Page 51 of Hidden With You

“I’ll help you. Let me come down to you.”

The fear touched him again. “No,” he shouted. “You have to stay. I can’t protect you if you leave the road.”

“But I want to help. They need my help too. They need me to help you.”

He shook his head, the words not making sense. Who were they? And how were they supposed to help him?

He looked up at her, silently begging for more information, but she just laughed and danced along the edge, kicking small stones over the edge of the cliff. He screamed, telling her to stop, begging her to be careful. But the words never managed to leave his throat.

“Help. Daddy. Daddy, help us.”

Bonnie!

He glanced at Zelda once more. She was there, dancing on that treacherous edge, but for now, she was safe.

He relaxed enough to lie on his stomach and hang his head over the side of the car. He looked in through the gap where the door used to be. Bonnie and Sandra were hanging upside down in their seats, still strapped in.

“Are you going away now?” Sandra asked.

“No. Of course not. I’m going to get you out of here.”

“You don’t need to,” she said, then turned her neck. “It won’t matter.”

He saw the gaping wound, the blood dripping from her.

“No. No. I can save you.”

“Daddy? Daddy, I don’t want to go away.” He reached out his hand, trying to touch hers, but their fingers were too many inches apart.

“I don’t want you to go either. I’m going to save you.”

“This isn’t the way to do it,” Sandra said.

“I can’t abandon you.”

“You’ll never abandon us.”

“Never,” he promised.

“Even if you move on, you’ll still be with us.”

“I’m not moving on,” he said.

“Aren’t you?” She tilted her head, turning her neck so she was looking up, as if through the undercarriage of the car.

“I think you are. I think you should.”

He felt the tears in his eyes, saw them fall from his eyes and past the car to land on the trees below, each tear setting off an explosion of silver sparkles. “I can’t abandon you.”

“You didn’t. You would never. And we will always love you.”

Beneath him, something cracked, and the car shifted violently. “You need to go,” Sandra said. She passed the knotted rope to Bonnie. Bonnie passed it to him. He frowned at it, unsure how it had ended up in the car. He took it from his daughter’s hand, looking into those big brown eyes.

“Hold on tight, Daddy.”

“I can’t. You can’t.”

“It’s time,” Sandra said, flashing him her sweet smile. “But don’t forget. Don’t forget us.”