The Forgotten Daughter, One Last Time Chapter 04

The Forgotten Daughter, One Last Time Chapter 04

Time had stopped meaning anything. I stood under the streetlamp with my hands and feet past numb, past cold, just gone.

Earlier I’d been shivering. Now I didn’t even have the energy for that. Something was wrong, a slow, creeping dread spreading through my whole body.

My head felt wrapped in something heavy, a dull, crushing ache that wouldn’t let up. My heart was hammering, too fast, banging against my ribs until I couldn’t catch my breath.

Hunger twisted through my stomach. Maybe it was just hunger. Maybe that was all.

I dug the last half of the chocolate from my pocket with shaking hands and shoved it in my mouth. The sugar helped for a second, then the dizziness hit even harder.

The cold came in waves now, deeper than before, not the wind anymore but something radiating out from inside me, like ice had gotten into my bones.

I pulled the scarf as tight around myself as it would go, but the warmth kept leaking out of me. Nothing I did made a difference.

A black sedan pulled off the highway and rolled to a stop at the rest area entrance. I stumbled toward it on legs that barely held me up, desperate, reaching for it like a lifeline.

The driver’s window came down. A man I didn’t recognize looked out at me. “Please,” I said, and my own voice sounded far away. “Can I use your phone? I need help.”

I could barely hear my own voice. The man stared at me for a second, then handed his phone through the window without a word.

“Hey — are you okay?” His face tightened. “You’re white as a sheet.”

I didn’t answer — just punched in Dad’s number with stiff fingers. This time, he picked up right away.

“Dad—” My voice cracked on the word, shaking so hard it didn’t sound like me.

“When is Ken coming? Something’s wrong with me, Dad. My head won’t stop spinning and my heart’s beating really fast. I’m scared.”

Dad’s voice came back sharp, tired, and already annoyed. “What now? I told you to wait.”

“Ken’s already on his way. There’s some traffic, but he’ll be there soon.”

“Can’t you just wait quietly for once? You’re the one who didn’t get in the car when you were supposed to. Maybe next time you’ll do what you’re told.”

“No, Dad, I really don’t feel right—” But the words came out thin, too weak to push past his voice.

“Enough, Chloe. Just sit there and stop making this harder than it has to be. It’s Christmas, for God’s sake.”

The line went dead. The phone beeped once and went silent, flat and final. I still had my mouth open, the words I couldn’t say trapped in my throat.

I just stood there with the phone in my hand, not moving, forgetting to give it back.

The driver reached over and gently took the phone back. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. Why don’t you sit in the car where it’s warm, just until your ride gets here?”

I shook my head. If I wasn’t standing right here when Ken pulled in, he’d just drive right past me. “Thank you,” I whispered, and shuffled back under the streetlamp.

At some point, the shivering stopped. My heart slowed down. That should have felt like a relief, but it didn’t, something about the stillness felt wrong.

My hands and feet didn’t feel like mine anymore — I told them to move, and nothing happened. I tried to march in place just to keep warm, but I could barely lift my legs.

Everything I did took forever, like my body was half a second behind everything I asked it to do. The sky had gone fully dark.

I stared toward the highway, but the lights were smearing together. The edges of everything had started to blur.

I clenched my teeth and dragged myself along the wall of the building, inches at a time. Each breath was harder than the last.

My throat felt tight, closing up. Something heavy sat on my chest, crushing the air out of me. I opened my mouth, gasping, fighting for every breath.

Each breath came in short, sharp bursts that never gave me enough. The streetlamp above me bloomed and swayed, its light smearing into a shapeless glow.

My knees gave out. I folded onto the frozen ground, curling into myself. The blanket slid off one shoulder and I couldn’t lift my arm to fix it.

I was so tired. My eyelids dragged shut and the world started going away, not fast, not violent, just a slow slide into darkness.

Somewhere far away, or maybe not far at all, I thought I saw them running toward me. Mom and Dad, their faces twisted with something that looked like panic. My last thought faded out before everything went dark.

Good. You came back for me.