“Move your hips left. Shift your weight,” Malik called. “It’ll stop.”
River did that and Malik was right, the shaking stopped. He kept going, cursing Barney for whatever he’d eaten last night, half-wishing he’d eaten it too. Though he thought they’d all had pizza. Maybe it was a topping.Stop it!He tried to blank his mind to everything other than making sure he always had three points of contact with the rock.And scowl. Look menacing, determined, aggressive. Maybe slightly scared but not scared out of my skull.Which was the way he was currently feeling.
“Another six feet and you’re there!”
Six? Fucking hell.River looked for the chalk marks and reached up. He felt as if he was creeping up the rock like a petrified snake, his belly as flat to the cliff as he could get it. Nothing like the mountain goats who sprang around as if they didn’t even think about falling off.
Don’t think about falling off!
He wasn’t as high as he’d been that night his world had imploded, but he was at more risk of falling because he had to keep moving.
“Drone incoming,” Alex shouted.
He was almost at the darker section, spread-eagled as instructed, looking horrified—that wasn’t difficult, then resigned as the drone hovered too fucking close—more difficult. Just one more handhold to reach for, and it was quite a reach. He’d have to push up on his toes. The smudge of chalk was clear and he wrapped his fingers around the lip of rock only to feel it crumble under his hand.What the…Onegasp to take in what was happening, a split second to thinkoh fuck, before he fell. Was that him screaming? He hit the ground, then everything blinked out.
River came round in a world of noise. His eyes wouldn’t open but that blade-slap sound was familiar. A helicopter? Then again, maybe the noise was in his head. Even thinking the wordheadbrought on the worst pain he’d ever felt in his entire life. He tried to move and couldn’t. Where…? What…?My head…Oh God…the agony!River had never felt so helpless and scared. Not since that night when, aged seventeen, his world had imploded, his childhood gone. Someone was talking but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. The world faded away.
He had no idea how much time had passed before he came round again. Minutes, hours, hopefully not days. No loud noise this time, just gentle, regular beeps. His eyes fluttered part-open. His head… It felt as though someone was digging into his brain with a spoon.Jesus Christ Almighty!There was a tube in his mouth, pressure in his throat and he wanted it gone but his eyes were closing again and there was nothing he could do to stop that happening. He tried to lift his arm—couldn’t, tried to move his legs—couldn’t.Shit. What the hell is wrong with me?
Was he in hospital? Maybe his arms and legs didn’t work because they were broken. Or because he’d broken his back, severed something in his spine.No, no, no.His breathing turned ragged. What if he could never walk again?
When awareness faded, he felt nothing but relief.
The next time he woke, the tube was taken out of his mouth and after a moment of discomfort, he wanted to cry.Instead, he went back to sleep.
When he opened his eyes, he saw a man and woman looking down at him.Doctor. Nurse. Hospital.The pain had gone. That was good and also bad because it might not mean he was okay. It might mean he’d lost feeling in his body. At least he recognised where he was. Though not which hospital. Nor why? What had happened? Why couldn’t he remember what had happened?
“Ohhl te fink?”said the doctor.
River blinked.What?
“Enny cat dout.”
He had no idea what the doctor was saying. A foreign language? Where was he? He’d been filming in Croatia but this didn’t sound like Croatian, though he only knew a few words.
“Wheen top.”The nurse patted his hand.
Oh, he still had a handandhe felt her touch. That was something but why couldn’t he understand what anyone was saying? Why didn’t they speak English? Was he still asleep and imagining this? Some weird dream?
They started to leave and River didn’t want them to go. The wordstopwouldn’t come out of his mouth. He tried harder. “Nee!”
He gasped. What the hell did that mean? That wasn’t what he’d been trying to say. He made another attempt. “Nt.”It sounded wrong. Why? But they were still looking down at him.
“Pel tront vicent,”the doctor said. “Trem og hunp fot?”
No matter how reassuring the doctor was trying to be, and River judged from his facial expressions that he was trying not to upset him, River could feel himself panicking.Was he trying to speak the same weird language as the doctor and nurse? If so, why couldn’t he understand them? If he couldn’t communicate, how could he find out why he was in hospital? Why he couldn’t move? His arms and legs felt so heavy and there was an elephant sitting on his chest.Oh God. Something in my dick.No air was going into his lungs. He needed that tube back in his mouth.I don’t want to die!
He found himself thrown back to the worst night of his life. Trapped, terrified. He didn’t want to remember. There was a flurry of activity. The nurse injected something into the cannula on the back of his hand, a plastic mask was put on his face and like his name, he flowed away, straight out to sea.
When he washed ashore, he was afraid to open his eyes, afraid to try and speak in case more crap came out. But what was he going to do? Just lie there? He opened his eyes—at least they worked—and saw Max, his agent and a whole lot more, sitting by the bed, busy on his phone. The relief in seeing someone he knew made River suck in a breath. Max heard him, looked across and an expression of relief swept across his face.
“Heen! Arn youb. Thep roc…”
River gasped. He wanted to cry. Max was speaking the same rubbish. “Erl,” River said, notMaxas he intended, then pressed his lips together.
Not a dream. Something really bad had happened to him.
Max kept talking and River couldn’t understand a word. Slowing down made no difference and Max was swallowing hard, wringing his hands, looking worried.Please don’t look worried. You’re scaring me.I’m breathing too fast.River tried to speak, stutteringly repeating the same non-sensical word,which was supposed to bepleasebut not coming out that way.“Keb…keb…keb.”
