God, please, not this.
With trembling hands, Nina pulled out her phone and called 911. The ringing stretched unbearably long. Why wasn’t anyone answering?
Please.
Please, let her live.
“Come on, hurry!” she nearly screamed into the phone as panic crashed over her.
“An ambulance is on the way. Stay on the line.”
Nina watched as blood continued to seep from beneath Lynn’shead. Her face was too pale, her chest barely rising.
“Lynn!” She touched her shoulder carefully, afraid to make things worse.“Can you hear me? Open your eyes. Please!”
Nothing.
The rest of the world ceased to exist—Lynn’sface in the glow of the streetlights, her motionless body, the cursed moon overhead.
She didn’t know what to do.
She didn’t know how to help her.
Before, there had always been someone who made decisions for her—her father, Frank. Now she was alone. And on the asphalt in front of her, her daughter was dying.
At last, she heard the siren. Red lights flooded the street, the screech of brakes tearing through the night.
Paramedics rushed out of the ambulance. Nina was pushed back as one of them bent over Lynn and the other rolled out a gurney.
“Unconscious, head trauma, blood loss…” she caught fragments of their hurried words but couldn’t focus.
She only stared at her hands. They were covered in blood. Her daughter’s blood.
“Who are you to her?” one of the paramedics asked, turning to her with a kit in his hands.“Her sister?”
She froze. Felt something shudder inside her, her heart pounding in her chest, her fingers tightening in a spasm.
He thought she was her sister. But she was her mother. And she couldn’t say it.
“I…” she swallowed hard.“I was just driving by and saw someone trying to abduct her.”
The man nodded, studying her for a long moment.
“Sorry. You just look a lot alike.”
She was still trembling from the shock. Watching the ambulance, the words slipped from her lips on their own:
“Can I ride with you?”
“You’re not related to her, though,” he said, watching her closely again.
“I just… I’m worried about her.”
The paramedic hesitated for a second, weighing her, then nodded.
“All right. Get in. The police will be looking for you anyway to take a statement—it’ll be easier to do it at the hospital.”
She climbed into the ambulance, her gaze fixed on Lynn. She wasn’t moving—but she was still breathing.
