Chapter Thirty-One

*Not Edited* Not Proofread*

Chapter 31– Healing Rabbit:

"Lilah!"

Jace holds onto me tight; tighter than he's ever held me before. His grip is almost bone crushing and I wouldn't be surprised if I end up with bruises after it.

His strong arms struggle to keep me still as I twist and turn violently in his embrace. A few of the people that were behind us watching the display of entertainment rush over to the railings and peer down at the body of water that engulfs Lilah's small figure entirely. They all murmur between them, the faraway sounds of the emergency services can be heard vaguely in the distance.

"R.A, stop. I'm not letting you go," Jace tells me right next to my ear, his warm breath fanning over the skin of my cheek. His voice is strained, his tone apologetic. I don't know how he's feeling, can't even begin to imagine because I don't understand emotions very well, but I know how he sounds— and it's not good. He's torn, scared.

I stop moving for a few seconds so I'm able to speak. "Don't be mad, okay?" I mumble back to him, my volume not too loud seeing as his head is right next to mine as I take a deep breath.

He seems to be confused for a minute, not aware of what I'm on about. Wha—?"

I jolt my head back with force as he starts to question me, causing me to loosen his grip in shock and probably pain. He hisses loudly and yells out a curse that I'm barely able to hear as I close my eyes and jump.

My stomach lurches uncomfortably as the nausea gets worse mid-fall, but it's nothing compared to the shock that hits me when my body is suddenly engulfed in the freezing cold water.

For a second everything goes quiet. My thoughts, the voices, the loud noise of people's shouts. Everything is silent as I open my eyes to the darkness below the river's surface, not a sound can be heard but the swishing current of the river.

My eyes sting as I look around, the dirty water unclear in the night. I aimlessly spin in circles, my arms moving frantically at my sides as my legs kick. I can't see anything, not even a flash of orange hair or pale white skin. It's muggy and my vision is unfocused.

After a couple of more full-circle turns, I decide it's best to swim back up to the top to try and get a better look that way.

I take in a lungful of air once I'm able to, having lost it all from the shock of hitting the water, and scan the surface in search of Lilah's body. The rain is still falling harshly, but it doesn't make a difference now that my whole entire being is wet. The thunder continues and is now accompanied by the frequent flash of lightening that lights up the dark sky to add more drama to this already dramatic day.

My heart beats in unsteady rhythms as the feeling of the ice-cold water and the overwhelmingly loud noises around me send my mind into overdrive. But I tell myself it's just the adrenaline. I refuse to admit it has anything to do with the state Lilah's in, nor do I entertain the thought that it's because of the unwanted memories of drowning that break through the barriers of my subconscious.

No. Just adrenaline.

The water ripples in the wind and as I'm kicking my legs to keep myself afloat, my foot roughly comes into contact with something sharp.

I've never been in this water before, so I had no clue what the bottom of the river was like before jumping in. While it seems to be deep enough for people to safely jump into without violently crashing into the ground, there are some large rocks that make it dangerous to swim in.

I look around for a while longer, both under and above the surface, but I can't see Lilah anywhere. I call out her name several times, each one louder than the last. My voice starts to crack after a while, my throat raw and beginning to hurt.

But I still receive no response.

It's only when Jace appears at the edge of the river bank that I'm able to spot a small strand of ginger hair that floats a considerable distance away from me when he calls my name and points towards it.

I fight against the current as I swim over to her the best I can, my legs being scraped by the sharp, jagged edges of the odd rocks I pass. Once I reach her, I put my arms underneath hers and pull her up so her head is above the surface. In the brief second that I see her face for, I know she's not awake. Her skin is pale and her lips blue, her hair is knotted and messy, the strands stuck to her cheeks. There's blood at the back of her head, it leaves a stain on my white shirt and a faint trail in the water. It's bleeding a lot.

I'm not the strongest swimmer, for obvious reasons, and having to swim backwards with the extra added weight is harder than I expected. My arms begin to ache and my legs sting because of the dirty water making it's way into my cuts.

