Page 130 of Pick Me Up On Tuesdays

Still.

Sirens wailed in the distance. Tires screeched against the wet asphalt.

Rain hammered the pavement, slick and shining like a mirror to the chaos.

Max’s voice rang out, distant but unmistakable. “Clark?!”

I barely processed it. The cold had sunk into my bones. My legs nearly gave out.

Police officers stormed in like a scene from a crime drama—guns drawn, flashlights cutting through the rain like blades.

Max reached me first, drops streaming down his face like sweat. He grabbed my shoulders. “Hey. Hey, you okay? I've called your mom.”

I couldn’t answer. My voice was somewhere buried in my throat, soaked and drowning.

Then—her voice.

Soft. Breaking.

“Clark…”

I turned.

My mom.

Whole. Alive.

Tears mixing with rain. Hair plastered to her face. Breath ragged, like she’d clawed her way out of a grave and ran through a storm just to get to me.

We didn’t say anything.

She just pulled me into her arms, and I let her.

For a second.

Just one.

I closed my eyes, let the rain fall over us, tried to memorize the feeling.

But when I opened them again—

Ethan was gone.

No goodbye.

No smug comment. No “you owe me one.” Not even a glance over his shoulder.

Just... vanished.

Like the rain had washed him away.

I wanted to chase after him. Say something. Anything.

But my voice was still gone.

And so was he.

Chapter 40: After The Storm

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