One second.
It merely took a faint tick in the second hand of a clock for the warmth ambience surrounding us to collapse into pieces, replaced by an emerging trepidation weighing upon us. The lively mumblings of nearby people as they rummaged for clothes carried onâthe world never stopped spinning, but for both of us, it was like someone forced us to pause.
Even as Edward slowly dropped his hand holding my phone on the side, we drilled our widened eyes upon each other, searching for any possible explanations, answers, comments on Lynn's current condition. She might be stuck in some area and she might need to turn off her phone?
However... nothing.
There was nothing.
Harsh stomps of steps appeared from behind us, but I didn't have to turn around to know they were our friends. They were drowning in various clothes and skirts, but hurled them all to the display tables as soon as they probably noticed our paling faces.
"Why, what's going on here?!" Seb exclaimed. "What happened to Lynn, were you calling her?!"
"I heard Edward from all the way down there. What just happened?!" Aly further fueled the bombardment of questions as she squeezed my shoulders. "The hell were you guys doing?!"
Even as they shook upon our shoulders, trying to extricate at least a response, we said naught. There was no point; neither of us could explain it ourselves. Even if I had enough clarifications, I could not find my own voice, my vocal chords had completely shut down.
"Yo, you both are scaring me now..." Seb's brows furrowed, all traces of his previous shenanigans had vanished. With his jaw gripped tight and a deep breath, he repeated, "What hapâ"
Before he could finish articulating the word, Edward abruptly whirled on his heels. His trembling legs nearly swept his feet off the floor and made him gasp, but somehow by swaying his arms, he promptly regained his momentum. My phone slipped out of his possession as he flew out of the store and was already out of radar, Seb's shouts for him went into dead ears.
I have to do something. I couldn't just stand here, frozen. This wasn't the time to mop around.
This was a serious situation.
Adelynn is in grave danger.
All of my nerves were dead cold and on edge, but such a thought suddenly had my muscles breaking out of their trance, all sensations came crashing back. Without any second thoughts I sprinted after Edward, picking up my phone and stepping on the clothes that had fallen.
"Rena, wait!!! Where are youâ" Aly's scream drowned out as I hurried out of the store. The retreating figure of Edward as he winged his way down the escalator, immediately had me pursuing after him, his ponderous footsteps leaving bystanders aghast.
The world surrounding me quickly fizzled out. Nothing else mattered to me, all I could focus right now was to run, chase after him. My strides were all long and wide, shots of adrenaline had me skipping multiple steps in the escalator. I couldn't lose sight of my childhood friend, even though it meant I had to shove through a sea of gasping people, and found myself bursting through the entrance of the mall.
My lungs burned for oxygen, and pain rocked my ribs at each sharp breath I inhaled. Furthermore, my heart was literally bludgeoning against my bones, shaking my entire body, causing even more aches. I gritted my teeth; I have no choice but to hold on to the pain, because Lynn... Lynn was the utmost priority here.
This was supposed to be the time where we should be searching for Lynn's birthday presents. However, fate decided that it was best if we were searching for her... where she had gone, what her current condition was...
...and if she was still even present.
After what seemed hours of running, I noticed Edward halting into a complete stop and clenching his hands on his chest, which was heaving up and down. A crowd had started gathering upon the scene, and a myriad of shrieks pierced through all sides of my ears.
"THE BUILDING'S JUST COLLAPSED!!"
"IS EVERYONE OKAY?!"
"BACK OFF, BACK OFF EVERYONE!!!"
"DO YOU STILL VALUE YOUR LIFE? STAY AWAY!!"
As soon as I slowed down beside Edward, I, too, exploded into a loud series of wheezes, as I clamped my hands on my rubbery knees. My head was spinning around, stars started appearing in the corner of my vision, but in the midst of it, I could still make out pieces of heavy concrete and particles floating all over the vicinity. Beside it, laid the remnants of what used to be some sort of machine.
"CALL 911, SOMEONE'S TRAPPED IN THERE!!!"
Trapped.
Someone was trapped. With all the construction remains crushing upon them.
