Christian
My heart is pounding and while both my lungs and legs are burning I don’t slow my pace. The bridge is a 15-minute walk from here so it shouldn’t take me long to get there if I keep going.
The bridge is also in the complete opposite direction on the part of the river where Molly usually goes so how the hell has she ended up there?
"Chris, what’s going on?” Jack shouts out the words in between puffed-out breaths as he appears beside me keeping up with my pace. It takes me just seconds to realize that all of my brothers are behind me but I’m not surprised, this is just how we are, we’re there for each other and always have each other's backs even if we don’t know what’s going on.
I’m not sure, I couldn’t hear Tom greatly but he was screaming for Molly to hold on.” I don’t need to say anymore, we just keep running with all we have.
We make it to the river bank in just a few minutes and I swear the sight we are greeted with makes me stop breathing for a second.
Molly is hanging on for dear life to the old Ackley bridge while it rattles and swings with the force of the wind and rain.
"Chris… you all came!” Tom's look of relief is plastered across his face. “I don’t know what’s happened but we need to get her down now. She’s not going to hold on any longer.”
He’s down the river bank and it takes just seconds for me to realize that he’s trying to hold on to someone. He must read my mind as he continues talking.
"Mr. Clutterbuck has fallen down the bank. I can’t get him up on my own.” We look down the bank to find George our elderly neighbour hanging on to a bolder for dear life while the bottom half of his body has sunk in the water and Sandy his Labrador is barking at him, willing him to get up. Poor dog.
"Tom! I’m slipping!” The sound coming from the combination of wind and rain is loud and deafening yet I don’t miss a single word that Molly says. I feel real fear at her hanging on for dear life and I'm scared. Callum runs down to Tom and takes hold of George’s arms while I’m still rooted to the spot watching Molly.
Tom, Jack, and Zack you guys go get Molly. Christian and I will look after good old George here.” Callum taking charge is properly good right now because my mind is shoot and as much as I want to go to Molly now I decide to just listen to Callum. Usually, I’m the one good in bad situations but I’m not right now and I think he knows it.
Mr. Clutterbuck, are you hurt anywhere?” George lifts his head to look at Callum and the poor man looks completely exhausted. God knows how long he’s been down here.
He nods his head while trying to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Callum has a strong hold on his arm and I take a hold of the belt loops in his jeans ready to drag him out.
"I think I’ve broken my leg.” Shit! “Ok, we’ll take it as easy as we can but we need to get you out ASAP!” Callum keeps him talking while we both start pulling him out.
The man has a fair bit of weight to him plus the added weight of the water and mud has made this a lot harder but we keep pushing and pulling and finally get him out of the water. He screams out in pain the whole time but there’s just no other way of doing it.
"We’re so sorry Mr. Clutterbuck, we’re trying not to hurt you.” I doubt my words make any difference but still, I feel the need to say them. “It’s ok boy, a bit of pain is good for the body.” I love his enthusiasm and I’m grateful for it because things are about to get a lot more painful for him.
We count to three then use all the strength we have left to get him up off the ground and back up the hill. The ground is wet and slippery and only getting worse by the minute and I’m insanely grateful that I have my farm boots on, any other shoes would make this task impossible.
Once he’s finally back up the hill we manage to get him sitting on a large bolder. A quick look at his leg makes it clear that it’s broken, bone has broken through the skin. Poor guy.
He starts to shiver from the cold and properly shock so I quickly shake off my jacket and put it over his shoulders. It’s wet from the rain but another layer is still better than nothing. Callum takes his jacket off and places it over his legs while his dog Sandy comes to his side and lays his head on George's lap.
"How did you end up here George?” Callum starts talking to him properly trying to keep him occupied. I listen to them but it seems the moment that we have George safe my mind instantly goes back to Molly.
I look up toward the bridge and feel complete relief when I see Molly laying on the bridge with my brothers surrounding her. I couldn’t let myself think about her while I was helping George or the poor bugger would have ended up on the river.
But now that he’s safe and I can see that she is safe I feel my whole body relax. That being said I’m eager to get back to my kids before this Tornado hits. I try calling out to Tom and the others but they can’t hear me with this wind so instead, I wave my hands around indicating for them to come down to us. The quicker we get back the better.
Just a few seconds later I see them getting up and heading our way. They have to take it slowly because the bridge is still swaying in the wind but I can’t see any obvious injuries thank god.
"George, what were you doing out here anyway? There’s a Tornado coming?” Callum asks him while I continue to watch the others.
"Is there? I didn’t know. I was out taking Sandy for his daily walk. We stop here every day to say hi to Betty and Sandy like to play in the river for a little while.” Betty was his wife, they were married for over 50 years but she sadly died last year after a long battle with cancer. She was an absolute gem and we all miss her and her cheeky ways. This one was one of their favorite places and George always says that it’s where her spirit is and who are any of us to argue that?
"Anyway, Sandy was playing In the river when this rain and wind came out of nowhere. He wouldn’t come out the stubborn bugger so I went down to get him but I slipped and well, you saw how that ended.” Poor man.
Before he can say anymore the others finally make it back to us. Callum pulls Molly into him for a hug and I find it fills me with jealousy and yet, I still do nothing but give her a quick nod.
"Ok, Mr. Clutterbuck, how about we get back and in the warm, yes?” He eagerly nods “Yes please boy.”