Thankfully, Jace is already waiting with half of his body in the water as I reach the edge, and he takes Lilah out of my hold and trudges over to the ground where he lays her on the grass.

I fall down next to him, my clothes uncomfortably tight against my body, and watch as he blows air into Lilah's mouth in the act of CPR. Out of breath, I lean backwards and rest my body on my arms, staring up at the cloudy sky as we wait for the paramedics to make their way down the hill to where the three of us are.

The next few minutes pass in a blur, my mind not able to pay attention to anything going on around me. A man asks me to accompany him to the ambulance so he can check me over, but I refuse. Apart from the unsteady heartbeat, I'm in perfect health.

Jace and I follow the two paramedics who carry Lilah on a yellow back board to the top of the bridge, but when they get to the ambulance something must go wrong as the two medics shout to each other about no pulse.

"What's happening?" I look at Jace with furrowed eyebrows, his dry jacket around my shoulders. He doesn't look at me as he focuses on Lilah and the paddles they bring out to shock her chest with. "What the fuck?"

"Kody, don't. It'll help her." He holds onto my arm, stopping me from going anywhere. I'm reluctant to nod and stay where I am.

"Oh my God, Lilah!"

Jace and me both share the same look before turning around just in time to see Lilah's parents pushing their way through the large crowd that had formed. Mrs. Johansson is unsurprisingly crying her eyes out and Mr. Johansson looks like he's trying his best to keep it together— though it doesn't look to be working. They reach the paramedics in seconds, and as soon as they witness the state their daughter is in, Lilah's mom lets out a loud wail.

Jace leaves my side to approach them. I don't listen in to what he says, assuming he's explaining what had happened, and instead I head to the Johansson's parked car where Benny sits in the back on his booster seat.

His brown eyes look up at me tiredly, his penguin pyjamas wrinkled and his hair unbrushed and sticking up in every direction. "Hi, Odee," he sleepily mumbles as I open the door on the opposite side to him.

"Yes, hello mini human," I greet him back begrudgingly.

"Lilah kay?" He asks, blinking at me as I lean in to the car.

I shrug. "I don't know."

Benny nods, naive and innocent as he juts his arm out and offers me a stuffed toy. "Here you go."

"If you don't get that thing away from me—."

"For Lilah," he clarifies, waving the teddy around in an attempt to make me take it. "It's the healing rabbit."

I raise an eyebrow. "The what?"

"Healing rabbit," he tells me again, and it's only when he pronounces the words more slowly that I understand him. The thing needs speech therapy or something, because he does not pronounce his R's like they're meant to be pronounced.

"Give it to her yourself. I'm not FedEx, I don't do deliveries."

"Fred who?" He tilts his head, raising one side of his top lip like he's confused.

"Shut up."

"Kody!" I hear Jace call my name and I lift my head just in time to see him walking towards me, the ambulance in the background driving away. "Get in."

"What?" I ask, closing the back door of the car and walking around to the front. I lean against the bonnet and fold my arms, waiting until Jace is in front of me. "Get in where?"

"The car," he points to the vehicle I lean against. "We need to go to the hospital."

I follow him with my eyes as he opens the drivers door. "Uh, no. I have my own ride back and you have your truck here."

He pauses, one foot inside the car as he rubs at his face with one hand. "Shit. I didn't think of that."

I raise my eyebrows, "No shit. And I can't leave mine in the middle of nowhere 'cause I don't have a fucking window. You're paying for that by the way."

"What? Why? I didn't break it."

I shrug, "No, but you took my fucking keys and left me no other choice."

"You work at a mechanics, you can fix it for free."

"And?" I ask rhetorically. "I still want you to pay. You know, as punishment."

Jace is silent for a moment before shaking his head in dismissal. "Fine, whatever. I'll hook your car up to the back of mine and take it home while you drive the Johansson's car to the hospital with Benny."

That's the worst idea he's ever come up with. "How about I just jump back into the river and kill myself instead, yes?"

"Get in the fucking car."

