out his cell phone, but saw that he had no service. Mind made up he began to race back to the trailer and the landline.
He stumbled and looked around in confusion. It had felt like someone had pushed him. He shook it off and tried again, and again he was pushed backward.
“What the hell?” he asked out loud. He turned around to look up at the lighthouse and suddenly he was being pushed repeatedly toward the open lighthouse door.
“Okay, okay, stop pushing.” He sprinted for the lighthouse and up the spiral staircase.
Carefully Daniel crawled along the gallery staying as close to the lighthouse as possible. He didn’t want to weaken the structure of the gallery any more than it already was.
He reached the last intact piece of flooring and he swallowed hard when he saw how precariously Heather was perched. Heather was wrapped around two of the railing’s balusters, her legs were wrapped around one baluster and her arms were wrapped around another. Her whole body was shaking and tears rolled down her cheeks from eyes that were clinched tightly shut.
Trying not to startle her he spoke to her quietly, “Heather, I’m here. You’re doing really well, just stay very still. I have a rope and I’m going to tie it around your body. Then we can crawl safely back into the lighthouse. Okay, just hold still while I tie it around you.” Heather didn’t acknowledge that she had heard Daniel, but he didn’t want to waste another moment.
Lying on his belly, he slithered as close to Heather as he could without touching the broken portion of the gallery. He cast the rope over her waist and carefully worked it under her body. Feeling how much she was shaking was breaking his heart, all he wanted to do was gather her up in his arms and make her safe.
He tied her securely to the end of the rope and then started coaxing Heather to let go of the balusters.
“Okay Heather, you’re tied to the rope. You can let go. Come on honey, let go and I’ll pull you back to me and then we’ll work our way back into the lighthouse.
Heather heard Daniel’s voice, but she didn’t trust that it was really him until she had felt his hands gently work the rope around her body and pull it into a tight knot. She heard him telling her to let go, but she wasn’t sure that she could.
“Come on hon, I need you to let go. It will be okay, I promise.”
Heather had to focus on each finger to get it to uncurl and release the baluster.
“Good honey, now let go with your legs.”
As Heather freed her legs from the baluster, the floor beneath her fell away.
The sudden added weight on the rope surprised Daniel and before he could brace his body he was yanked forward toward the edge of the platform with Heather’s scream ringing in his ears.
Heather’s body fell like a limp rag doll pulling Daniel ever closer to the edge of the platform. Daniel struggled to grab onto anything that would stop his forward momentum but the metal was slick from the fog and his hands slipped repeatedly.
Michael burst through the lantern room door just as Heather’s scream split the air. He saw the rope that was tied to the lantern railing rapidly spiraling out the door and he lunged for it yelling, “I’ve got you guys, I’ve got you!”
Daniel heard Michael yelling in the distance, and suddenly his forward movement ended with a sharp jerk that took his breath away. He and Heather dangled at the end of the rope over the cliff edge far above the crashing waves.
Once he got his breath back he yelled, “Pull! Pull! Pull!”
Michael must have understood because he and Heather slowly began to rise.
Once he reached the stable piece of platform, Daniel yelled for Michael to stop pulling and he scooted back toward the lighthouse.
Daniel pulled up Heather’s limp body and held her in his arms with tears rolling down his face.
Saying a prayer of thanks, he began scooting back around the gallery to the open lantern room door.
Daniel hauled Heather inside the lantern room and then collapsed next to a sweaty Michael, who was still clutching the rope as tightly as he could.
“Is she okay?” Michael asked.
“I think so; she probably fainted when she fell.” Daniel brushed the hair out of Heather’s eyes and kissed her gently on the lips.
Heather moaned and then clutched Daniel tightly with a frantic look on her face.
“Honey, it’s okay, I got’cha. I got’cha!” Daniel pulled her close in a big hug and held her as she trembled.
26
A long while later the three of them walked down the staircase to the ground floor.
Heather insisted that she was a little sore but otherwise she felt fine. All Heather wanted to do was to go home and crawl into bed, but Daniel insisted that she see a doctor.
“I have to agree with Daniel,” Michael said. “You might feel okay right now, but you really should get checked out. Let me find out where we can take you.” He turned and walked away.
