I Heard Their Hearts Before Mine Stopped Chapter 03

I Heard Their Hearts Before Mine Stopped Chapter 03

The current suddenly grew fiercer. Upstream, the floodgates must have opened completely. Massive waves surged like monsters.

My piece of wood shattered. I was pulled under again.

Just as I was about to sink for good, a bullhorn cut through the night.

“Lena! Lena!”

It was Gavin’s voice, edged with urgency.

“Lena, what is taking you so long? Mom’s stomach is acting up. Where is the prescription medicine you packed before we left? Hurry and bring it over!”

The bullhorn crackled with static, echoing in the dark.

Always making everything more difficult. She is probably sulking because we took Sadie first and hiding somewhere on higher ground. If Mom misses her medicine because of this, Lena will answer for it.

That was my brother’s real thought.

My last shred of hope died.

I stopped fighting.

I let the freezing floodwater fill my lungs. I let the pressure tear at my eardrums.

The moment my heart stopped, the world finally went quiet.

When I opened my eyes again, I no longer felt the cold.

My body lay motionless on a pile of rocks downstream, face blue and lifeless.

But my soul drifted weightlessly above it.

Following the last thread of attachment, I drifted back to the emergency shelter at the base of the mountain.

Inside the tent, every emergency light was on.

Mom lay on a folding cot, clutching her stomach and groaning.

Sadie, now in dry warm clothes, sat beside her with red eyes.

“Dad, Gavin, it’s all my fault,” Sadie said, wiping away tears, her voice choked.

“Lena must be angry that I took the rescue boat. Before we got into the water, I saw her put Mom’s stomach medicine in her pocket. The way she looked at me was terrifying. Is she trying to punish me like this?”

Mom shot upright and slapped the side of the cot.

“That selfish daughter! She wants me to suffer on purpose! All this jealousy and attention-seeking, and she doesn’t even care if I’m okay!”

Dad’s face darkened like the sky before a storm, and he sprang to his feet.

“I’m going downstream to find that ungrateful daughter and drag her back!”

I floated overhead, watching Dad storm out.

When he reached the riverbank in front of the shelter, my body was less than two hundred yards away on the rocks.

If he had walked a few more steps, if he had just looked downstream, he would have seen the torn edge of my clothes.

But then Sadie screamed from the tent. “Ah! My ankle hurts so badly. I think I twisted it earlier!”

Dad stopped instantly.

Without looking back, he turned and rushed inside, crouching to check Sadie’s ankle with concern filling his eyes.

The next morning the rain finally stopped. The floodwaters slowly receded, leaving mud and wreckage everywhere.

The shelter fell silent.

Sadie huddled in Owen’s arms, pale-faced, pointing at a social media post on her phone and crying.

“Gavin, look. Tyler Brooks from Elk Hollow posted an Instagram Story last night. The background looks like Wrenfield Motor Lodge. Did Lena… did she leave with someone else last night? How could she do something like this when Owen is still out looking for her?”

Owen took the phone, and his expression darkened instantly.