’s contact. It rang twice before her voice came through the receiver.
“Hope?”
An intense wave of emotion rose so fast that it made a lump form in my throat, and my eyes burned with tears.
“Mom,” I whispered, my voice thick. “It’s so good to hear your voice.”
We pulled up to the hospital parking lot just as I finished telling my mom everything that had happened. My mom cried when I told her, and I couldn't remember the last time I’d heard my mom sob.
“Hope, I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracked. “You told us.”
I closed my eyes. “It’s okay.”
“No it’s not. And you know it’s not. You told us what happened, and we downplayed it.”
I didn’t respond. I didn’t know how to answer.
She started crying again—a quiet, horrified kind of crying.
“I should have listened,” she whispered. “I should have believed you. Your father is just so intense, and he convinced me that Conrad couldn’t possibly do something like that.”
My throat tightened painfully. I hadn’t realized how much I needed to hear that.
“I am so sorry,” she said. “I failed you.”
“I needed you to stand by me,” I admitted quietly.
“I know,” she whispered. “And I didn’t. I will regret that for the rest of my life.” She inhaled shakily. “I am so, so sorry,” she said again. “I need to come see you in Big Bear, I don’t care what time it is. I’m coming there.”
“You don’t have to drive right now,” I said softly. “I’m safe.”
“I should have protected you before,” she replied. “Let me at least show up now.”
“I don’t know what this looks like yet,” I said carefully. “Between us. I want to see you, and I know we need to talk. You can come in the next few days. After things settle a little?”
“Of course,” she said. “If that’s what you want. I know you’re upset still. But I want to make things right. I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too. Please relay to Dad and Mason what happened. I’m not ready to face Dad yet. And I know Mason will do better if it comes from you.”
“I can do that.”
“Thank you.” I paused. “I really want us to be together again, as a family.”
“Me too, sweetie,” she said. “We will soon.”
It wasn’t fixed, and it most definitely wasn’t all healed. But it was the start of a relationship on the mend. And it was the first time in a while I’d felt hope for my mom and me.