"have u seen Rachel?"
The text stood out on the phone. It was from Chloe Price. She'd been sending those kind of texts to people at school for the better part of two months by now. Ever since the police closed the investigation into Rachel Ambers disappearance. Of course, Rachel was still missing. Everyone had simply assumed she'd run off to Los Angeles, following the dreams she'd been quite outspoken about. A few weeks ago some missing persons posters had surfaced around campus. Jess suspected it was Chloe printing those, but again, no-one seemed to care.
Victoria sure didn't care. She'd even looked a bit relieved and relaxed now, with less clenching of her jaw as soon as Rachels name was brought up. Jess just wished Victoria would grow out of her shell and simply just say what was wrong. But Victoria was as shy as ever. At least Taylor and Courtney were their usual selves.
The summer was almost over and soon school would start again. That was at least something to look forward to. School had always been... well... school. Schoolwork with even more homework and extracurricular work. Jess didn't mind the work though. She liked to keep busy. At least Mr Jeffersons classes were some of the highlights, not even mentioning the fun with the Vortex club. The club wasn't just fun, it was alot more work. It always paid off in the end though. Jess simply loved the people in the club and all the fun organizing the events. Well, Nathan wasn't so much fun when it came to work with the club. He always had his own ideas and things he wanted done. Jess didn't mind though. Ever since they were kids Nathan had been his own weird self. Even in the scouts during the hiking trips Nathan had run off to explore the world on his own. Jess suspected that the Vortex club wouldn't work if Nathan was left in charge. At least that's what Taylor and Courtney kept saying. Victoria didn't have much of an opinion.
Jess took a sip from her tea. It was cold. Courtney was still chatting on about the premiere Vortex party while Taylor was looking at Jess with a weird expression.
"You zoned out for a moment there, Jess. What's up?"
Courtney stopped talking, looking from Taylor to Jess with newfound interest.
"I was just thinking about stuff. Nevermind. Go on, Courtney, you were saying something about arranging balloons."
That brought a smile from Courtney. "That was ages ago. Have you been sleeping all this time? I didn't hear you snore."
"Shut up! I don't snore..." Jess mumbled.
Taylor laughed. "Only when Courtney's talking."
"Ugh! Taylor!" Courtney made a face at Taylor. Jess didn't really see what kind, but she could guess. "I was saying that we should have the first party on the beach."
"And I was about to tell her that that's impossible because Jess is afraid of water."
"I'm not," interjected Jess.
"You skipped all the swimming classes, Jess," Taylor continued.
"You won't go near an Otter tryout, not even to mention a competition", Courtney filled in.
"And whenever we're on our way to the beach, you disappear."
"Ok ok. But it's not water I'm afraid of."
"Then what?!" both Taylor and Courtney asked simultaneously.
"Well. When I was eight, before we moved to Arcadia Bay, I was in an accident where I nearly drowned. I haven't been swimming since. In fact, just watching others in the water makes shiver."
"Oh, that's sad," Taylor commented.
"But you guys can have a beachparty if you want to. I'll help organize it but I'm not coming there."
"Well, that sucks," Courtney said. "No Vortex party without Jess!"
"Yeah, we'll skip the party for now. By the way, where's Victoria?"
"What?! Why the hell not?!" Nathan was getting pretty upset again. He upsets easily, Jess though, but at least he's been growing out of his fits. "You practically promised me a beachparty last year!"
"No, Nathan, I said we'll consider it. As in, we... all of us," Jess answered calmly. There was no reason to get upset with Nathan. In fact, it was much easier to let him rage a bit and then calm down on his own when he was spent. "The others didn't want to..."
"They'll do what you want!" Nathan cut her off.
"And I told them that if they really want a beachparty then I'll help them organize it. That offer stands for you too."
That last part clearly calmed Nathan down. He looked surprised now. A surprise mixed with relief and... happiness? It wasn't always so easy to read Nathan. He could be erratic at times.
"Oh," Nathan finally said. "Then next friday we'll kick it off."
"Sure, just tell me what you want help with."
Jess' dad was as chatty as ever. Jess liked to see him talking and smiling at dinner. That moustache of his was jumping up and down, as if doing it's own exercise.
"... then Joyce had to clean up after Joe, and oh she did not look happy. You know the look she can give when she's annoyed? Well, she was shooting lightning in Joes direction. His face turned so white we thought he was going to get a heart-attack. You should've been there..."
"Poor Joyce," Jess' mom shot in.