When Michael returned he looked sheepish, “Apparently there is a local doctor who does house calls for villagers. Sarah said she’d have him met us at your house.”
Heather was mortified. “Sarah? Oh god Michael, You called Sarah?”
Looking irritated Michael apologized, “I’m sorry I didn’t know who else to call.”
Heather sagged, “No, I’m sorry Michael. I was just hoping to keep this on the down low.”
Michael nodded his head in agreement, “Me too. Now let’s get you home before Sarah freaks out even more.”
When they arrived at Heather’s apartment Sarah, Dr. Willis and Maggie were waiting.
Sarah and Maggie flocked around Heather making concerned noises and looking at her closely, interrupting every effort Dr. Willis made to check out Heather’s condition.
Finally, Dr. Willis asked Heather if she had somewhere private where he could perform a checkup. Heather nodded and led him to her bedroom where they closed the door, locking out all of her concerned friends.
In the kitchen Sarah nervously fluttered around and finally settled on making everyone coffee. She found a box of Oreos in the cupboard, and after quickly eating three cookies, arranged the rest on a plate for everyone else.
No one spoke as the minutes ticked by. Daniel sipped his coffee but his attention was riveted on the bedroom door.
When the door finally opened, Daniel jumped up ready to pepper the doctor with questions, but the doctor held his hand up for silence and pointed at Daniel.
“Heather told me that I needed to check you too, so come on in.”
Daniel followed the doctor into the bedroom and saw Heather lying on the bed. She smiled weakly at Daniel.
Daniel took her hand, “How you doing honey?”
“The doctor said I’ll live.”
“She has some major bruising, some muscle strains and some scrapes but nothing that some rest and ibuprofen can’t cure. Heather you are very lucky.” Heather nodded her head and wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
Doctor Willis placed a comforting hand on Heather’s shoulder, “Heather if you have trouble sleeping, or if you find yourself having flashbacks, please let me know and I can prescribe you something to help you sleep or recommend a therapist. Okay, Daniel let’s see how you fared.”
Daniel’s injuries mirrored Heather’s although his arms and back had suffered more strain. The doctor admonished Daniel to contact him if he had any long-term effects from his misadventure and Daniel promised that he would.
Daniel and Heather thanked Dr. Willis and walked him to the front door. When they turned back toward the kitchen, they saw three anxious faces staring at them.
“Well?” Sarah demanded.
Heather smiled tiredly, “We’re fine, just some pulled muscles.”
“Good,” Maggie replied. “Now can you tell us what the fuck happened?”
Holding hands Daniel and Heather joined their friends in the kitchen.
“I wanted to surprise Daniel, but when I got to the trailer there was so much fog, plus a lot of new construction equipment
, and I got confused. I ended up in front of the cottage and I glanced up at the lighthouse. There was a figure on the gallery and when I called out the figure on the gallery called me by name and told me to come up.”
“Who was it?” asked Sarah.
“I thought it was Daniel.”
“It wasn’t me because I was sound asleep. In fact, I wouldn’t have awoken except that I heard someone call my name.”
Michael looked at Daniel in surprise. He thought that the knocking on the front door had awakened Daniel.
Ignoring the surprised look on his friend’s face Daniel continued. “Then there was knocking on our front door.”
“Who was it?” Sarah asked.
Michael shrugged, “When we opened it there was no one there. That’s why we went out looking to see if anyone was screwing around with the construction stuff.”
Maggie looked confused, “So if it wasn’t Daniel up in the lighthouse, who was it?”
“I don’t know, but I know I saw someone up there.”
“Heather you were probably mistaken; maybe it was a shadow or something.
Daniel shook his head, “No Maggie. Both Michael and I saw him too.”
“You did?” Heather asked surprised.
“We did. In fact, I sent Michael off to get a rope to get that guy down. That was before I even knew you were up there, Heather.”
Michael nodded his head, “We heard someone calling Daniel’s name and we were looking around to see who it was when we saw the guy up on the gallery.”
Maggie turned back to Heather, “So you went out on the gallery because you thought it was Daniel up there?”
“Yes.”
“You had to know that was
Adrift Page 27