Harlow
I grab my jacket and keys and head outside, ready to find you. But Sam’s car is gone. Your car is gone. The hairs on my arms stand on high alert as a new panic sets in and my gut tells me that something is terribly wrong.
I click back into the camera footage, fast-forwarding until I see you leaving, and then peel out in the same direction, praying I’m not too late.
As I race down the road, my stomach twists into knots, thinking of Sam. He wouldn’t. Would he?
But he was so adamant about no one ever knowing, especially you…
A wave of guilt washes over me as I realize what I put you through. At least I got to live with the hope that we’d reunite one day. But I took any shred of hope away from you.
I’m so sorry, Naomi.
I slow down, seeing headlights up in front of me as I reach the bend in the road. I squint, trying to make out the cars in the unrelenting rain. A black Mercedes. Sam’s car.
My heart pounds as I pull in behind it and turn my high-beams on to see what’s going on. And that’s when my worst nightmare becomes a reality. When I see a white Jeep wrapped around a tree.
Ringing is all I hear as the nausea consumes me. I can’t breathe, gasping for air as I take in the scene. I will myself to focus. Convince myself that panicking isn’t going to solve anything. And somehow, I manage to calm down just enough to call for help, while I still have the chance.
I fumble with my phone, shaking as I draft a text to Jen, my assistant. “SOS. Send private ambulance. No police!”
I hit send, knowing I don’t have much time.
I take short, quick breaths as I share the pin location.
I want to wait, to see if she received it.
But there isn’t time because Sam is almost at my door.
I slide my phone into my pocket and open the door to the smell of damp earth and rubber.
All I hear is the sound of rain and crunching rocks.
Sam steps closer now, an umbrella shielding him from the downpour.
“What are you doing? You shouldn’t be here.” He sounds stressed. Panicked.
I get out of the car, flinching as raindrops pummel my face. “What happened?” I yell.
“I don’t know, just saw this car hydroplane off the road.”
I try to run toward you, but he grabs my arm. “You should go home, Harlow.” He says the name harshly, a warning. A reminder.
“That’s my sister,” I yell, meeting his gaze.
“Your sister?” he frowns. “Funny, I don’t remember Harlow Hayes having a sister…” His tone is icy, challenging.
Rage battles with my panic and desperation.
The mud squelches beneath my feet, and I imagine him beneath me.
My foot on his neck, pushing him into the mud to get to you.
The urge to crush him, to hear every bone in his slimy neck crunch under my toes, grows stronger with every word that comes out of his mouth.
I shake Sam off. I’ll deal with him later. Right now, I need to help you. But when I take a step around him, dead leaves crunching beneath my feet, he blocks me.
“This,” he says, gesturing to your car, “is just an accident. Do you understand?”
It was an accident. I’ll take care of it. Do you understand? His words from three years ago echo in my ears again.
“We had a deal, goddammit!” He grabs me tighter this time as I try to move away from him, fingers bruising my arm. “You know what you signed up for. Don’t act all sad now, when for the past three years you let her think you were dead.”
I look over at your mangled car, picturing your body lying limp and lifeless, surrounded in a pool of your own blood, before staring back at him, eyes wild with worry.
“And don’t look at me like I’m the bad guy here!” he yells. “I’m the one who made your wildest dreams come true, remember?”
Sam’s eyes flicker from your car back to me. He swallows as if he’s battling with what he really wants to say. I inhale, getting ready for a fight. The silence between us is deafening but then the sound of sirens cuts through the void.
Sam grunts and turns on his heels toward his car, having the decision made for him. I buckle in relief, thankful Jen received my message.
“If she ever breathes a whiff of this to anyone…” Sam yells out his car window.
“She won’t.” I hold his gaze before he disappears into the night.
I run toward the ambulance as it gets closer, guiding them to the site. Once they park, it’s as if everything slows. I watch helplessly as they carry a stretcher and large red medical bag out of the back and then bound toward you. I want to do something, anything, but I’m frozen.
My world silently shatters as they hoist your bloodied and broken body from the car, wondering if your death is my punishment.