I SEE YOU an unputdownable psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist by PATRICIA MACDONALD (bookstand for reading txt) 📗

other chance. Somehow, it registered. She started to move. To do what he said. To run. She started slowly, and then she was running. She ran for her life, stumbling over the stones between the ties, weeping. It felt as if the whole world was shuddering with the approaching train. She thought of Adam, and Sydney. Briefly, she thought of Lisa and her heart ached for all the loss. She remembered the rat, and then, she remembered the ladder.

The train was roaring into the station, the brakes screaming. Hannah was at the ladder, grabbing the rail, pulling herself up. The train struck her.

TWENTY-EIGHT

She woke up in a dimly lit room, her head pounding. She reached up and gingerly touched her head, which was swathed in bandages. Then she tried to sit up and felt pain burst like fireworks all through her body. She was wearing a thin hospital gown, and there were bandages wrapped around her torso. Her other arm was in a cast. There was a searing pain in her leg that seemed to radiate upwards, through her body and out the top of her head.

For a second she could not remember how she got here or how she became so badly injured. Then, suddenly, it came back to her. The shrieking whistle, the yellow orb of light hurtling toward her in the dark tunnel. The shove from behind. Hannah felt tears start to trickle down her face and she gasped for breath.

Alive, she thought. I’m alive. Thank you, God. Thank you.

Her very next thought was of Adam. Did he know she was alive? Did he know she was even here?

Before the thought had actually formed clearly in her mind, the door to the room opened, and he walked in, the man she had been married to for over half her lifetime. His shoulders were rounded, his back bent, as if he were carrying a bundle of bricks on his broad back. His eyes were downcast.

‘Hey,’ she whispered.

He froze and looked up. His gaze met hers. It was like watching daybreak in a time-lapse photo. His frown cleared, his eyes widened, and a smile, at first tentative, and then joyous broke across his face. ‘Babe!’ he cried.

Hannah tried to nod. Her lips were dry as parchment. He rushed to her bedside and tried to grab her up in a hug.

‘No,’ she laughed. ‘Don’t. That hurts.’

Reluctantly he loosened his grip. He was shaking. Gently, she ran her good hand over his bent head. After a minute he raised his head and looked into her eyes. Their gaze was long and silent. I thought I lost you, each one said, without words. I was so afraid.

Hannah closed her eyes. All that she felt for him was almost too painful to endure. She felt his gentle healing kiss on her face. Then, suddenly, he moved away from her. She opened her eyes to see where he went. He pulled a chair close to her bed, and they gripped hands.

Adam shook his head. ‘When they called and said that you’d been hit by a subway train . . .’

Hannah sighed. ‘I know. I thought I was dead,’ she said. ‘I should be dead.’

Adam frowned. ‘A lot of people saw it happen. Apparently, someone pushed you onto the tracks.’

‘Yes. Did they catch the guy who did it?’ she asked.

Adam shook his head. ‘Not yet. No one seemed to get a good look.’

‘I really can’t remember it happening. I just remember landing on the tracks, completely stunned. The train was coming.’

Adam grimaced. ‘How did you . . . ?’

‘There was a guy from SEPTA on the platform. Everyone else was screaming. Shrieking. The train was roaring in. The noise was deafening. But this guy . . . he just looked me in the eye and told me to run. And somehow, it registered. Somehow I heard him.’

‘Run?’ Adam cried. ‘How can you outrun a train?’

Hannah lifted her broken arm with a wry smile. ‘You can’t.’

‘They said it saved your life, though. The driver was trying to stop the train. The fact that you had reached the end of the platform, and grabbed onto the ladder, kept it from . . . you know.’

‘Flattening me,’ said Hannah. ‘Killing me. I know. Honey, give me some water?’

Adam quickly found a cup of water and a straw, and put the straw in her mouth.

Hannah sipped, and felt like it was her first drink of water on earth. ‘Thanks,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you. The man was telling me to run, and everything in me was thinking that it was the worst idea in the world, and yet, I could hear his voice in my ear, like the voice of God. I remember thinking, he’s a SEPTA guy. He probably knows what to do. And then I did what he said.’

‘Thank God,’ Adam said.

Hannah shook her head. ‘I don’t remember being hit. It’s just a blank.’ She looked around. ‘Where is Sydney?’

‘With Kiyanna and Frank.’

‘Oh, good,’ she said.

‘They’ve been great. They’ve really helped me out. She’s very confused and upset. She’s been having nightmares. Just awful.’

‘Poor baby. Oh, poor thing. How long have I been here? What’s wrong with me. I mean, these injuries . . . ?’

Adam sighed. ‘The accident happened three days ago. You have a mesh patch in your skull, because of the swelling from your brain. You have a broken arm. Your leg was lacerated and took fifty stitches to close.’

‘Wow,’ she said.

‘I almost lost you.’

Hannah smiled. ‘It’ll never happen.’

Adam smiled, and cupped her face with his hand. ‘I couldn’t stand that.’

‘I know. Me neither.’

They sat that way for a moment, unable to actually say all that they meant. They didn’t need to. Finally, Adam said, ‘There’s something we need to talk about. The police want to question you.’

‘Right now?’

‘When they find