The Crash

by Freida McFadden

Like with Hank, I’ve got to play this exactly right. Because Tegan can’t leave here until she has that baby.

For one terrifying second, I’m scared she’s dead. That she passed away during the night and now I’m going to have to cut her open to get the baby out and then dispose of her dead body. But then she moves, and I let out a sigh of relief.

But I won’t have to ever turn him in. Hank will do what I want. He’ll do anything for me. I’m sure of it.

I let out a sigh of relief. The police are gone, and there’s no reason to think they’ll ever come back. We got away with it. Tegan’s baby will be mine.

“You ready?” she asks. No. But I need to do this. If I have any hope of getting out of this basement, I need to first get out of bed.

“I can help you get away from him, Polly,” she says. “You can start a new life. And then you won’t have to worry about him hurting you ever again. You’ll be safe. I promise.”

Girl Polly is the OP lol

“Polly, no!” Panic floods her features. “It can’t go on like this. You know that. Sooner or later, somebody is going to figure out you’re keeping me hostage here.”

She looks away from me, her cheeks scarlet. She hates me right about now, but I can’t let that bother me. Real soon, she’s going to give me exactly what I want. I can’t let anything get in the way.

calling 911. Now.” “Why are you doing this?” My chest fills with panic. “Hank, you promised me you’d give me three days.” “That was before she stabbed you with a fork and threw her drink at you. She clearly

wants to leave. This isn’t right. I’m calling 911.”

“If you take her to the hospital,” I say quietly, “I’ll kill myself.” As the words leave my mouth, I realize it’s not an idle threat. I mean what I’m saying. I want this so badly, and if he takes it away from me when I’m this close, I won’t be able to go on.

God, I have to get out of here. I am not giving birth in this basement.

But if her other leg were out of commission… Well, that would ensure she wouldn’t be able to leave here until we were good and ready to let her go. I’m not going to break her leg, exactly. I mean, I’m not a complete psychopath.

Like is this misery or what?!

He frowns. “You need to go to the hospital. We need to go now—before she gets back.” He’s lying. He’s got to be lying. But I’m too weak to fight him. I let him carry me up the stairs, not sure where he’s taking me, but anything is better than the basement.

My brain is hazy, and it’s hard to comprehend his words. What is he saying? Is he trying to tell me that Polly was the one responsible for imprisoning me in the basement? Is that possible? You need to go to the hospital. We need to go now—before she gets back.

I thought I couldn’t possibly feel worse than I feel right now, but there it is. Someone tampered with my car and caused my accident? How could that possibly be? Who would do something like that? Of course, that is a stupid question. I know exactly who would do something like that. A man who did not want me going to the police. A man who would have been happy if I died in that accident. If my baby died.

Even though I felt for Hank when he was telling me about his wife’s mental health problems, it doesn’t matter. That woman almost killed me and my baby. She ought to be locked up forever. And her husband should be locked up too for letting her do it.

I have a very short gap of time to make this happen. I used to work at Roosevelt Memorial, so I know that seven o’clock is the change of shift. Change of shift happens when the nursing staff from the day shift signs out all their patient information to the nurses coming on for the evening shift.

LIKE ARE YOU SERIOUS?!

remember Brian breaking up with me, although I didn’t ask Dennis to drive out—he had insisted. Except now there’s a slight edge to his voice, like he’s upset with me for having forced him to drive in a snowstorm.

He doesn’t blame me for that crash, does he? The accident brought his career as a professional skier to a screeching halt, sure, but he always seemed happy with his life as a ski instructor.

Except that’s not going to happen. No way. I will not take hush money from that man. He did a terrible thing to me, and I won’t keep my mouth shut and let him do it to other girls.

I want to write back to him. I want to tell him that I’m sorry about what I’m going to do, but it’s the only way to save him. But if I write anything, he’s going to freak out. So I stuff my phone back in my pocket. Goodbye, Hank. Time to do this.

Am I really going to do this? Do I have it in me to harm another human being? I couldn’t even break her kneecap, and this is far, far worse. But it’s the only way to keep my husband out of trouble.