I instinctively clamped my mouth both of my handsâwaves of nausea shot from inside my constricted neck. There was no way in hell one could have survived that. In that case, it meant there was someone, a person, a breathing human being living their life, who was... certainly no longer alive.
More people came pouring in, trying to witness what just happened, trying to check in on others, however... there were still no signs of our primary concern right now. Not a single sight of our friend scampering towards us, reassuring us of her condition. That's right, where's Lynn?
Where's she? I scanned around the area but found no one recognizable.
"I saw... I saw everything!!!" A woman shrieked between her tears, pointing at the ruins, and all heads turned towards her. Her hands trembled as she clenched her hair. "I-I saw... there's a girl down there!!!"
My breath hitched and my blood went freezing cold. The urge to empty the contents flowing up from my knotted stomach was nearly getting the best of me. The darkening thought towered over me, but I furiously shook my head, shaking off that stupid ass prediction.
No. It could not be her. Why?
"I swear to fucking God..." she cried. "There's someone in there, a young woman!!! I was about to shout at her, but she was... she was..." She couldn't finish her sentence as she collapsed into her knees.
No, no, no, it was definitely not Lynn.
Lynn would have gotten out of the area fast. Edward's warning was right before we heard all those booming noises. She had good reflexes, she would have witnessed it firsthand. That was why she turned her phone off.
Yes, there was no way.
"I couldn't save her... I couldn't... I was a second too late..."
As all kinds of theories swirled through my spinning head, Edward stormed towards the witness and gripped his hands on her shoulders, making her recoil.
"STOP IT!!!" he yelled right into the woman's tear-soaked face, his voice hoarse and dry. "SHUT UP, IT COULDN'T BE HER!!!"
"Hey, hey, hey, yo stop!!!"
In just a few seconds, Edward was pulled away. My heart wretched at how his burning eye almost popped out of his socket, his nose scrunched, his teeth all barred and gritted. However, when I realized Sebâwhich meant Aly must already be here tooâwas the one restraining his arms, I tried speeding towards them, but my legs finally gave up to the pressure.
Before my body could make contact with the ground, a pair of hands gripped on my shoulders and held me steady, cushioning me as well. It was my best friend, her expression all tight and with glassy eyes as she stared upon the boys brawling against each other.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Seb cried out.
Edward yelled, "This fucking lady won't stop speaking bullshâ"
"What the fuck, I'm telling you the truâ"
"STOP!!! Stop, please just stop... blabbering nonsense..." His voice cracked, his hair shrouding half of his face. "Why the fuck would she be trapped in there?!"
No one answered; they all lowered their heads.
Edward's question wandered aimlessly into the void, but perhaps, it could be put to rest when in the corner of my eyes, something reflected beside the wreckâsomething like the screen of a phone.
Whose was it?
"Rena, where are you going?" Aly whimpered, but I merely grunted. With my shaking body, I straightened myself and stumbled towards the object, and all eyes were drilling through my skull.
Sure, it was indeed someone's phone. The screen was completely cracked, pieces of its protector falling into my palm. There was a small keychain dangling out of the casing, but the accessory was completely gone. Pushing any buttons induced nothing, only a shattered reflection of myself was all I could look at.
Before I knew it, the phone was snatched out of my grasp, revealing Edward standing behind me. He observed every inch of it, every edge, every part, every damage it had sustained.
"Lynn's phone..." he announced, before he stepped back. "Why was it here? She must have thrown it away... she must have been so shocked, right?"
Edward paused, before he clamped his hands on my shoulders, making me flinch. "Rena... tell me..." he murmured, his lips trembling. "Lynn's alive, right? Why would she be... under those ruins?"
Before I could instinctively open my mouth and accept his claim, I quickly bit down on my lips when tears began pooling in. With her shattered phone being the only possession found right now but nothing that confirmed her physical presence, the possibility of Lynn being among the crowd had started shrinking and shrinking.
No matter how much hope I clung onto, no matter how hard I wished this was simply a nightmare, no matter how many times I blinked fast, no matter what I was trying to do, trying to prove Lynn was still around, there was still nothing. Only the ruins, the spectating crowd and the witness was wailing on top of her lungs as people tried to comfort her were here to accompany us.