___

I didn't think I'd ever be back in this hospital ever again— or any hospital for that matter.

But here I find myself in the waiting room; different to the last one. Benny lays asleep next to me, his light snores barely even audible unless you're listening for them; and I am.

I've always had a habit of listening to people sleep, or watching their breaths as their chest rises and falls. I only do it to certain people, but it's still a habit nonetheless.

I don't know where the fuck the Johansson's are, but I guess they're in with Lilah. I know she's awake, one of the nurses informed me, but they couldn't tell me much else other than that. Jace is on his way but is currently stuck in traffic, meaning I don't know how much longer I have to stay here for.

I'm bored, and after counting all the tiles on the ceiling, I'm even border than before.

And when Benny's little head falls onto my lap, I'm uncomfortable as well.

It's a marvellous cycle.

I shift slightly in my seat, peering down at his little face that twitches every so often. Do I wake the thing up? Or do I just drop-kick the little fucker across the room?

Before I'm able to come up with a decision, a familiar voice appears in the room, catching my attention immediately. "We're here for Lilah Johansson."

"Kody?"

I look over my shoulder to the right and meet Landon's eyes as he heads my way, leaving Gray and Zeke to speak to the nurse at the front desk. He looks causal as he saunters his way up to me, dark clothes and glum expression.

"Do you need something?" I ask, uninterested.

He rolls his brown eyes at my tone, coming to stand opposite the chair I'm sitting on. He catches sight of Benny and raises a brow at me in amusement. "Cute."

"Fuck off."

He laughs. "You been in to see Lilah yet?" He shifts on his feet and crosses his arms, his leather jacket making a small squeaky sound as the sleeves rub together. I shake my head at him and look back down at Benny, his small chest rising with a loud intake of breath. "We're going to go in and see her if you want to come with us. Her mom said she's awake and fine."

I scoff, but don't say anything other than, "I'll pass," because I know Lilah is nowhere near fine. Landon bites his lip before nodding his head and leaving with Gray and Zeke who smile and greet me as they walk by. I ignore them.

I let out a small sigh once they're gone, licking my lips to get rid of the dryness. Glancing around the room, I take note of the emptiness of the waiting area and clench my jaw. I've never felt so fucking restricted in my life, but as much as the little fucking thing annoys me, I know I can't leave Benny out here unattended.

"Why won't you just wake the fuck up? You're a real inconvenience," I tell his little sleeping form, knowing full well I'm not speaking loud enough to actually wake him.

So, for the remainder of the hour that I spend in the waiting room alone, I busy myself with thinking up ways to find the three people that got us here in the first place, considering I have nothing better to do and time isn't slowing down—despite the fact that it seems that way.

Not many idea comes to mind, though, seeing as I've never had to find anyone before, and I also wasn't trained very much in that department. I was always more useful in the physical side of things, that's where my strength lies. Jace has always been the brains in our duo, me being everything else. And that's always worked out fine for us... until now.

I was already able to hack into Lilah's social media accounts and search for the three names on there after the web failed me, but nothing came up. I wasn't surprised seeing as it was a long shot anyway; not many criminals have social media accounts— I would know. But now I'm out of options because I hadn't really planned anything for when that didn't work out.

There would probably be something about them in the system, but I'm not at that level yet. Jace is, but he definitely will not be helping me with this. Quite frankly, I don't want him to, either. The only thing I can think to do is look for them the long way; by snooping around. But the only way I can do that is by spending more time at The Ring or speaking to Dakota.

Though I'd prefer the former.

Dakota's being a little bitch recently.

I'm snapped out of my thoughts as a nurse walks by talking awfully loud on the fucking phone, and when Benny whimpers and flinches in his seat, I'm almost tempted to get up from the uncomfortable chair and snap her neck.

But as usual, something stops me, and right now it just so happens to be Dakota's voice.

___

You're welcome 😇

Also, I changed the part in the book where Ricky gives Kody both the names and the addresses of the 3 people, to him only giving her the names, because otherwise it wouldn't make sense (: