Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

him, and the hospital room around me is noisy, but the child is still and quiet. He’s a rare beacon of calm in this otherwise chaotic place, and I find myself unable to look away from him even though the sight of him should fill me with great anger.

I know this is not my child. I know this baby belongs to Laura and Bradley. Yet at this moment, I feel connected to this little person before me as he clings to life.

The doctor told me that the baby was delivered by emergency C-Section, and while there is no guarantee that he will be okay in the long term, for now, he is alive and breathing. That is more than can be said for Bradley, who I have found out has succumbed to the poisonous fumes in the cottage. Good riddance to him.

But what about my wife? Is she okay?

For now, the unfortunate answer is yes.

Laura is currently in a coma and being treated for what I am told are high levels of carbon monoxide in her bloodstream. She is being given oxygen and will have to undergo several tests to determine the full range of consequences on her brain, and there is no guarantee that she will pull through. The doctor says it is a miracle that mother and baby survived the ordeal considering the levels of monoxide that were present in the cottage and there is no doubt that they would not have made it were it not for my sister finding them when she did. The only explanation for her survival is that the effects of the fumes were likely shared between Laura and her unborn child, something which Bradley was not lucky enough to enjoy.

Due to the good fortune of the timely rescue, or misfortune of it in my case, Laura might live. I say might because the doctor has made it clear that she is expected to have suffered damage to her brain. Even if she wakes up, there is likely to be memory loss and effects that will linger for the long term. I made sure to express my devastation at this news, but my ears certainly pricked up at the mention of the words “memory loss.” Perhaps things might be okay even if Laura does come out of her coma.

Maybe she won’t remember who was the one who put her in it.

I step away from the incubator and return to the corridor outside where Kat is waiting for me. She looks at me with her tear-stained eyes and pulls me in for a hug which I accept, taking the sympathy from my sibling who has inadvertently screwed up my plan. Then she leads me by the hand back into the waiting room where we take a seat, and she wipes her eyes before fixing me with a devastated stare.

‘I had no idea that fireplace was so dangerous. I’m so sorry,’ she says, not for the first time since I arrived at the hospital.

‘It’s not your fault,’ I tell her, because of course it isn’t. She had a perfectly good throat plate above that fire which would have dispersed the fumes correctly if Gemma and I hadn’t switched it out.

‘It could have killed your family,’ she replies, and the tears are flowing from her again now. They’ve barely stopped since I joined her here, whereas I have been more focused on perfecting my ‘shocked stare’ to display my level of disbelief at recent events.

‘Kat, it was an accident. Nobody could have known.’

‘But it was my cottage. My fireplace. I should have had it checked more often. What if they die?’

Kat buries her head into my chest and sobs, while I fantasise about that last part. What if they die? I’m still hoping that is the case for Laura, although I have changed my mind slightly about Samuel. He is clearly a fighter, and perhaps that deserves to be rewarded. If only his real father had shown as much fight, then he would have been here now to meet him.

‘Everything’s going to be okay,’ I tell my sister as I stroke her hair. ‘It’s not your fault. You saved them. They wouldn’t have a chance if it wasn’t for you.’

That last sentence catches in my throat, not because I’m emotional, but because I know it is the truth. They definitely would not have had a chance if Kat hadn’t turned up there when she did. The medical professionals confirmed that.

Kat eventually pulls herself together and removes her face from my t-shirt, and I look down to see the wet marks where her tears have soaked into my shoulder.

‘Sorry,’ she says sheepishly, and I laugh.

‘Don’t worry about it. But I might need you to go to mine and get me a change of clothes soon.’

Kat smiles as she wipes her eyes. ‘Whatever you want. I’ll get Martin to go. I’ll stay here with you.’

I smile at my sister and make it clear that I appreciate her support through this difficult time, even though she has unwittingly made this time much more difficult for me than it ever should have been.

‘I can’t believe Laura was having an affair,’ Kat says as she takes out a tissue and blows her nose. ‘I thought you two were the perfect couple.’

‘Nobody is perfect,’ I tell her like some wise old sage.

‘I’m sorry for what she has done to you. I’m glad she’s alive, but I hate her for seeing that other man. And the cheek of them using my cottage to carry out that affair.’

Kat shakes her head, and her sorrow has quickly been replaced by an anger. It’s an anger I recognise well because it is the same one that I have internally battled with for many months. But getting angry doesn’t solve anything.

Only getting even does that.

‘Are you going to stay with her?’ Kat asks me. ‘If she gets better?’

I take a moment to think about my answer, not because I need to, but because I