Chapter 294
Brooks tore down the highway, his heart pounding as he raced to reach Evelyn. Just last night, his grandfather had been rushed to the ER. When Evelyn texted him, he was busy making a frantic call to line up a top-notch medical expert for a consultation. He didn’t want to burden Evelyn with more worry, so he kept the details to himself and simply asked her to wait for him.
Once his grandfather was out of the woods and settled into a regular room, Brooks finally got a chance to check his phone. That’s when he realized Evelyn couldn’t sit tight any longer and had headed to the chapel alone. He immediately tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up, leaving him with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
After making sure his grandfather was stable, Brooks left the hospital, laser- focused on finding Evelyn. His anxiety grew with every mile, but he never imagined his worst fears would come true. Just as he spotted Evelyn’s car, he witnessed a nightmare unfold. She swerved to dodge a school bus, and her car flew off the road.
“Evelyn!” Brooks shouted, his voice filled with terror as he watched the scene unfold. He pulled over frantically, flung open the door, and sprinted through the traffic toward the railing like a man possessed. But he was too late. He could only watch in horror as Evelyn’s car plunged into the rushing river below, swept away by the current and disappearing from view.
Brooks’s mind went blank. Instinct kicked in, and he wanted to dive in after her, to save her. But a passerby grabbed him, yelling, “Are you out of your mind? In a river this wild, you’d just be throwing your life away!”
“Is this about rescuing someone or committing suicide?” the stranger barked.
The words snapped Brooks back to reality. He realized he couldn’t rescue Evelyn on his own! He quickly whipped out his phone, calling emergency services and rallying a rescue team.
The wait for help was sheer agony, each second dragging like an eternity. He felt utterly helpless.
Every tick of the clock meant mort
danger for Evelyn. He had no idea if
she
was hurt from the crash or what was happening inside that.
no
submerged car. His heart was a tangled mess of worry.
Brooks glanced toward the distant chapel. He wasn’t the religious type, but with Evelyn’s life hanging in the balance and nothing he could do but wait, he found himself kneeling toward the chapel, pleading, “Please keep her safe.”
He made countless silent promises-if Evelyn came through this unscathed, he’d become a believer and support the chapel generously every year.
Finally, the rescue team arrived, and Brooks stood up, donning rescue gear to join them. Together, they searched downstream from where Evelyn’s Car had vanished into the river. As night closed in, the search became even tougher. With every passing minute, Brooks’s face grew paler. In this weather, with the river’s strong current, the sooner they found her, the better her chances of survival.
And the longer it took…
Brooks couldn’t let himself finish that thought. He couldn’t bear it. Instead, he kept repeating to himself, “Evelyn must be alright. She has to be.”
Suddenly, a voice crackled over the team’s comms, “We found the car.” Brooks leaped onto the rescue boat, racing toward the location. By the time they got there, the car had just been pulled from the water. It was a wreck, mangled by the rocks on the riverbed.
Brooks recognized it instantly as Evelyn’s car. Hours had passed since she went into the river, and Brooks couldn’t bring himself to think about what that might
mean.