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128 pages

English

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It should have been a relaxing day at the beach for Dr Clair Mercer and her family. But an argument with husband Adam distracts her from watching their four-year-old autistic son, and tragedy strikes when a sneaker wave sweeps him away.Clair's well-ordered life is plunged into madness, and after attempting to murder her husband, she walks into the ocean. Arrested, charged and awaiting trial on a locked psychiatric unit, can she discover a path to forgiveness, for herself and the husband she tried to kill?The Wave is a beautifully-written debut novel that explores the emotional complexity of family life and how suffering, self-realisation and the power of love can heal even the most wounded bonds of trust.

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Thriller

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Publié par	RedDoor Press
Date de parution	25 mars 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781913062767
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0200€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

THE WAVE
KRISTEN CRUSOE

Published by RedDoor
www.reddoorpress.co.uk
© 2021 Kristen Crusoe
The right of Kristen Crusoe to be identified as the author of this Work has been asserted by her in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the author
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Cover design: Patrick Knowles
www.patrickknowlesdesign.com
Typesetting: Jen Parker, Fuzzy Flamingo
www.fuzzyflamingo.co.uk
To my father, B. Dalton Crusoe, for everything
Contents
Prologue
Part One
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Part Two
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Part Three
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
About the Author
Coming Soon…
Prologue
The wave began in the Southern Ocean. Steep and intense, it toppled over and over until it escaped, became a swell, and traveled across the world, its fetch long and powerful. Wind and tide carried it north. The Coriolis effect pushed it back down towards the equator until it found its way into a small, quiet cove in the Pacific Northwest.
A young boy, dressed in a red superhero T-shirt and blue shorts, squatted beside a tide pool, his gaze focused on a snail edging towards a sea anemone. The boy watched as the anemone’s tentacles swirled and reached out, as though tempting the snail to come into its embrace. The boy wanted to warn the snail, to reach into the pool of cold, clear water and save it. But his mommy had warned him not to touch the sea creatures because they might sting. He looked down the beach where she was lying on a towel, her head lowered, eyes on the book lying in front of her. He knew she couldn’t see him but he always tried to do what she told him. So, he watched, concentrating on the snail’s progress.
‘Hurry little snail,’ he said out loud. ‘Turn around, come to me, you’re getting too close to the creature.’
He could hear his father’s voice. He sounded happy now, not like earlier this morning with Mommy. He was talking on his phone, walking away towards the caves at the far end of the cove. Seagulls cried out in excitement, skimming the waterline, gathering the feast left by the low tide. The gentle hymn of waves as they rolled onto the beach beyond soothed him. He never saw it coming, that one wave. A sneaker wave it was called. A swell that began in the Southern Ocean, traveled across the continent, landed on a beach in the North Pacific, and drew all it met back out to sea on its retreat.
Part One
Chapter 1
Clair
Dr Clair Mercer, after poisoning her husband, overdosed on vodka and sleeping pills, and then stumbled into the Pacific Ocean to drown. A man, fishing off the rocks nearby, saw her and called 911. Soon coast-guard helicopters, emergency ambulances, and police cars occupied the quiet cove. Noise, lights, and hands pressing down on her chest brought stark recognition of her reality.
Oh, God , she inwardly cried, I’m alive . A deep sadness, a longing for before. If only they would leave her the hell alone.
‘Give her another amp of epi,’ a male voice called out.
‘Clear,’ a female voice commanded.
‘What’s the story here?’ A different male voice asked. ‘Paramedics reported a cold-water immersion, near drowning, out at Seal Cove. What happened? Did she fall off the rocks? Swept off?’
Another voice – female, clipped, urgent: ‘Fisherman reported seeing her walk right into the water. Called 911. Tried to reach her but couldn’t. Coast-guard cutter was out doing training runs, so they were quick on the scene. Name’s Clair Mercer according to the driver’s license in her wallet. She left her purse containing ID, an empty bottle of Ambien, and empty vodka bottle on the beach. Looks like she meant to kill herself. She got bashed up against the rocks pretty bad but that kept her from being swept out to sea on the rip tide.’
