Page 39 of The Thief
“I don’t like it,” Ava said, seeing right through my white lies, and she buried her face back into my chest.
“I know,” I replied. “Me neither, but it’s all going to beokay. It’s over now. We can go home.”
I said the words, but I didn’t feel the meaning behind them. Itwasover. We’d just lived through a nightmare, but I knew the real horror was only just beginning.
Once the police had secured the area, the paramedics came in, heading straight to the old man, Ava, and me. I tried to listen to the police chatter around me, and from what I could gather, the gunmen had managed to escape with the hostages in a van parked out the back. The police couldn’t get a clear shot without hurting the hostages, and when the van raced away, the ground force had followed. They had the helicopter tracking them too, and they seemed hopeful of catching them.
Forensics, medics, police, they were everywhere. And I was conscious of them asking me if we were okay, whether we had any injuries, but all their questions sounded like they were being asked from underwater. My brain couldn’t hear and didn’t want to listen. I just wanted to get out of there. I wanted to know if Tyler was okay. I had to help him in whatever way I could.
Ignoring their questions, I said, “We need to leave. I have to be somewhere. They took my friend.”
But thinking I meant one of the hostages, the medic replied, “The police are doing all they can to bring an end to all of this as safely as they can. The best thing you can do for your friend right now is to let the police do their job and let us do ours. We need to check you both over and make sure you’re okay.”
“No,” I snapped, feeling frustrated that no one was listening to me. “He was arrested, and he didn’t do anything. I need to getout of here.”
I knew they thought I was delirious, when they gave me a pitying smile and said, “Are you able to stand? If you want to get checked out in the ambulance or at the hospital, we can do that for you. But we do need to get you both looked over.”
They reached to pull me up to stand, but I shrugged them off. Then one of them tried to take Ava off me, but I snapped, “No. Don’t touch her. She’s fine.” And I squeezed her even tighter.
“We need to check you and your daughter,” they said, speaking more firmly now. “Please, Miss. Just do as we say.”
I glanced down at Ava, who was clinging to me and the key Tyler had given her. Her eyes were screwed shut, and I knew she was using it to try to escape where we were. She was doing what Tyler had told her to do, using his magic. And in that moment, I knew I had to get her out of there. Staying and arguing wasn’t helping anyone.
Reluctantly, I pushed to stand. Then, with the heaviest legs I’d ever walked on, I shuffled slowly towards the exit with Ava in my arms. The medics guided me outside, forcing me away from the room, that only minutes ago, I’d have given anything to leave. But now... everything was different. It all felt wrong. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
Ava’s eyes were still closed, her little fingers gripping that key so tightly her knuckles were white.
I let the paramedics lead us to the back of an ambulance, where they sat us down and started to do their checks.
“Ava, baby,” I whispered to her. “You need to give me the key. The nice lady needs to check you over.”
But she shook her head, a little tear falling free as she said, “I can’t. I’m using it to talk to Tyler.”
The lump in my throat swelled, and I asked, “What do you mean?”
“Tyler’s with me, in my head. I don’t want to leave him, Mummy. He’ll be on his own and he might get sad.”
How I managed to hold it together, I don’t know, but I stroked her fisted hand and told her, “He’d want you to be okay. He’d tell you to let the doctor check you, wouldn’t he? He always knows what’s best.”
Her little sniffles broke me.
“I don’t like it when I open my eyes,” she said, and the paramedic gave me a pitying smile.
“I know, but it’s all over now. And you can see Tyler anytime. He gave you the key for that reason, remember? It’s yours.”
“Really?” She peeked one eye open, and I nodded to her.
“I promise.”
They checked us over, told me we’d probably suffer from shock after the trauma and gave me the details of a specialist who could help us. But after hearing how insistent I was to leave, and knowing they had no reason to keep me, they eventually let us go.
As we left, I saw the old man getting stretchered out. He turned his head, and when he saw me, he smiled weakly through his pain. A sad, hollow smile, but a smile nonetheless.
I tried to smile back, but I couldn’t. All I could do was swallow through the boulder stuck in my throat and nod back at him.
“Jess,” I heard a familiar voice call out from behind. “Oh,Jess! Thank God you’re okay.”
I turned to find my mum and little brother pushing through the police cordon to try and get to us.
