Page 31 of All the Ways You Save Me
The realization dawns on his face, but I’m already yanking off my shoes and tossing them aside. “He’s in there! We have to help him.” And before I can stop to think, I’m plunging into the river. All of the breath leaves my lungs as I’m pummeled by theburning cold. But I can’t stop. I can’t think. I keep moving forward.
From somewhere behind me, Jason screams my name. But my attention is singularly focused on the car, slowly bobbing and sinking lower into the water. I’m thigh-deep now, my whole body wracked with shivers and my teeth chattering uncontrollably. My bare foot lands on the sharp edge of a rock and I stumble, falling face-first into the water. I can’t feel any of my limbs and the water closes around me, but I claw my way to my feet, determined to get to the car.
To get to Adam.
A vise clamps around my shoulder, yanking me backward. It’s Jason. I swing at him, fighting to get free, but he drags me to the edge of the water and deposits me on the shore. “Madeline, you can’t go out there!” Jason yells over the pounding of the rain and the crack of ice chunks against the Bronco’s aluminum frame. “I know you grew up swimming in the ocean, but this water is freezing, and Adam outweighs you by at least fifty pounds. Even if you could battle the current, you’d never be able to carry him to shore.”
I dig my fingers into his forearms. “Jason, it’s Adam. We can’t leave him.”
“I’ll go!” He takes my face in his hands. “Madeline, listen to me. That’s my best friend out there. I’m one of the best swimmers on the team, and I’ve done rescue drills. I’ll go and find him. You need to run back up the cliff, find some phone reception, and call 911. Or flag down a car.” He gives me a shove back toward the path. “Go! Now!”
I hesitate for a fraction of second but he’s right. Jason is a strong swimmer, and I know he cares about Adam just as much as I do. And we don’t have time to waste by arguing. I turn and run barefoot up the path, digging my phone out of my pocket as I go. My chest is burning from the exertion and the cold when I finally get to the top of the cliff. Heaving airinto my lungs, I swipe at my phone to turn it on, but the screen goes bright blue and then black. Water drips from the charging port. I give it a frantic shake, trying to power it back on, but it remains dark.
No. Please no.
The phone was submerged when I fell into the freezing water. I crawl into the front seat of Jason’s car to look for his phone, but it must be in his pocket because I can’t find it anywhere.
This can’t be happening.
I climb out of the car and run into the road, the rain pouring down around me. On some level, I know I’m freezing, shivering, but my body has gone numb and all I can think about is Adam down there in the river. He never learned to swim. How will he get out of that car? How will he ever make it to shore?Please, I pray.Please let Jason get to him in time.
A pair of headlights swings around the bend in the road, dragging me from my stupor. I wave my arms and yell until I’m hoarse. For a moment, I’m afraid the driver doesn’t see me through the rain and darkness, but at the last second, the car comes to a screeching halt.
“Damn it, girl. I nearly hit you,” the middle-aged woman in the driver’s seat says as I lean onto the window frame.
“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 hefind 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 wordsnearly 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.”