The four of us.
"Please say something!!!" Edward raised his shaking voice again, rocking my helpless body back and forth. Peering slightly, his own eye was getting glassy as he begged, "Rena, please..."
I did not.
Silent sniffs came out of my throat as the tearsI could no longer restrain slipped out from both of my eyes, cascading down my cheeks. I lowered my head, my sniffs growing louder as I watched tears fall freely. My weakening legs were on the verge of collapsing again, but Edward's tightening grip on my shoulders secured me, although he, too, was shaking uncontrollably and whimpering under his heavy breaths.
I'm so sorry, I can't even answer myself...
I don't know... I don't know anymore...
A cacophony of sirens and shouts of the police and firefighters promptly buried our sobs, as hues of red and blue lights flashed through my tear-soaked sight. In the midst of the chaos, we huddled close, dead silence looming over us.
"This... this can't be happening... no please..." Aly sobbed, trembling as she clung hard on my numb arm while the men stared blankly at the ground, their eyes darkened and their expressions unreadable, looking like ghosts.
The ruins were fenced with police lines as they demanded everyone to keep their distance. After what felt like hours, they called out for trucks to come through and had them rummaging through the fragments.
That was when Edward boltedâSeb was too distracted to stop himâand tried bursting through the line, even as the police were practically shouting at him. Obviously with their number, the police won the scuffle and restrained him from approaching, but they... failed to prevent him from catching a glimpse of the person underneath.
And then, a blood-curdling scream.
It erupted out of my childhood friend, piercing through the vicinity, through everyone's eardrums, through my sinking heart like a merciless knife. A scream that even had the authorities stopped on their tracks, a scream confirming all of our speculations and closing up our pressing questions of who was beneath the ruins.
Yanking strands of his hair, Edward suddenly crumpled into the ground, to which Seb sprinted without hesitation and crouched beside him. The scream gradually morphed into a series of broken sobs... sobs that further crushed me as Aly and I, too, collapsed onto our knees, accompanying his cries while shedding a waterfall of tears.
Why?
Why was this happening?
Today was supposed to be an outing, a refreshing day relieving the nostalgia stemming from our childhood. Today was the day where we could just have fun together amidst our busy lives, forgetting all of our past issues. Today was... was the day I could be at peace with Edward and friends, where we could settle our differences.
Instead, this happened.
Just why...?
I retched between my sobs, but instantly I clamped my lips, halting myself from releasing all of the contents bloating inside my guts.
Not only was everything burned into oblivion, but Lynn... Adelynn... she was gone.
Gone a few minutes after we conversed about where we should eat and hang out again. Gone after we were just with her yesterday, finishing up our biology reports. Gone with no mercy from the above and beyond, with no chances of us seeing and talking with her again.
This person that I had known since childhoodâthe girl with the long silky black hair who was always breaking up fights between us and finding solutions, the one chewing us out like a protective mother whenever we did reckless things, the same one who had been trying to take care of us and the boys... this same person was gone in a blink of an eye.
No matter how much I begged for the universe, anyone, even God, to answer, those questions ended up lingering in the thick air, unanswered.
My throbbing head felt like it was about to explode into a thousand pieces, the pain gnawing away at my skull. I didn't even know what I was doing at this point, but I found myself being pulled up as a pair of arms wrapped around my waist. Mumbles rang in my earsâthe police were talking to our group, particularly at Seb.
I didn't bother listening or responding, thoughâmy vision kept blurring in and out, my throat was too dehydrated to speak, sore from all the sobs.
Everything hurts so much...
And never in my life nightmares were something I desperately wished for.
The next thing I knew, I was sitting at the bus station with the others. Her green eyes had lost all of their sharpness and colors, all puffy and reddened, her whole muscles were shivering. Edward was pale beyond belief, deprived of any expressions and drowned in his own world, as he murmured incomprehensible words under his shaky breath. Seb was just there... biting his lips as he slumped on his seat, his arms dangled on his sides, his usually neat silver hair all tousled.
