Keep My Secrets by Elena Wilkes (large ebook reader .txt) 📗

water as the car begins to see-saw. Frankie clutches at the seat, whispering prayers, begging, pleading.

‘I’m scared,’ Chloe whimpers. ‘Please do something, Frankie.’

Vanessa moans pitifully.

‘Okay, okay…’ She looks round. ‘Okay… I’ve got this. I’m going to come and get you, right? You stay still, now Chloe, yes? You stay completely still.’

Gingerly, her fingers feeling for even the minutest movement, she reaches around for the safety belt. The catch clicks open and very gently, she lets it go. Her body resists even shifting an inch. She glances back. She has no idea what she should do. This feels like immediate suicide.

Vanessa is sprawled between the seats; there’s no way round her. The blood bubbles from between her lips and her breathing rattles.

The car slithers with a jolt and there’s the sound of stones falling. Chloe yelps in fear but Frankie speaks over her.

‘Listen to me Chloe. Just listen, yeah?’ she soothes. ‘I’m going to tell you something now, and I want you to be the bravest you’ve ever been, right? Can you hear me?’

‘Yes—’ There’s a whisper.

‘Your mum is with me. She’s okay, but she’s banged her head.’ She closes her eyes. Where the hell are the emergency services?

There’s a whimper from the back.

‘No, no, she’s going to be fine. The emergency people are on their way, and she’s going to be absolutely fine, can you hear me, Chloe?’

She has a terrible sudden thought that the sirens weren’t for them… Her eyes widen. Maybe no one even knows they’re here…

One eye pivots to where Vanessa’s broken face lies crumpled against the dash. Please let that not be true, she begs whatever gods might be listening. Chloe is weeping harder now. She’s only a kid, just a kid who wants her mum. The sound goes on and on.

‘Chloe… Chloe,’ she soothes, but at the same time a sudden, fierce instinct kicks in: an urgent and absolute drive. ‘You keep listening to me, right?’ If it’s literally the very last thing she does, she’s going to hold her daughter.

Slipping her hand around the side of the passenger seat, she feels for the seat release lever, and then, by the tiniest degrees, she begins to tip the seat back until it’s lying flat.

‘Can you hear me, Chloe? Yeah?… I want you to do something and it’s very important.’ She begins to squirm her shoulders up towards the headrest, until she feels it dig into her spine.

There’s a hushed, frightened snivelling.

‘I want you to look all around, and I want you to tell me if you can feel any loops or catches or anything like that. I want to be able to get to you, you see, and I think the seat might drop forward if we can find the way to release it. Could you look for me? Could you do that?’

There’s a rustling sound and Frankie can hear Chloe moving her hand across the rear of the seat.

‘There’s a tab thing… Like, material stuff.’

‘Yes!’ Frankie breaths out. ‘That’s what I was hoping for. Can you pull it?’

There’s a plucking sound and scratch of fabric and then a sudden pock! as the seat jerks forward. There, in the darkness, two round eyes blink up at her from the gloom.

Shielding Chloe from the sight of Vanessa, Frankie uses all her strength, easing herself onto her side and extending an arm until her fingers reach through the gap. There’s a sudden warmth as she feels skin touching hers, then there’s palm against palm, heat against heat, as she pulls herself over the back seat and into the gap, closer and closer until their foreheads are almost touching. There’s the sound of a helicopter overhead.

‘I’ve got you, I’ve got you,’ she whispers, seeing a tiny smile of relief flicker across Chloe’s face. ‘Your mum’s here, I’m here, we’re all okay. Won’t be long now, they’ll come and get us soon, you just—’

The car begins to slide.

She can feel the dig and pinch of Chloe’s fingernails in the flesh of her arm as she grips tighter. There’s a bumping squeal, the clatter of stones and shale falling away as the undercarriage begins to grind – a deafening grating shudder that runs through her neck and down her spine. She can taste blood in her mouth.

She begins to gabble, shouting louder and louder. ‘Chloe, Chloe, I’m here with you – I’m here… I know you’re scared, but you don’t have to be because I’ve got you now, right? I’ve got you.’

Tears threaten to overwhelm her. ‘You’re not alone,’ she whispers fiercely. ‘I’m not leaving you.’

There’s a booming sound and a sudden bang that shakes their whole world – she knows this is it. She puts her face close to Chloe’s to block everything out and squeezes her eyes tight shut. An almighty judder starts up that shakes and convulses them to the core. She knows they can’t hold on. She knows this is the moment where—

The car jerks.

A gust of wind whistles and a sudden brilliance blooms all around as the whole back of the car opens in a great yawn of stark lights and people calling and radios jabbering.

‘We’ve got you. We’ve got you,’ a woman’s voice says. She hears the rustle of uniforms as hands touch her face.

‘Can you tell me your name?’ she says. ‘Mine’s Clare, and we’re going to get you out of here. You just need to hold on.’

She opens her eyes, hearing the whop-whop-whop of a helicopter and the roar of an engine. Great lobster claw hooks have clanked into place all around the bumper, holding them fast. She looks up. There is Chloe, her daughter, next to her. Her hand is still clasped tightly in hers. She doesn’t think she can let go – ever. She looks up at Clare. ‘I’m Frankie. There’s a woman injured in the front,’ she shouts over the din.

‘Yep, don’t you worry, we’ve got her, Frankie,’ Clare smiles. ‘You’re all going to be fine.’

Chloe’s saying something, but Frankie can barely hear her. She pushes her hair back