Can’t Escape by Kate Bold

Author:Kate Bold [Bold, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-23T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Royce Kimball stared out at the dark blue water lapping at the seawall of Twisp Harbor. The clouds hung in the air like someone had painted them there, the late afternoon sky a perfect backdrop. The view was one of the reasons he’d picked this apartment, and it never failed to deliver a spectacular sight no matter what time of day it was.

He’d always loved to swim in the ocean when he was growing up. But that had changed ten years ago to the day. He’d gone for a swim with friends in the harbor and almost drowned.

Well, he actually did drown. When the paramedics arrived on the scene, he had no pulse. They worked in tandem to resuscitate him, and it took over two minutes before he regained consciousness. He’d only been twenty-two at the time, and he’d thought for sure that would be the worst thing that would ever happen to him.

Then, two months ago, he’d faced death again when his apartment building caught fire. A neighbor had left something cooking in hot grease on the stove while they went to check on their kids in the other room. They only meant to be gone for a minute, but then they’d gotten a phone call.

When they came back, the stove and cabinets above it were engulfed in flames. The neighbor hadn’t known what to do, so they threw water on the fire, thinking it would put it out. Instead, it was like dousing the flames in gasoline.

At the time, Royce had been working non-stop double shifts at the hospital for almost two weeks. He’d come home and collapsed on the couch, too exhausted to even eat. When the apartment below him was ravaged by flames and smoke, he was dead to the world, oblivious to what was going on around him. He’d removed the battery from the smoke detector a couple of days before and had forgotten to replace it, so by the time he awoke, choking from the smoke and heat, he was certain his time had finally run out.

But he’d been wrong. Again. Firemen pulled him out of the blaze with minor burns and acute respiratory distress, but he was still alive. He could not believe it.

Royce wondered how he got so lucky, how he was still standing after two near-death incidents. He also could not help but wonder if he’d still see the world for all its beauty the way he did now if it hadn’t almost been taken from him twice.

A sudden knock on his front door interrupted his thoughts. He looked at his watch. It was almost six, which was too late for package delivery services in his area. Royce wondered if his neighbor, Eileen, had locked herself out of her apartment again.

He walked over to the door and peered out of the peephole. A man with a wild mess of short dark curls stood patiently in the hall. Royce could not place him, but something about him seemed familiar.

He opened the door with a warm smile.

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