Chapter 4 - THE BROTHER WHO REMEMBERED TWENTY-SEVEN SECONDS
Rowan Donnelly loved Christmas.
Even after the accident.
Even after the surgeries.
Even after three years of rehabilitation.
He loved the lights.
The music.
The gingerbread cookies his sister baked every December.
And the possibility that one day he might walk without assistance.
When Mave visited him on Christmas Eve, he stood for twenty-seven seconds.
She counted every one.
Now, lying in the hospital, she thought about those seconds.
Twenty-seven.
Such a small number.
And yet it represented hundreds of painful therapy sessions.
Thousands of exercises.
And three years of refusing to give up.
Killeran noticed her expression.
“What are you thinking about?”
Mave looked at him.
“My brother.”
He nodded.
“Is he safe?”
She swallowed.
“I think so.”
Killeran frowned.
“Think?”
She hesitated.
Then explained.
“Rowan lives at a rehabilitation center. I visited him before the accident.”
Killeran listened.
She told him about the progress he'd made.
About the twenty-seven seconds.
About the gingerbread cookies.
And about how Rowan still smiled like a child when he accomplished something new.
Killeran found himself smiling.
Then Mave said, “His accident happened near one of your warehouses.”
The smile vanished.
“What?”
She looked down.
“Three years ago.”
Killeran stared.
Then asked quietly, “Which warehouse?”
May you like
Mave swallowed.
“Harbor Nine.”
Related Stories
