Downfall by S.D. Wasley

  ****

  Further dozing. I woke again in the evening and Mum was there, reading a magazine with a frown on her lined face. Her hair had turned quite gray since I last saw her a couple of years ago.

  “Frankie,” she said softly when she saw I was awake.

  “Mum. I’m sorry.”

  “Does it hurt?”

  I considered. “Not really.” I looked around for Cain but he was gone. Had he even been there before? Maybe that was a dream.

  “What on earth were you doing in Land’s End?” she asked. “Were you coming to see me? Didn’t you realize I don’t live there anymore?”

  “I went ... with some friends ...” I wasn’t able to think of a lie in my groggy state. I hoped this explanation would suffice.

  “Hmm,” she said. “You really should have let someone know where you were going. The police have charged the farmer who shot you. I knew him, you know. George Nesbitt. He used to drink at the Federal when I was bartending there.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Do you think he did it deliberately, Frankie?”

  “I don’t think so. I don’t think he could actually see what he was shooting at.”

  She nodded. “That’s his story, too. He’s told the police there were some kids joyriding down the Eden Bay beach track every night. They would let their dogs chase the sheep. He was going to shoot one of their dogs to scare them.”

  “Wow. Really?”

  “I know, a bit extreme, but George has been under a lot of pressure lately. He makes most of his money from the Augur’s Well tanning works and I’m sure you know about the developer’s buyout. I suppose George wasn’t thinking too clearly.” Mum looked at me closely. It was like looking at my own eyes. “What’s been going on, Frankie? Ness told me you’ve been mixed up in some trouble with the locals.”

  Did she have to ask me this stuff now? I shrugged and had to suppress a whimper at the pain in my arm. Mum saw my wince and stood up.

  “They took out your drip but the nurse said she’d give you something for the pain when you woke up. I’ll fetch her. Oh,” she added as she left the room. “Your boyfriend’s still here. The dark-haired man.”

  Boyfriend. I almost laughed at the word. “Can you send him in?”

  “Hmm,” she said again, but she must have done as I asked because Cain came in a moment later.

  “Your mum’s getting a coffee. She said the nurse is coming with painkillers.”

  “Okay.” I watched him hungrily. Pointing at his face with my good arm, I asked, “Can’t anyone else see that?”

  “What?”

  “The glow.”

  Cain just gave me a vague, curious smile in answer and sat down next to my bed, taking my hand. I noticed the pinprick scars on his inner arm again.

  “Tell me about those,” I said, slipping my hand free to trace my fingers over the marks.

  Cain tensed. “They’re nothing.”

  “Tell me the truth.”

  His expression torn, Cain pulled his arm away. “I used to do drugs. A lot. I was a jerk, back then.” He checked for my reaction. “I don’t anymore, I promise.”

  His admission didn’t change anything in the way I felt about him. “I know that. And what about the other scar?”

  Cain looked at his own arm but it was only the pinpricks. I reached for his other arm and he showed it to me. I examined it closely but that arm was completely scar-free.

  I frowned. “What happened to the other one you had, on your wrist?”

  “I don’t think I had one on my wrist,” he said.

  “You did. I saw it a couple of months ago.”

  He shrugged, baffled. “Well, it’s gone now.” He glanced at my bandaged shoulder and I wondered if he was thinking about the scar I would have. I hadn’t asked the nurse how bad it would be yet. I was just glad to be alive.

  “I have to go soon. They’re really strict about your visiting hours.”

  “You’re going?”

  “I’ll be back in the morning,” he said quickly. “As early as they will let me in.”

  “What happened? At Eden Bay?”

  Cain took my hand again. “I was going to camp on the beach for the night but when I got to the track Owen and Liz were waiting for me. They told me they’d found you, and about the visions of the kids in the pickup. I wanted to see you but Owen made me stay on the highway while they went and fetched you, Jude and Nadine. He was worried there would be an accident. I waited at first but I heard a gunshot. That spooked me so I rode down the track after Owen. I stopped ... I don’t know why. There was a sheep’s skull stuck on a fence post and it gave me a weird feeling. I couldn’t see the farmer or his fire. I couldn’t see much at all. I stood at the fence, trying to decide what to do next. Then the moon came out and I noticed something lying on the ground next to a water trough. It was a shoe. I searched around and then I found you.” Cain’s other hand gripped my blanket until his knuckles turned white but he went on in a normal voice. “There was so much blood ... Jesus. The smell of it, the weight of it in your clothes and hair! I thought you were dead.” He stared at me deeply for a few seconds, eyes dark, and then looked away. “I tied up your arm to try and slow the bleeding and carried you down to the track. Then Owen arrived with the van and we took you straight to Land’s End emergency clinic. They gave you a transfusion and flew you to Revel City for surgery. I rode here last night.”

  “Oh,” I said lamely. “Thanks.”

  “My pleasure.” Cain grinned and my heart leapt at the sight of his smile. I grinned back.

  What a pity I was going to have to let him go again. My joy faded and tears burned my eyes. I turned my head away. Luckily, the nurse―not Karen, this time―came in with pills and saw Cain.

  “Visiting hours finished ten minutes ago. You need to go now. I’ll allow you a few more minutes with your mum when she gets back,” she added to me.

  He leaned over and kissed the top of my head before he left. “Don’t think about anything, Francesca,” he murmured. “Just rest and get better. We’ll talk tomorrow.”