Page 84 of Unforgotten

“Turn again. I think I’ve got this.”

“Really?”

“Bethanne, it’s almost broken. I promise.”

She turned, and when Candace told her to tighten the rope between them, she moved her hands as best as she could. Then, she heard a snap. “You broke more.”

“I hope so. See if you can pull on it hard. Maybe you can break the rope the rest of the way.”

“Okay.” She closed her eyes and pulled her wrists apart. But all she felt was the twine dig more deeply into her skin. “Candace, it’s not going to help.”

“It is. Try one more time. If you can’t get it, you can’t get it. But just try, okay?”

“Okay.” One more time she tried to stretch and break the rope by moving her hands apart. Once again the twine dug into her skin. “I’m trying. It’s hopeless.”

“It’s not. Try again.”

She was getting angry. “This isn’t easy, Candace!” she snapped. “It hurts! And we’re not going to get out of here by ourselves. We need some help.”

“That’s why you’ve been praying, right?”

Bethanne was embarrassed to admit it, but she’d stopped praying a while ago. “God doesn’t care about my wrists.”

“Sure He does. And you would know that too, if you weren’t in such a mood.”

“Did you just say I was in a mood?”

“You heard me. Now, take a deep breath and come on, Bethy,” she coaxed. “Try one more time. If it doesn’t break, then I’ll try pulling off the twine with the nail again.”

“You’re making me so frustrated. It’s hard enough to do this without you bossing me around,” she said as she pulledon her wrists. They stung in protest. She could feel them begin to ...

And then they were apart.

“It worked.” She knew she sounded incredulous—but she was.

“What?”

“Candace, I did it. You did it,” she said as she moved her hands. Her arms sent out shrieks of pain. They hurt so badly. But then, she was staring at her two hands in front of her. Her left was now completely free. The right held the vestiges of the rope. It was easy enough to manipulate the rope to get the rest off. “I’m free.”

“That’s the best news of the day.”

Moving to Candace’s back, Bethanne retrieved the nail from her hands. After realizing that the knots were tied too tight to loosen, she got to work shredding the rope surrounding Candace’s two hands. “I can’t believe you were able to hold the nail the way you did. I’m having a hard time not dropping it now.”

“Please don’t drop it. I don’t think I’m up for another nail hunt,” Candace joked.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”

But of course she was full of bluster. She didn’t “have” anything. Not really. It took her another ten minutes to get Candace’s ropes separated, and that was with Candace pulling hard on them.

But then her bindings snapped as well and she was doing the same thing Bethanne had done—grimacing with pain as she attempted to move her arms freely again.

When the last of the fiber was on the floor, Candace threw herself at Bethanne. “We did it. Oh, Bethy, I’m so proud of you.”

Wrapping her arms around Candace, Bethanne felt her tears begin to fall. “I’m sorry I gave up hope.”

“Don’t you apologize for anything. We’re doing the best we can.”

“Are you ready to get out of here?”

---