Page 17 of Fighting Shadows

“Come on, Little One, open your mouth so you can drink some more water,” I coax her, running my thumb over her plump bottom lip.

Her energy has left her, the lack of food dwindling her energy enough that she’s struggling to fight her way through whatever infection she’s got.

I know what I need to do, but I’m not sure how I’m going to explain this to him.

Dialing his number, I put the phone to my ear while placing a damp cloth on Autumn’s forehead.

Her eyebrows furrow at the contact, but I hold it in place.

I barely notice when he picks up, too entranced by my little one below me.

I could easily reach down. Touch her.

She would never know; she is too far gone in whatever sickness she has.

Is it the sedative I’m giving her? Is she having a bad reaction to it?

“Dad?” Noah’s voice shouts through the phone, drawing me back from thoughts of her.

“I need your help with something, but you can’t be followed coming here.”

“Dad, what did you do?”

“Do you know that girl I told you about?”

“The girl from when you were married? What about her?”

“She’s here. We found each other again, but she’s sick, and she doesn’t want to go to the hospital.”

“How sick?” Noah asks, his doctor's voice coming through.

I had him when I was sixteen but lost him when his mom ran with him to another country. We found each other again three years ago, just as he was starting his doctor residency, and I couldn’t be prouder.

Right now, I need him to pull through, and I hope he can help her. I refuse to take her to a hospital. I am refusing even to chance losing her.

“A high fever has been prominent for about seven days now; she’s barely lucid and hasn’t eaten anything. I can barely get her to drink anything,” I tell him.

“Jesus, Dad. What’s her temperature sitting at right now?”

“One hundred and four.”

“And you haven’t taken her to the hospital? Why the hell not?” he shouts loud enough for me to pull the phone away from my ear with a wince.

“She’s hiding from someone… multiple people. She begged me not to take her in because the moment she steps foot in that hospital, they’ll come for her, and I can’t lose her again, Noah.Pleasehelp me,” I beg him, thinking of a lie on the spot as I try to convince him to make the drive out here to help me.

He's the only person I can think of who can bring her back to me, and if he doesn’t, I don’t know what else to do.

There’s something very wrong with her; she should be better by now.

The most I can get her lucid is for her to come around and call for one of herboyfriends. Even thinking of them makes me want to punish her again. The bruises on her thighs glare back at me from all the other times I’ve lost my temper at the thought of them.

“I’ll come, Dad. Don’t worry, but if at any point I think she needs the hospital urgently, I will call for an ambulance. Do you understand me?” Noah demands while rustling around on the other side of the call.

“Fully. I trust your judgment, son,” I say to him. Refusing to let him know that she’ll be going nowhere.

I lie, letting him think that he’s in control of this situation, and while I may love my son.

No one, not even him, will take her from me.

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