Prologue #2
“She needed the motivation, but I didn’t wanna take away from her experience, so I stayed up here,” Angela says as if that’s a legitimate defense.
“You pushed her,” Addie says.
Angela shakes her head. “She jumped in after Tucker.”
Bullshit.
Talia wouldn’t scream like that if she had jumped of her own free will. The way she flew in the air meant she wasn’t expecting it, either.
“Uh, guys, where is she?” Warren looks down and when I spot Tucker, he’s treading water and frantically calling her name.
The swooshing of the waterfall crashing into the creek creates ripples through the water. My eyes scan all over, looking for any evidence of Talia swimming up to the surface, but there’s only Tucker.
“Talia!” Addie shouts from the top of the cliff as I rush down the trail and toward the shore as fast as I can without my shoes.
My heart pounds as I step over rocks and dirt.
Warren and Rhett keep up behind me, and when the three of us jump into the water, I dive as deep as I can swim.
When I don’t see her, I come back up for air and then go back down again.
The guys are all looking, too, and the fact that none of us find her after twenty minutes sends me into a panic attack.
Where the hell could she be?
I’m not sure how deep the water is or where the stream goes underneath the waterfall, but as I dive farther down, I see large rocks and boulders. When I return to the surface, Addie’s still on the phone with 911 and Warren tells me he’s texted his parents.
“What the fuck did you do?”
My gaze snaps to Tucker, who’s screaming in Angela’s face.
“Nothing!” She waves her hand in the air dismissively. “Why’re you blamin’ me?”
“She didn’t wanna jump in the first place.” He hovers above her, shoving a finger in her face. “You were supposed to go in with her, but I saw you shove her over!”
“I did too,” Maisie confirms with her hands on her hips.
“Fuck you, guys! She wanted me to! She didn’t wanna look like a coward in front of y’all and asked me to help her get the courage, so I did what she asked!” Angela defends, standing taller but nowhere near Tucker’s six-foot frame.
“That’s bullshit.” I walk closer. “You gave her no warnin’ and that’s why she was screamin’ for her life.”
“What’re y’all even talkin’ about? She asked me to do it!” Angela stands her ground, but no one’s buying it.
Tucker goes back in to help Rhett and even though my body’s sore and tired, I follow.
We frantically search as best as we can, calling out her name and swimming around the entire length of the area until a rescue team arrives.
We’re told to stand back and wait as they dive into the water.
Uncle Grady explains that the water goes down deep enough and can be hard to get to without proper gear.
Aunt Lindsey paces while we wait for a miracle.
I call my mom and dad to tell them what’s going on. They grab my siblings and start the two-hour drive up here.
“We should call her parents,” Addie says in a daze as if she doesn’t want to take her eyes off the water.
“I already gave their number to the sheriff,” Tucker says. He’s been shaking nonstop even though he’s covered in a large, heated blanket. I don’t blame him, though. My nerves are on fire.
The sound of a helicopter grabs our attention and we look up. The sun’s no longer beaming on us, and soon, we’re going to be surrounded by darkness. The divers have flashlight attachments on their wetsuits, but still, I don’t know how far it allows them to see.
After an hour of searching, one of the divers pops up and waves to a team member who’s waiting on shore.
“What’s goin’ on?” Addie asks.
“I dunno…they’re whisperin’ about something, though,” I say, keeping my voice low.
The one guy who stood ashore returns and speaks to another guy, who looks in charge. After a moment, he speaks into a radio, confirming they found a drowning victim.
My heart drops to the bottom of my stomach as I let his words sink in.
Deep down, I knew this wouldn’t be a good outcome, but hearing the words makes it more real than I was ready for.
She’s been down there too long.
But maybe, just maybe, they could somehow get her heart beating and she’d be okay.
“Wh-what did he just say?” Tucker’s jaw trembles.
Goose bumps cover my skin as the commotion in the water grabs my attention.
Two of the divers are holding Talia’s lifeless body.
The other guy on shore brings out a flat gurney and once they get her on it, they carry her out.
One of the EMTs who arrived with them checks her airway and then begins CPR.
“How long has she been under?” the EMT asks in between.
“Took us thirty minutes just to get out here and an hour to find her,” one of the divers responds.
Not to mention the twenty minutes we looked before the 911 operator could confirm they’d send help out here.
Tucker drops to his knees as the realization hits him.
Talia’s dead.
They can’t bring her back.
Rhett and I sit next to him as his whole body trembles.
“Deep breaths,” I try to comfort him.
Knowing there’s nothing I can do to take away his pain has my mind spiraling. Or maybe it’s a panic attack. My heart’s racing so hard, I swear it’s going to jump right out of my chest at this rate.
Either way, our lives are never going to be the same.
Talia was confirmed dead nearly two hours after Angela pushed her off the cliff.
Her funeral was nine days later where hundreds of people showed up to pay the family their respects and to say goodbye to one of the nicest girls I knew.
Talia would’ve turned eighteen two days after her parents said goodbye to her for the last time.
The following day, Angela was arrested.
After we gave our statements and it was confirmed that Talia’s cause of death was drowning, the sheriff got the judge to put out a warrant for Angela and to make her stand trial for homicide.
When she finally got her day in court, the six of us testified on what we observed that day and acted as character witnesses for both Angela and Talia.
I made sure it was known how Angela was as a girlfriend and how she treated her “friends.” My testimony proved that her pushing Talia wasn’t out of character, especially considering we told her to leave Talia alone and she didn’t.
Her attorney tried to paint us as irresponsible young kids and unreliable witnesses, but the jury believed us and the evidence over Angela’s story that Talia asked her to do it. Hearing how she feared heights and wasn’t a good swimmer, they didn’t believe she’d ask to be pushed off.
I was willing to do whatever it took to get justice not only for Talia and her family but for my best friend. Tucker lost everything that day, too.
He’d hoped to get married and build a future with her after med school. Then they’d have some kids and grow roots wherever his career took him. He wanted nothing more than to have Talia by his side and together they’d be happy forever.
But Tucker didn’t get any of that. He was so grief-stricken and filled with guilt for not standing up to Angela and getting Talia out of that situation. He couldn’t focus in his college classes and flunked out before the end of his freshmen year.
One year after Angela was charged with voluntary manslaughter and fifteen years in prison, our lives were rocked once again when Tucker took his own life and a part of mine when he did.
I should’ve seen the signs. Looking back, I knew he was struggling and had hoped with time he’d get better. I encouraged him to see a grief counselor and he promised he would.
The week leading up to his death, he was the happiest I’d ever heard him. We talked every day and made plans to make a trip up to Willow Branch Mountain again. He had some of Talia’s ashes and wanted to spread them there. I was relieved and couldn’t wait to see my best friend again.
Except the next time I did was when he was in a casket.
Two people died because of Angela’s reckless actions, and although Talia’s family also won punitive damages in a wrongful death civil suit, Angela didn’t get nearly as long as she deserved. She should rot for the rest of her sad, lonely life.
When she’s eligible for parole in eleven years, I’ll do everything in my power to keep her behind bars for as long as possible.