The man has a syringe in his hand. And he’s trying to hook it up to Tegan’s IV, but he’s fumbling a bit. I may not have worked as a nurse in years, but I very much doubt the rules have changed enough that a random family member is allowed to inject whatever they want into a patient’s IV line. This man does not have good intentions.

I came here to kill Tegan Werner, to stop her from sending my husband to jail. But the truth is I never could have done it. I didn’t have it in me after all. So instead, I saved her life.

It turns out Dennis was never as okay as I thought he was with losing his chance to go pro. I never realized he blamed me for the car accident that took him out of commission. It pains me to think of the simmering resentment he’d felt for years.

Polly showed up here tonight. I don’t know what her motivation for coming was, but she stopped Dennis from killing me and my baby. I hate her for what she did to me, but I also realize that if it weren’t for her and Hank, I would be dead right now. They have saved me twice over. I am only here right now because of her. I owe her. But I’m still not sure it’s enough.

I’ve spent so many years of my life focusing on the child I wanted so badly. But Hank is my family, and he’s given me more love than I would have gotten from a dozen kids. It took almost losing everything to realize how blessed I am.

It’s hard not to keep thinking about those days I spent down in Hank and Polly’s basement, even though I’ve told the police that I can’t remember any of it due to the knock on my head. It’s ironic that I’m pretending not to remember something that I’ll carry around with me for the rest of my life.

This is the perfect opportunity to tell him everything. To tell him how that evil woman kept me hostage in her basement for four nights while I begged to go to the hospital. How she nearly cost me and my baby our lives. How she is sick and deserves to be locked up, maybe forever. But somehow, I can’t say any of that.

If not for Hank and Polly, Tia and I wouldn’t be here right now. And that’s worth something. That’s worth everything. I gaze down at my daughter’s face. What do you think, Tia? What should I do? And as always, I don’t get an answer anymore.

“I don’t know who Polly is,” I finally say. “I never heard the name before in my life.”

I can sympathize. A year ago, I could barely walk due to my broken and infected ankle. And I didn’t for quite a while. It was a long process, progressing from the wheelchair to a knee scooter or crutches, then a cane, and now nothing at all. But I have a limp that Jackson swears is not noticeable, and my ankle still aches in bad weather.

after our adoption fell through and then The Incident, but I knew I had to pull myself together if I was going to help Sadie. The fact that we already had a relationship with the girl helped in the process, but there was nothing quick about it. I got a note from Dr. Salinsky though, testifying to my excellent mental health, and eventually, we were approved to become foster parents for Sadie. She’s lived here ever since.

And I’m so happy that he kept me from making a terrible mistake one year ago. You know you’ve got someone really special when they are able to save you from ruining your own life.

As I close the door, I notice that he isn’t reading from the book. Instead, he’s leaning close to her, speaking in a hushed voice. And she’s answering back in the same hushed voice.

Oh here we go

My wife has issues. God knows, I love her. But the years of infertility did a number on her. I thought she needed more years of therapy before we considered bringing a child into our home. But this wasn’t just any child.

I had never killed anyone before, but I didn’t even think about what I did next. I shoved Mitch’s face back into the snow, ignoring his muffled shouts and protests as he struggled for air. He was a big, strong guy but not bigger and stronger than me. There was a point when I could have stopped and let him go—no major harm done—but I wasn’t about to let him go back to Sadie after I had pissed him off like that.

Sadie never told the police a thing about what I did. The only story they heard is that he fell down the stairs while drunk and that she found him, dead. She kept my secret.

She looks at me for a long time. She remembers—it’s all over her face. I wonder if she’s mad at me for what I did. She knows I killed him. She knows I’m the one responsible for taking her father away from her.

She must hate me, at least on some level. Wouldn’t she have to? She doesn’t understand why I did it. She doesn’t understand what I felt when I saw that man was beating up on a defenseless little girl.

don’t know what you mean,” she finally says. She tilts her chin up to me. “You’re my dad, Hank.” I stare back at her in the dim light of her ...

She might not have forgotten, but she understands. My daughter will never tell a soul what I did for her. We will both keep this secret.