Page 30 of Absolution

“Ker!”

I look up at him, unable to hold back the tears. “It’s no use,” I whisper. “I can’t… go on.”

He turns fully toward me and takes one long stride. “Get your act together, woman,” he growls between clenched teeth. “We’re in this together. We started this. We endure, and we finish!”

His hands squeeze my shoulders so hard it hurts and a jolt of fear surges through me at his hard gaze, but it gives me a very much needed rush of adrenaline. I nod at north-east. Up along the ravine.

“If we go that way, we’ll either find a place to cross, or we’ll come across the main road sooner or later.”

He regards me. “Upstream it is then.”

As we continue in the new direction, along the steep edge, I glance at him. I have hated this man with every fiber in my body and now… I don’t anymore. I couldn’t have done this alone. Even with the car, the worry for Cece… I can’t imagine having no one to share it with.

“Christian, I want to— thanks fo—”

I scream as I lose my footing and begin to slide down the steep slope. I keep screaming as I stop with a violent jerk when something hooks onto my clothing, but I lose my grip on Cecilia and she is jerked out of my arms and continues down the slope.

A little mewling packet in a checkered red blanket.

“Ceeee!”

Christian is a blur as he flies past me and disappears over the edge at the same moment as Cece.

For a second everything is absolutely still and quiet. Then I tear my jacket to shreds when I free it from the root it has stuck on and slide down to the edge. I’m absolutely numb. Not a thought, not one emotion comes through in my dazed mind.

Then I hear a cry and a roar and Cecilia is suddenly pushed up right next to me. I grab her little body, holding her tight. She’s crying, terrified, cold and wet. I can’t separate her shrieks from my own wailing as I clutch her to my chest, waiting for Christian to climb back up.

I lose track of time as my mind replays over and over how she slid and disappeared. The pain is indescribable, and my brain doesn’t stop the screams of terror until long after my mouth has gone silent.

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