Chapter 17 #2
“My boyfriend,” I gasp, my teeth chattering so hard I can barely get the words out. “His car went over. He’s in the water below. Call 911.”
“Oh, shit.” The woman grabs her phone, dialing as she eases the car onto the embankment next to Jason’s and yanks the parking brake.
Vaguely, I can hear her on the phone relaying the information to the dispatcher as I run back to the cliff’s edge.
I can’t see what’s happening below. The car headlights glow faintly through the choppy water as it sinks.
But the rain is coming down in stinging pellets, and the moon is behind thick clouds.
Is Jason down in that water too, searching for Adam?
Did he find him alive? I scream Adam’s name and then Jason’s.
The woman tells me that 911 says emergency workers are on the way.
An itchy wool blanket envelops me, and distantly, I feel the woman’s arm go around me. I’m shaking, shivering.
“You’re in shock,” she tells me. “Help will be here soon.”
They arrive moments later, lights flashing and sirens wailing.
A fire truck, two ambulances, police cars.
Rescue workers pour out of the vehicles and divers suit up in canary-yellow neoprene.
Men and women hurry down the path toward the water, their arms heavy with ropes, hatchets, and flotation devices.
I try to follow, but a police officer blocks my way.
“You can’t go down there. You need to stay out of the way and let them work. ”
“Please,” I gasp. “My boyfriend and my friend are down there in the water.” I stare through my tears at the two ambulances. What if Jason went under, too? What if they’re both in trouble?
“That’s exactly why you need to let us do our jobs. Let the divers focus on finding your friends instead of having to rescue you, too.”
The woman with the blanket gently slides an arm around me again. “Come over here, love. It will be okay. They know what they’re doing.”
I reluctantly allow the woman to tug me away from the cliff’s edge and pull a knit hat over my ears. After an eternity, I spot several rescue workers heading up the path, supporting a limping, shivering man between them.
I run toward the familiar form. It’s Jason, shaking worse than I am, tears streaming down his face.
“I tried, Maddie. I tried.” Jason collapses against a rock, and I take the blanket off my shoulders to wrap it around him. He shoves it away. “No, you need that. You’ll freeze to death.”
Freeze to death. The words hit me like a truck .
“I jumped in to look for Adam, but the current was too strong…” Jason’s voice breaks. “I couldn’t…”
A rescue worker steps up, a tall blond woman in a fire department uniform.
“The divers are still looking for your friend.” My chest fills with hope, but then the officer shakes her head.
“They found the car door open, and they think he managed to get out. But it would be nearly impossible to survive that current in these freezing waters. They…” She hesitates.
“What?” My voice is hysterical, my mind repeating the words nearly impossible. “Tell me.”
The officer winces and runs a hand over her eyes. “I should tell you that they think it’s likely he was swept away and drowned. They’re sending a team downriver to look for the body.”
The body.
Adam’s body.
My legs give out and I fall to the ground.
They think Adam is dead.
The love of my life is dead.
From behind me, strong arms wrap around my shoulders, and Jason pulls me against his chest. We cling to each other in the freezing rain.
A helicopter flies overhead, its spotlight glinting across us before swinging to the river.
A news van pulls up and a reporter shoves a camera in our faces.
The police officer from earlier chases him away.
The noise of the helicopter vibrates in my chest and the lights of the fire trucks flash in my eyes.
A crowd is gathering as people who were driving along the road exit their cars and stand around to gawk at the rescue workers, murmuring about what might have happened.
The words Adam’s body echo through my head.
I can’t manage to suck any air into my lungs.
From somewhere far away, I hear Jason’s phone buzz, then the panicked voice of his parents. They heard about the accident and are calling to check that he’s okay. “I should have driven faster,” he tells his dad, voice shaking. “I should have tried harder.”
“It’s not your fault,” I assure him through my tears after he’s hung up the phone and put it back in his pocket. “You did everything you could.”
Jason swipes at his wet, red-rimmed eyes and leans in, pressing his forehead to mine. “Madeline, if… if they’re right and… if they don’t find him…” He chokes out the words. “I’ll always be here for you. It’s what Adam would have wanted. I’ll always protect you and you can count on me forever.”
“I know I can,” I whisper. I wrap the blanket around both of us and we huddle against the rocks, shivering and crying and clinging to each other. The only person who loved Adam as much as I do— I did —is Jason. He’d do anything for Adam.
And he’d do anything for me.