"Oh my god, you were right Bella. This definitely will help." I note down pointers and nearby landmarks as I examine the zoomed-in Google Map of the cliff location.
She barely looks excited about it, but I'm still grateful to her. After almost two weeks of tedious brainstorming, overthinking, worrying and a lot of stressed tears, she suggested I look up the maps to have at least a vague idea of where could've he gone if he survived.
Her ′if' made me frown, it felt for a moment that she didn't yet believe in my faith, but I brushed the doubt off.
Why would she be here, if she didn't believe?
Bella walks next to me staring into her phone while I keep doing vague calculations in my mind.
The cliff from where the car fell off, is the southmost end of Kempdon and it's the highest point, which is a roughly 40 minutes drive from Drakedon. Towards the west, the cliff slopes low, and its height decreases gradually and at the west end of the town, lies a furious waterfall. The water from the river Veihn, crossing the heart of Kempdon, leaves the town floor at that very fall.
As per the map, the river continues to flow after it reaches the land below the waterfall. Down the cliff, at the bank of Veihn, a few miles from the Kempdon fall, is the little old town of Veihnsberg. And if Dan fell all the way down to the river, he probably is in Veihnsberg at the moment.
"Easter, if ever someone falls all the way down to the river, it's impossible for them to live," Bella says with considerable looking eyes.
I scoff at her statement. "Bella, him being alive, me receiving his messages, it all seemed impossible to you earlier, but now you believe it, don't you?" I look into her eyes with hopes of finding an obvious yes.
She flashes a smile at me with a hesitant nod.
"So, it is most likely that he's seeking refuge in Veihnsberg," I exclaim shining my eyes at her, "that's where we can find him."
She looks at me silently for a moment and then exhales a deep breath. "Well, with that logic, he can also possibly be taking refuge in Jolmberg or Rocrfall."
"Yes, he can be. You're right!" I start staring back at the notepad in my hand, a rough map is drawn on it. I circle the towns she mentioned with my pencil hastily.
"What exactly are you gonna do with this?" She asks as she tilts and turns stuff in her locker, keeping her voice low.
"I'm gonna go to the Kempshire police department this evening and inform them. So they can go around looking for him." I answer casually shoving the notepad in my locker.
"No, you're not!" She drops her bag on the floor as she shrieks, loud enough to make a few eyes turn our way.
"Keep it low, Bella." I press her arm in my hand as I smile the curious eyes off us.
"You're not going to the police Easter. It's no use." She says as soon as she shuts the washroom door after pushing me in. Her eyes are as unfamiliar to me as they can be and I once again find us standing on square one, where I have to make her understand everything once again.
"What even is your problem, Bella? I need to find him!" I turn my back to her.
"Easter. Oh my God." I hear her slapping both her palms frantically on her face. "You don't understand you're blinded by your faith and love, but the town, the people, the cops. They all believe him dead. They are not going to send a search party for nothing."
"Nothing?" I struggle to believe the words coming out of her mouth. "No Bella, I'm fine. You are the one blinded by what you yourself want to believe. You can't open your mind to reality? You heard the fucking message, for god's sake!"
I hit the door with my fist and shrink down on the floor due to the pain. Tears start rolling down burning my cheeks once again like they were just waiting for the escape.
"I need to fucking find him, Bella, y'all don't understand."
She sits in front of me, her hands caressing my head softly. "We'll find him Easter. We'll find him." She pulls me gently in a hug. "Just not like this."
I agree to not go to the cops after she makes me understand that it actually is not going to help. She's right. They think he is dead, they will never go looking for him and I cannot possibly convince them otherwise with a voice message which I cannot even show them.
But backing off, like Bella thinks I'll do, isn't my plan. I cannot waste a single day after knowing he can just be a town away from me. I have different plans. Plans, that I strongly believe, will work out for me.
I walk alone staring at the floor in the crowded hallway receiving awkward looks that I have now become used to when Eric's voice pulls my attention from the floor to his face.
"Hey. Wassup?"
"Nothing just- walking around. Biology got wrapped up before the bell." I lean my back next to his locker as he opens it.
"Let's go home then." He raises an eyebrow at me, a smirk on his tan face.
"Why, don't you have french?"
"No. I had it, now I'm skipping it." He winks and starts walking towards the exit.
"Yep. Let me just grab my stuff!"
