She glared at him across the
table, trying to make him laugh. Everyone could feel the tension in the air,
and she was desperately trying to break it. She didn’t want it to end this way.
She needed him to act normal. Instead, he jumped ten feet high every time she
moved and his eyes never left her. She stood, laying her cards face down on the
table. “You know, I think I need some air. Jonah?”
“Yea. Air. Yea.” He said, standing.
He followed her outside; the others watched them leave and the whispers began
immediately.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“What the hell is going on with
them?” Audrey asked.
“Maybe he finally asked her out.”
Temple said.
“Doesn’t have the guts.” Wallace
said, staring at the ceiling.
Brock laughed. “He doesn’t like
her like that.”
Wallace looked down at him,
“You’re just jealous because she’s his best friend and your bromance is on a
back burner.” He winked. “You’ll get your chance when she turns him down.”
“You think she’d turn him down?”
Audrey asked.
Wallace went back to looking at
the ceiling, “She told him her secret.”
Audrey and Temple looked at him
with an eyebrow raised. “What secret is that?”
“Hell if I know,” He shrugged,
“But it’s fairly clear there has always been something she’s never told any of
us. All of the sudden he changed and she’s trying to act like everything is
normal. She told him.”
“Told him what?” Temple asked. “What
sort of secret would make him act like that?”
Wallace shrugged again, “Told
you. I don’t have the faintest clue. I bet it won’t stay a secret for long
though.”
“What makes you say that?” Brock
asked.
Wallace closed his eyes, “Just a
feeling.” He felt a tremor go up through his toes to his head. “Did anyone else
feel that?”
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“What the hell, Jonah? Everyone
in there knows something is up.”
“I’m sorry, Liv. I’m trying. I’m
freaking out. Any second and you’re going to just disappear?”
She sighed, “I didn’t want it to
be like this.”
He tipped her chin up, forcing
her to look at him. “You think I did? You think this is what I wanted? To have
to disappear out of my life? To have to lie to all of our friends?”
She placed her hand over his,
taking it in hers. “Jonah –“
“No, Liv. You don’t get to tell
me I have to act normal. I know what you want but I can’t stop freaking out.
I’ve tried. I can’t. Part of me still thinks you’re insane. Part of me wants to
kidnap you because I’m convinced that if we leave here everything will change.
Part of me wants to beg, to plead with you to stay, as if you somehow have
control. As if I could convince you. Part of me wants to go with you, so I can
bring you home.”
“Jonah, you have to –“
“I have to watch you every
moment. I have to be fully aware of you every moment. Because any moment you
could be gone.”
The first shockwave came, she
felt her stomach knot. It was starting then. She had moments, maybe less. She
couldn’t hide the fear from her eyes as she looked up at him.
“NO!” He screamed, embracing her.
“No, please, Liv. Please don’t leave me.” The second shockwave gave her
goosebumps. Jonah’s skin tingled as
well. “What the hell was that?”
Her head snapped around so fast
she though she broke it. “What?”
“What was that?” He asked again.
“You felt that?”
“Of course I felt it,” he said,
his eyes going over her, making sure she was okay. Whole. Here.
“No.” She murmured. “No, that’s
not right.” The next wave hit, so intense they stumbled. She heard Audrey
scream.
They both looked up. “Audrey.” He
grabbed her hand and they ran, fighting the next wave as it tried to knock them
down. When they finally got back into the house it was chaos. Audrey was still
screaming, Wallace was sitting against the wall, quietly humming to himself,
his eyes closed. Temple was frozen in her chair. Brock was screaming like a
little girl. “What on earth?” She murmured again. The next wave threw her into
a wall, pulling her from Jonah’s grip.
“We don’t have earthquakes here!”
Brock screamed.
“Why can you all feel them?”
Olivia asked, clinging to the wall.
Wallace’s eyes opened, and he
looked at her very clearly, a small smile on his face. “The real question is
why you know what they are and we don’t.”
And then she felt it, the pulling
sensation. Like a hook was wrapped around her stomach, pulling her through the
very fabric of reality. There was no fighting it. It was taking her away.
Moments. She reached her arm out as the final tremor started, Jonah grabbed it.
“Don’t let go,” She whispered as she felt her grip on this reality be wrenched
away. “Please.”
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