The Missing Heir novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Rain

The storm broke on the sixth night, just after my shift ended.

I was crossing the ambulance bay to the parking structure when the first crack of thunder came down so hard that the glass doors rattled.

Rain hit the concrete in sheets.

Under the overhang, between two parked ambulances, a man in gray scrubs stood with his back to the wall and his eyes shut.

"Micah?"

He did not answer.

His good hand was gripping the metal rail beside him, and his knuckles were white.

His chest moved in short, shallow pulls.

I dropped my bag and went to him.

"Hey.

Hey, look at me.

It's Gwen."

"I can't," he said.

"Can't what?"

"I can't see the ground."

The lightning flashed and lit the whole bay white.

He flinched.

"There's water," he said, in a flat, tight voice.

"There's a lot of black water, and I'm standing at the edge, and I don't know why."

"There isn't any water.

There's a parking lot."

"I know.

I know that."

His eyes opened and found mine, wide and wild and gray.

"I know that, and I can't make it stop."

I did the only thing I knew.

I took his hand off the rail and held it against my sternum, so he could feel my heartbeat.

"Breathe with me," I said.

"In for four.

Hold.

Out for six."

He tried.

It came out ragged.

"Again.

Four.

Hold.

Six."

We did it half a dozen times.

By the end his shoulders had come down from around his ears, and his hand had stopped shaking against my chest.

Thunder rolled again, farther away, and he only closed his eyes.

"Okay," he said.

"I think I'm okay."

"You're okay."

"That was a memory."

"Maybe."

"It was a piece of one."

His shoulders dropped.

"I was standing on something wet and looking down, and I was holding something heavy in my hand.

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