The Wave by Kristen Crusoe (ebook reader online txt) 📗

‘OK, well, for me, college was a balm. A place where I existed and excelled. Ben met Jodie. They married. She found out about me and dragged him here, where I was in college, at Christmas to meet me on campus. We had the best time, hiking in the forests along the coast. Eating clam chowder at Moe’s. Hunkering down into our tent, eyes burning from the campfire smoke. Jodie and I bonded. Her strong black female persona captured me like it had Ben, and we became a little family. She said she became a birth doctor to help women experience the miracle of childbirth without trauma. I knew she would be the one to help me work through my own questions. And she did.’

‘And, do they know you’re here? Do they know what happened?’ Jet asked.

‘God no!’ Clair shuddered. ‘They’re deep inside the danger zone in Yemen still. I don’t want them to know. I don’t want them to have any more fear or worry in their lives.’

‘But what if you had died, Clair? How would they have felt? Wouldn’t that have caused them pain, grief?’ Jet asked, with kindness in her voice.

Clair’s face fell, her eyes tearing up. ‘Yes, but at the time, you know, I wasn’t thinking about anyone else. I was just wanting my own pain to end.’

‘And now, Clair, how do you feel about being alive?’ Jet asked quietly.

‘I don’t know,’ Clair said. ‘At this very moment, sitting here with you, maybe I can be alive.’

‘OK, then, I’ll take that for now,’ Jet said, smiling. ‘Let’s go see what’s for dinner.’

‘Jet, what’s going to happen? You know, with Detective Santiago?’

‘Oh, he’ll be back. He’s not finished with us.’

Chapter 6

Adam

A tapping on the door, half shut against curious gazes and noise from the busy medical unit, brought Adam out of his reverie. He had been looking out the window of his third-floor room, over tree tops, towards the sea. Heavy clouds moved in from the north, signaling a cooling off of what had been a late summer heatwave. The night had been long, noisy, his intravenous drip pump alarming at what seemed like minute to minute intervals. Codes were called through the long hours of the night. His patient safety assistant, a young man with long braids flowing down his back, explained their names to him. Code Blue was for sudden death from heart or respiratory failure; Code Silver meant a patient or visitor had turned violent; Code Amber was for a child abduction, usually from the maternity ward. He wondered about those people for whom the codes had been called? Did they make it? Looking towards the door, he saw Claudia hesitating at the opening, holding a small bag and coffee from the hospital café.

‘Come in,’ Adam called to her, easing himself up in the bed. He felt foolish sitting there in the thin, faded hospital gown.

He smoothed his hair down as best he could, grimacing as he caught a hint of his breath, stale and tasting of old, undigested food. Rubbing his eyes, his face, feeling the stubble, he did his best to find a smile, as the old Adam might have done. He didn’t feel like that man anymore. Humbled, brought down by a love or hate so strong it almost killed him, felt almost like a re-birthing. To what, he wasn’t sure.

‘Thought you might like a cup of real coffee, and a bagel,’ she said, walking over and setting the containers on the over-bed tray. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘Like shit. And I probably smell as good too so keep your distance,’ he said, half-jokingly, but also not wanting her there.

She had probably saved his life. Thinking back to that afternoon, how if Claudia hadn’t dropped by to talk about the upcoming production of their senior class play, Emma, he would not be here now. The front door had been left wide open. Claudia had walked in, through the living room, and into the kitchen, finding him, calling 911, saving his life.

‘Claudia, thank you for what you did. I really don’t know what to say.’

‘Nothing to say, Adam. What in God’s name was Clair thinking?’

‘I don’t know. I’m going to visit her, talk to her. Try and find out. I think she just snapped. We had been getting better, after, you know, Devon, and then, this.’ He looked down at his body as though it were a wrecked car.

‘Adam, be careful. She’s crazy. She might try to hurt you again.’

‘I don’t think so. And anyway, I talked to the therapist, a Dr Taylor. She said it might be good for me to see Clair, let her see I’m alive, and OK. The staff on the psych unit will be sure I’m safe. They monitor everything on camera. And will stand by.’

Claudia stood quickly, the metal chair scraping against the linoleum.

‘And why would you care, Adam, after what she did? I’m the one who saved you,’ Claudia said, leaning forward, hands resting on the bedside table.

‘Because she’s my wife, Claudia. And I have to find out why she wanted me dead.’

A nurse bustled in, smiling and fresh faced. Claudia stepped aside.

‘Good morning, I’m Amanda, your nurse today. How are you feeling, Mr Gage? Ready to get this needle out and go home?’ she asked, reaching for his left hand, removing the dressing over the insertion site.

‘Really, I’m being discharged?’ he asked, his face lighting up.

‘Yep, we have your marching orders. It will take me a while to go through and get everything ready. You’ll have a few prescriptions to take home. But you should be out of here in an hour or so.’

‘Is it OK if I leave my room, go down to the psychiatric unit? My wife is there. I want to visit her.’

‘Let me give them a call, make sure it’s OK. I’ll be right back, let you know.’

* * *

Adam stood in front of the door, his hand frozen in mid-air. A sign, Caution! Elopement Risk High taped to