‘What’s her core temp? Get that warming blanket going.’
Soon all the voices and words merged into one sound. She didn’t want to let go of before, the feel of the ocean, cold at first then warm, welcoming. Where her boy had last been. She wanted to be with him. He had been so close, his energy translucent, hovering in the blue light just beyond reach. The lights above burned her eyes, sticky with salt. Tears formed and ran down her cheeks, spilling into the corners of her mouth, tasting like the ocean she had just been wrenched from. And what about Adam? What had happened to him? Was he alive? What if she really had killed him? A wave of dread so powerful that it made her retch, washed over her.
‘She’s vomiting,’ a voice called out. ‘Get me suction, now.’
Through her distorted vision, she could make out several faces, male, female, dressed in different colored scrubs. Off to the edge of the crowd around her body was a face like an angel. Maybe I am dead, she thought. Hair the color of light, pale and glimmering. Their eyes met for a second, then darkness covered her again. A cold she could not have imagined gripped her. Strong, like a force beyond this world. She was carried down, sight coming back now. Not sight with her eyes, but a primordial way of seeing through the lost eye. Light beamed through the pulsating waves, wrapping her in music. Unlike any music she had ever heard. Not horns, or strings. Percussion and bells. Her ears exploded, the sound rushing in to fill every neuron in her brain. The music cocooned her, lifting her up and tossing her into space. Crystals scattered, infinitesimal sparkles cascading all around her. Voices chanting ancient hymns drew her deeper and deeper, and then, a sudden jolt.
‘Give her point five ketamine. Get her intubated, she’s crashing!’
* * *
Time, misshapen, passed. Days, weeks, minutes, she didn’t know. Transferred to the intensive care unit, Clair Mercer shunted between sedation and wakeful agitation until sleep, so deep it felt like dying again, consumed her. Soft voices, shoes sliding on linoleum floors, smells of bleach, alcohol, and plastic filled the space around her.
‘Clair, good morning. My name is Elaine. I’m your nurse today. You’re in the intensive care unit. You’ve been here for two days, on a ventilator. That’s the tube you feel in your throat. You were in an accident, in the water. You’re much better now. Clair, please, open your eyes. We’re going to remove the tube this morning.’
Clair recognized the voice, felt a warm hand on her arm. She gagged, coughed, feeling the tube in her throat being removed, soft hands moving her gently from side to side, a warm cloth wiping her face, arms, hands. Surrendering to the light filtering in through the curtains across the room, she could almost imagine she was home, in her own bed, except for the beep, beep, beeping of the monitors tracking her every heartbeat and breath. She could see through the glass door at the end of her bed. Bodies moving quickly, the squeaking of rubber-soled shoes mixing with light laughter and early morning conversation.
A sudden swish, the curtain pulled across a metal rod, and a figure emerged from the shadow. A woman, short, sturdy, with a stethoscope draped around her neck walked up to Clair’s bedside, took her hand at the wrist, feeling her pulse. Watching the monitor as she did, she quickly glanced down at Clair.
‘Ah, good morning. I see you’re awake. I’m Dr Hawk. How are you feeling? Any pain, shortness of breath?’
Looking up at the doctor’s smiling face, Clair felt comforted. But it didn’t last. Awakening brought remembering. Waves of grief, loss, and terror washed over her. Did I really kill my husband? Do they know? Am I going to jail? A moan, cry, animal-like in its intensity escaped her throat. Curling into her side, drawing her knees up, holding her face in her hands, she cried, ‘No, no, this can’t be, please don’t let it be.’ Over and over, this litany of sorrow rocked her back and forth in the bed.
Another woman stepped quietly into the room. Tall, slender, with white blonde hair, she sat in a chair beside Clair’s bed. Nodding at the doctor, she said, ‘I’ll sit with her now.’
‘Hello Clair, my name is Dr. Juliette Taylor, but please, call me Jet. I’m a psychologist and I will be working with you. Once you’re able to leave the ICU, we’ll transfer you to our psychiatric unit, where you will be safe. How does that sound?’
Looking away, her eyes searching for an escape outside the window, Clair saw an airplane soaring past towards the small airport near the sea.
‘Do I have a choice?’ she asked, watching the plane disappear into the marine layer, as it circled for a landing.
‘Clair, you are on a Hospital Hold, which means that we can keep you for treatment, for up to five business days. This sounds harsh, I know, but it is so that we can perform an evaluation, to determine if you continue to be a danger to yourself, or anyone