“Don’t be sorry!” My breath catches, and my chest is too tight. “Tell me where you are!”
“He knows what I did,” she says.
I feel sick to my stomach. “Who does?”
“Dad.”
I think back to our last conversation and how upset she was at the idea of Dad finding out her secret.
“It’ll be okay. Tell me where you are and we’ll figure out what to do.”
“It won’t be okay,” she cries.
“It will be. I promise. I’ve made mistakes before and it’s always okay.”
Her faint sobs on the other end of the call are breaking my heart. I want to hug her and tell her that her life doesn’t have to be defined by one mistake.
“Goodbye, Emma,” she says in a tired breath.
“No, Mallory!” I scream into the phone, but she hangs up.
I spin around as if I’ll be able to spot her, but she’s nowhere in sight.
I grab Myles. “We have to find her!”
He doesn’t speak, but I can tell by his eyes that his brain is in overdrive, trying to figure out how to fix this.
“Water,” I say, replaying every detail of our call. “There was water in the background.”
We lock eyes, and I know he’s thinking the same thing. “She’s at the bridge.”
27
MYLES
We drive along the river, following it upstream.
Emma is crying, head whipping around in all directions as she sits next to me. She’s trying to look out her window, in front of us, and behind us all at the same time.
Ahead of us is the Oakland bridge and my heart leaps out of my chest when I spot someone standing on the stone wall.
“Stop the car!” Emma yells. “That’s her!”
Mallory’s hair blows behind her and her bright white shirt is untucked. She stares forward.
The second the car stops, Emma practically kicks the door open, yelling her sister’s name.
I jump out of the car, running after Emma as the world starts moving in slow motion.
Mallory doesn’t turn. It’s like she can’t hear us, and she steps forward. Her body disappears off the edge.
My stomach twists in on itself as the horror sets in. Mallory jumped off the bridge. Mallory wanted to die.
I can’t help but feel guilty because I should’ve seen thiscoming. I knew something was wrong with Mallory, and I ignored it.
Emma’s scream pierces the air and she runs to the wall. She’s shaking as tears stream down her face. Her chest heaves from breathing so quickly. There’s terror in her eyes and she leans over the wall to look down.
The water ripples where Mallory fell.
