Tethered (A BirthRight Novel) Read Online Free PDF Page B

the day I married you. But if life with me is so unbearable, I won’t make you stay somewhere you don’t want to be.” As the words left her lips, her tears fell faster than the rain battering the outside of the car.
    He squinted in stymied surprise. “Are you kidding me? You don’t want to make me stay somewhere I don’t want to be?” he asked in a condescending tone. “After ten years of this bullshit , now you won’t make me stay?” Hatred couldn’t even begin to explain the abhorrent gleam in his eyes.
    Ignoring the weather and poor visibility, his rage forced his foot firmly on the accelerator. The engine roared as he sped through the splattering water.
    “Slow down, Daniel!” My mother yelled, unable to divert her attention from the barely visible road.
    Where did this loathing in my father come from? Why hadn’t I ever seen it before?
    She’d pushed him too far this time.
    My father turned the wheel with so much force, the back of my mother’s head slammed into the side window.
    “Daniel, no!” Her lungs hissed like they were ready to burst.
    Slow motion kicked in as he drove the silver SUV through guardrails.
    They plummeted down a darkened ravine—and all I could do was watch.
    My mother took one last look into my father’s enraged eyes as the vehicle sliced through trees, debris, and spewing mud.
    When the abraded vehicle hit bottom, the car exploded on impact.
    And they were gone.
    Those last few seconds played over, and over—like a skipping movie projector.
    The replaying sound of crushing metal, shattering glass, and licking flames was so deafening my head could have burst. But even worse were the noxious fumes of gasoline and antifreeze, mixed with the stench of scorched hair and burning flesh.
    How could I ever forget such smells?
    Then darkness consumed my thoughts as the vision ended.
     
    I remember opening my eyes to a room full of classmates, staring at me as if I had two heads. And I couldn’t even defend myself. I can only imagine what my body had involuntarily done during such a horrific vision.
    Afterwards, I was paralyzed.
    I couldn’t breathe.
    In shock, I was unable to gain control of my senses fast enough to comprehend what was about to happen.
    I couldn’t tell my teacher or anyone in my class what I’d just “seen”. I had to think—and think fast.
    I jumped from my seat with my hand over my stomach, moaning I was about to be sick. Once Mr. Carr nodded, I bolted from the room as fast as I could towards the nearest pay phone.
    My hands shook, but somehow I managed to pick up the receiver and dial. After two short rings, the voice on the other end said, “Hello?”
    With a frantic voice I spoke. “Gram, I don’t know what to do. I just saw Mom and Dad in a car crash. We have to call them. They can’t leave the city yet. They have to wait!”
    After a brief pause, Gram said, “Chloe, it’s too late, dear. I just got a call from the police.”
    Then it hit me. She’d been crying when she answered the phone, but in my panicked state, I hadn’t noticed. “Did they...is she...?”
    “Oh, Chloe. I’m so sorry, dear. You shouldn’t have found out this way. You shouldn’t have had to see it happen.” The pain in her voice rattled me to the core. “I’ll call the school and tell the principle what’s happened. Go get your brother and sister. Your pap will be there shortly.”
    I hung up the phone.
    I was numb.
    I dropped to the floor and cried until my eyes went dry.
    Minutes passed, but I had no idea how many.
    “Okay,” I told myself aloud, trying to get a grip. “You have to find Dru and Dhelia. You have to tell them.”
    My body trembled, but it didn’t keep me from what I knew I had to do. “I’m the big sister, so I have to be the strong one. They can’t see me fall apart.” I continued talking to myself, thinking it would make what I was about to do, somehow make sense.
    But it didn’t.
    How could my father have done this? Pain ripped through my