My older brother Evan was trapped behind me in the wheelchair he had depended on since the accident that took our parents fifteen years earlier.
I apologized to him. I told him I was sorry for bringing this monster into our family.
Evan stared at me with an expression I couldn’t understand and quietly said: “Claire… when we get out of here, you’re going to be very angry with me.”
I thought the fear had finally gotten to him. Then he leaned forward. Placed both feet firmly on the flooded floor.
And stood up. After fifteen years in a wheelchair. For a few seconds, I couldn’t even understand what I was seeing.
Then Evan reached inside his jacket, pulled out a hidden cutting tool, and began slicing through the wire trapping my seat belt.
But the fact that my brother could walk wasn’t even the biggest secret he had kept from me.
Because once we escaped the sinking SUV without my husband realizing we were still alive, Evan took me somewhere hidden.