Meanwhile here I was, unclenching and clenching my fists, seeing marks of my nails in my palms.
Neither of us bothered exchanging any conversations, nor gazes. Aly didn't even want to look at meâwhenever we made contact, she pretended not to notice and looked into the streets ahead, where people had gathered, curious of the mayhem ahead.
"Why..." Aly croaked. "Why... just why...? Why must it be Adelynn...? Why...?"
No one said anything.
"I just got a text from her, if we could hang out today with the rest... she said she wanted to treat Rena..." she paused as she coughed. "And then... and then... all of this... why... why...?"
Still there was nothing.
I zipped my mouth, staring hard at the pebbles underneath my shoesâkicking them away would not bring Lynn back. Perhaps I should have uttered a word or two, because Aly shot up from her spot and her brows furrowed as she threw daggers... straight at me.
"Why are you not saying anything?!" She yelled, making both Seb and I winced, except Edward, who was in a state of complete trance. She then grabbed my shoulders and forced me to face her. "Do you fucking care?! Stop sitting here like some fucking idiot and ANSWER ME!!!"
I did not.
I could simply sit in here and stare.
"Heh, I was right... you always never speak up when shit happens!!! You're always silent all the fucking time!!" Aly snapped. "Makes me think, you don't even fucking care at all, do you?!"
I care! I did fucking care about all of this!! As much as I badly wanted to scream back, nothing was coming out. My head was pounding harder than ever. All I wanted was to be done with this and go home; the last thing I wanted was to be yelled at by my best friend beside me...
"Right, why the fuck should I even shout at you for... it's useless to even talk with you right now." she cried as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You're so fucking selfish, you know that?!"
Selfish? This was spiraling out of control, especially when something... snapped inside of me. I couldn't hold it back anymore, I had to force myself to speak up. I have to, using the last bits of my energy and let her know of my intentions.
"What do you mean?! I cared, Aly!" I responded, my tone shaking like a leaf and my voice was hoarse. "I just... I just need some time!!!"
"Bullshit," she retorted. "Then you would haâ"
"Well, what do you want me to do then?!" It was the first time I found myself screaming at my best friend right on her face, muttering comments my brain shouldn't have conjured. "You're the one who's fucking selfish here!!"
Aly was thrown aback. "What?!"
"You're always expecting me to do something!!!" I sobbed. "Tell me then, what?! Tell you, everything's okay?! Bring Lynn back and act like nothing ever happenâ"
"Both of you, stop it!!!" Seb exclaimed, piercing the air and interrupting my speech as he put himself between both of us. "You're not helping with anything. Stop making a scene out of nothing... especially you, Alyssa."
She tried shoving him. "Fuck off, bastard, you're not part of thisâ"
"I am now, so stop fighting and sit your ass down," he snapped. "Yelling at Ren will get you nothing. Let's face it, we're all a fucking mess here. We're in the same boat, but now here you are making it worse than it should beâ"
"Oh yeah you can go fuck yourself, how about that," she scoffed.
"Same goes to you too, bitch. If you can't help it, get the fuck out and stop causing trouble like you always did." The usual placid and mischievous tone even as he bickered with Aly, had evaporated.
"Oh, don't you fucking worry, because I'm going home right now," Aly barked as she snatched all of her stuff from beside me, before she cast me a glare in the midst of her tears. "Go and have fun with Sebastian, Serena. Let him be your fucking defender while you sit your sorry ass in silence."
"Oh for fuck's sake... shut the fuck up and go!" Seb scowled and aggressively waved the back of his hand. Without hesitation, Aly charged off and never spared me a single glance. Then, she was no more... leaving the boys and I in another round of dead silence.
And here again I was proving Alyssa's point... sitting in my seat and doing absolutely nothing, my breaths hitched as my ribs squeezed themselves together. Indeed, I was a fucking fool. An unfortunate waste of an idiot who could only do nothing but be useless for everyone else, where I could have taken action right now. Instead, all these fiery waves crashing upon me have overridden all of my thoughts.
I ultimately lost control, and there... I broke down into fits of tears.