I call out smiling deeply to myself. I feel excitement streaming through me after seeing him so cheerful and normal. I'd only seen his face scowling and stressing for the last many days. He hardly smiled or joked. Seeing him winking and smirking in such a light mood somewhere lifts a burden off my own chest.
As I follow him towards the exit, I notice Jack and Hannah standing against Hannah's locker. Hannah's face draws away from Jack's as she spots Eric walking through the hallway, her lips whisper something making Jack too turn his head in my brother's direction. Both their faces styling unfriendly expressions if not hate, both pairs of eyes burning on Eric's back as he walks carelessly twirling his car keys in his fingers.
I shudder on the inside wondering what must they be having on their minds. Thinking of horrible and unbelievable possibilities, I walk past them, staring right into both their shallow eyes. I don't stop staring, nor do they, until it becomes physically impossible.
"By the way, It'll be coming to school for a little research in the library tomorrow," I say settling in the passenger seat of Eric's car, not letting him sense the tension about Jack and Hannah building up in me.
"What research?" Eric asks, astounded by my statement, of course. This is the first time I'm showing the general 'Easter Brown' involvement in school stuff after the whole accident.
"A little something. I'm still working on it. I will let y'all know soon." I smile faintly.
"Oh. Yeah sure. Um-" he suddenly breaks into a wide grin. "It's absolutely fine, Easter. I'm just happy, you know. Uh- best of luck for the thing." He chuckles as he half hugs me.
I reply with a girly giggle.
Part A of my plan is done, now all I need to do is hit the final stroke and I'll do it tomorrow.
I'll find you, Dan. We'll soon be back together. And I'll not leave you alone, ever again.
I say to myself, thinking back to his words from the last message. It's been two weeks since I last got a message from Dan. I desperately want to hear his voice and more than that I want to send him a message, but I know there is no way for it. All I can do is wait and I'm still doing that.
"Easter, I was wondering, I mean- don't get me wrong but, maybe he's not sending the messages and those were just old drafts or something?" Bella had suggested a few days back when I told her I hadn't received another message yet.
I didn't reply then. I didn't want to talk about it at all. I just wanted her to believe me and have faith in my faith, but every now and then, when I'm about to feel confident that she and I are on the same page, she'd say something that would bring everything come crashing down. Leaving me again to the horrible thought that I'm alone and I can't make anyone believe in me.
It felt horribly torturing. I needed people to believe me because I needed people to help me find him. But now I don't.
I've made peace with the fact that nobody can believe me until they actually see me clenched in his arms, kissing him with their own eyes. Nobody will help me find him and I don't need anybody to help me.
It's my own treasure hunt and I'll complete it alone. And then, I'll brag my treasure to the whole world as I'll watch them burn with envy.
"Hey East," Jack adds to me as I enter the living room from the stairs and find him making my mother giggle at something.
I give him a half-smile, barely.
"I'll leave now. I have a tight dinner schedule. But you please stay." Mom squeezes his muscular forearm lightly. "And Eric is in his room. Go meet him. I'm sure he'll be glad."
She leaves leaving us both to our awkward selves, his face clearly saying he's having a million thoughts crossing his head at the moment just like me. I decide to pick a magazine up to my face, so he cannot read my thoughts through my eyes.
"Thank you for stopping by," I say dryly, not even looking up from the magazine in my hand when I'm left alone with him, as he takes slow sips of his coffee.
My sudden statement makes him blink away his eyes that were shamelessly burning holes on the back of the magazine.
"I'll go meet Eric." He gets up and starts moving towards me to make it to the stairs.
"No." I jerk up to become the only obstacle between him and my brother. "No, Jack. Wait. I think you can leave now." I say calmly looking into his cold eyes.
"I'll say hi to my homie before leaving." He tries to walk past me but I keep blocking his path and to my relief, he dares not touch me.
"He does not want to meet you, Jack."
And you know it very well. I shoot him a knowing look.
He chuckles lightly confirming that he understood what I exactly meant, even though I myself don't know anything beyond the fact that I must not let Jack any close to my brother.
"You don't know that." His tilted smirk challenges me. I open my mouth to give him a reply but having no idea as to why should I not let him meet Eric, or why was he so eager to meet him, I struggle to find something right to say.
"She knows well." Eric's voice makes me turn on my heel and I gasp, causing air to get stuck in my lungs.