"Poor Joyce? We all helped her clean and gave her a big tip for the extra trouble. Poor Joe who can't look her in the eye anymore."
"You shouldn't have done that."
"Helped Jouce clean?" Jess' dad said with a big smile and a wink towards Jess. "I felt obligated, hun. Like a proper gentleman."
"I meant the tip."
"It'll be fine. We'll be fine. The fish will bite again soon. Besides, Joyce needs food on the table too."
Jess' mom didn't look so convinced.
"So what will you be learning this semester, my angel?" Jess' dad asked, turned towards Jess to obviously change the subject.
"I don't really know. You know it's an arts programme so there'll probably be artsy stuff involved."
"Are you going to remind me of that mishap forever?" Jess' dad said laughing. Jess was laughing too and she thought she even saw her mom smiling.
"Sorry, dad. I'll just never forget the look on principal Wells' face when you said that. I'm really not sure though. I think it'll be a lot more photography."
"Oh? Adding even more to the family album will you?"
"Maybe. You never know. But I think it'll be more 'artsy' photography than that."
"Watch it, angel. Mom will have an album out in moments."
Jess looked around and indeed saw her mom already returning with an album in her hands and another warm smile. Jess hadn't even heard her leave the table.
"Told you," Jess' dad said with another wink at his daughter.
Jess' mom put the album on the table and gently opened it.
"It's been too long since we looked in this one. These things are made to be used, not just collect dust," she said. Jess and her dad snickered at that, which resulted in a scoff from mom but then another smile. "This was from the old house. You remember that? Here you are with your cute little red cheeks."
"Are you sure we didn't look through this album last week, mom? I had the same red cheeks in that album too."
"I know! You were so cute," her mom answered still smiling. She had that look in her eyes that she usually got when talking about Jess' childhood. Jess produced an innocent smile of her own, then leaned closer in over the album.
"Ah well. Come on, hun. You can show me you're still the gentleman you've been bragging about by helping with the dishes."
"Uh oh. I walked right into that one."
"You know better, dad."
"Yeah, she's got the memory of an elephant. Never forgets", her dad said as he was clearing the table while Jess' mom was already heading out into the kitchen.
"I heard that," they heard from the kitchen.
"And the hearing of a bat."
Jess' dad left the room, leaving Jess to peruse alone. She felt so fortunate at times like these that she couldn't stop smiling. Jess glanced around and then decided she might aswell keep paging through the album. Her phone then buzzed. It was another message from Chloe Price.
"have u seen Rachel Amber?"
Jess bit her lip and immediately typed back "no, sorry, Chloe". She then moved to the next page in the album and suddenly froze. She felt her heart picking up speed as a cold set in and sent shivers along her spine. She was looking at a picture of herself, when she was eight, standing on the beach. She felt suddenly faint.
Jess woke up in a forest. It was dark all around with only a minimal light from the silvery moon. Everything around, the trees, roots, rocks, moss, were all black except for a small shred of silver here and there. It was like standing in an old movie. Everything felt surreal. It was cold as in winter, but Jess was more numb than freezing. She tried to orient herself but couldn't find anything even remotely familiar. Then suddenly the whole world exploded into a yellow-red light. The trees were suddenly burning all around her. Her eyes hurt from the sudden light. She struggled with every breath. She could see thick heavy smoke rising above then falling around her. Jess slowly choked. Her skin was burning from the heat. Her chest was burning from lack of air. Jess fell over her heavy limbs. She hit the ground hard. Everything was slowly fading as she was gripped with an even more intense pain from her chest.
She woke with a start. She was back in her own bed in her own room. Her dad was sitting in a chair next to her, asleep. All pain was gone, only the choking memory lingered. Jess could only feel the warmth of her bed right now. Her dad woke suddenly too. He quickly glanced at his daughter and then let out a sigh of relief.
"You're back with us, angel. We got worried and called the doctor but she told us to wait and let you rest," he said in a tired voice.
"Thanks, dad. I'm alright."
"You sure?"
"Yeah. It's just. The dreams are back."
Jess could see her dad shaking his head.
"I thought... hoped they were gone for good."
"It's alright, dad. It's just dreams."
"It's not the dreams I'm worried about," he said as he slowly rose to his feet. He gently tucked her in and then turned to leave the room. "I'll let you rest now. See you in the morning."
"Thanks. Goodnight, dad."
"Goodnight, angel," her dad said as he left the room, leaving a small gap in the door to let the light in just like when Jess had been a little girl.