Rescued(43)

A little while later, when I came back to my senses, I looked quickly around us in a brief moment of panic. But Hunter had been right. We were safe. There was no one was in sight.

He rolled off of me and leaned his head on my chest, still panting lightly. We caught our breaths under the tree for a while, listening to the soft chirping of crickets and the rustling of the water on the beach below.

We didn’t say anything else to each other, but we didn’t need to.





Chapter Fifteen

STRONG




The next day we dropped by the post office so I could send off my portfolio to the art competition. Hunter even brought a kazoo he borrowed from Joel, which he blew loudly when I dropped the package into the bin. It was silly, but it helped keep our minds off of Hunter’s looming test results.

Despite our mini celebration, the rest of the day was tense. We both knew that we would get his results the following day, for better or for worse.

Before we were ready the next day came and it was time to find out the test results. We told Aunt Caroline we were going to the mall and left the house in the afternoon.

Hunter had seemed pretty nonchalant on the drive over, but now that we were at the clinic, he seemed more nervous. One of the lights in the waiting room flickered on and off, buzzing like there was a bug flying around inside of it. I looked at the bright teal colored chair I was sitting in. There were rows of them arranged around the waiting room.

The room was mostly empty except for a middle aged man sitting in a wheelchair and an older lady next to him. They were having a heated whisper conversation. Hunter was at the front desk, giving them his information. When he came back, his lips were a tight thin line. He sat down without a word.

Even though he seemed like he was healthy for the past few days, we both knew that didn’t mean anything. He was fighting something that was unseen but very real. Any second it could knock him down without warning.

I could feel the panic starting to rise in my chest but I fought it down with a fury.

“Hey, it’s going to be okay,” I said. I patted his hand gently.

He looked straight ahead, his jaw clenched. “Yeah. I know.”

I didn’t know exactly what was running through his head but I could guess. Whatever the results were, I needed to let him know that I would be there for him. I reached an arm around his hunched over shoulders and leaned my head against him. Maybe I could give him some small amount of comfort.

He took shallow breaths, gripping the arms of the chair tightly.

“Do you want some water?” I asked.

“Nah.”

I watched his profile carefully. Hunter looked around the room, not volunteering anything else. His sharp gray eyes darted to the man in the wheelchair.

The whispering between the lady and the man on the other side of the room got louder.

“—just why it had to happen to me?” The man had his head in his hands. The lady was patting his back gently, making soothing noises.

Hunter stared at them, his face grim. Maybe it would help if I could distract him.

“Hey,” I said as cheerfully as I could. “Do you remember that night when we first met?”

He pulled his eyes away from the conversation across to the room, but he wasn’t giving me his full attention. “Hm? You mean at the lake?”

“No, not the lake. I guess that is when we first met, but I was thinking about the night at the Bearded Squirrel and then afterwards when we went to that broken down amusement park.”

Hunter’s eyes wandered across the room when the whispers broke into our conversation.

“—how shitty my life is now. I used to play football in high school for Chrissakes. First team all county. We were state champs. I thought I’d get to play ball with my kids one day. Now I can’t walk.”

“Hey Hunter?” I stroked his arm soothingly. He was shifting around in his seat, an uneasy grimace on his face.

“Yeah. Mmhm. The amusement park.”

“Remember how we threw the rocks at the old booth game and it fell down?” I asked. I smiled ostentatiously for him. It had been a fun night, and I wanted him to remember it. Hopefully that would get Hunter to think about happier times instead of the results looming over us.

“What about it?”

“Well, I’m happy you won Bernie for me at the carnival last week. I’m glad we finally got a chance to play some real―”

“—can’t provide for them. We’re up shit creek in debt. Last week they took my car. They’re coming for the house next. Disability ain’t comin’ close to makin’ the payments.”

I looked over across the room, feeling a little uneasy myself. The man had started sobbing quietly into his hands. When I turned back to Hunter, the muscles on his neck were tense and he was breathing heavily.