Page 150 of Under the Waves
Jasper Ridge
Ipicked up Poppy’s call on the first ring.
“Hey, Wellsy. I’m just on my way back home from Jakson’s now. You okay?”
Silence filtered through on the other end of the line and my heart clenched in my chest.
“Wellsy? Are you okay?”
My fists scrunched and flexed as my pace picked up.
Say something, Wellsy. Tell me you’re okay, please…
“H-hi, Jasper.”
I exhaled as soon as I heard her voice, a weight lifting off my chest so I could finally breathe.
Her voice was muffled and small andscared.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, gripping tightly to the phone, so much so that my knuckled began to turn white.
“N-nothing’s…nothing’s wrong, Jasper,” she replied, but the sound of distant screaming and smashing of glass had me stopping dead in my tracks and turning around. As the silence on her end of the phone stretched out longer and longer, the faster my pace became.
“Hey, Wellsy, talk to me,” I coaxed, desperate to keep that girl living and breathing. “What’s going on?”
After a moment, she whispered, “I’m scared, Jasper.”
I didn’t see the street around me anymore. Didn’t hear the waves crashing against the shore, nor the honks of car horns. My vision narrowed, and all I could see at the end of this dark and endless tunnel washer.
I’m gonna reach you, Wellsy. Just hold on, baby. Just hold on.
“I know, Wellsy. I know.”
My heart was racing, pounding up against my ribcage as my lungs constricted. Every gulp of air seemed further than the last.I needed to reach her, I needed…I…
Muffled sobs filtered through the phone. “I don’t want to be here anymore,” she cried, and the sound ripped my heart clean out of my chest. “I don’t—”
“Just hold on, Wellsy. Just for a few more minutes, okay?”
The silence returned, stretching out for what felt like an eternity.
“Okay…” she replied a few moments later.
I clutched onto that phone as I ran like if I dropped it, the whole world would end.
“Don’t hang up,” she hurried to say. “Don’t leave me all alone in here.”
“I won’t,” I reassured her. “I’m here, Wellsy. I’m not going anywhere.”
Every part of me fought to get to that girl.
To my girl.
“Can you tell me what happened, Wellsy? Why you’re scared?”
The line went quiet again, and I felt I’d fore sure scared her off for good that time, until her quiet voice peeked up a moment later.
“I…I can’t tell you.”