CHAPTER 10

((hi…I'm back updating one more time before the day ends…I feel like I can't leave you there…this skips a month…Jake's body was never recovered so he was assumed dead…there was a funeral which Miley went to sobbing…she lost all hope for him being alive…this is a little over a month after the crash…read and review…XOXO, CHRISTINE))

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Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile
The precious moments are all lost in the tide yeah
They're swept away and nothing is what it seems
The feeling of belonging to your dreams

Listen to your heart
When he's calling for you
Listen to your heart
There's nothing else you can do
I don't know where you're going
And I don't know why
But listen to your heart
Before... you tell him goodbye

And there are voices that want to be heard
So much to mention but you can't find the words
The scent of magic, the beauty that's been
When love was wilder than the wind

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Miley dragged herself home from school, nonchalantly dropping her bag on the floor in her room having no desire to do her homework. In the past month, her grades had become so low that they would soon be in the negatives and she hadn't gotten a test grade over a 37. She hadn't done any homework since the accident. Her father had her going to a counselor 3 days a week for an hour, but it didn't do much good. He almost thought it would be better if she was still in denial. He had lost all connection with his daughter which worried him. He didn't know what she did for the hours she spent in her room daily, but he was worried it was unhealthy.

Miley collapsed on her bed, worn out. She got very little sleep lately, waking up in cold sweats of terror. She had dreams about Jake calling out for her to reach out to him, to save him, but she never could. She hated this feeling of uncertainty. Part of her, the hoping part, her heart still believed he wasn't dead, but her brain, was using the common sense. Of course he was dead, it would tell her. If he was alive, he would let people know, unless he was a psycho idiot who wanted to appear heroic, which he wasn't. Miley fell asleep, into one of those dreams. Jake was holding onto a cliff, desperately trying to hoist himself up.

"MILEY!" he screamed, "HELP!" Miley just stood there not knowing what to do. Should she help him? Should she keep him from falling? She just stood there. "I CAN'T HOLD ON MUCH LONGER!" He was screaming, holding on for dear life. Miley stood there, staring, watching him go. He let go, unable to hold on any longer. He was screaming down…down…down… It took Miley a second to realize it wasn't him screaming. It was her.

"JAKE! NO! JAKE! NO! DONT FALL! PLEASE BE OKAY! JAKE! JAKE!"

"Miley, it's okay it was just a bad dream," Miley heard a voice say.

"Jake?!" Miley asked hopefully.

"No, bud, it's dad," Robbie Ray told her.

"Oh," Miley muttered.

"What was the dream about? What happened?" her caring dad asked her trying to understand her. This is what the therapist had suggested, helping her through this time, understanding how she feels.

"Nothing," Miley replied, lying back down. It was late at night. She must have been asleep for a long time. Her dad was in his pajamas, obviously tired. She had woken him up. She turned over to go back to sleep.

Mr. Stewart just stood there, sadly. Miley used to always tell him what was going on. She used to tell him everything. Now she told him nothing. She barely spoke to him. Hannah Montana had disappeared, and she was refusing to read her fan mail. He opened a few of the letters, and they all were of concerned fans questioning her whereabouts. It was like she had disappeared from the face of the earth. Robbie Ray read them sadly. Technically, Hannah did disappear from the face of the earth.

The next day Miley went to school like she normally did now, sweatpants and sports shirt, no makeup, hair either in a low ponytail or let down uncombed. She had bags under her eyes, sometimes so swollen she could barely open and shut them. She had turned from pretty to ugly. She was so pale and thin because she avoided the beach.

Today, the homework was being collected in math. When the teacher came to Miley, she smiled hopefully. Maybe this would be the day Miley began to do her homework again. Miley just sat there with nothing on her desk.

"No homework again then, Miley?" the teacher asked.

Miley didn't even answer. She moved on to the next student, sighing. Miley put her head down on her desk. She didn't fall back asleep after she woke up from her dream last night.

Miley sat alone at lunch, not wanting the company of Lily and Oliver who were just as concerned as her father.

"She's let her appearance go to the dogs, Miley has," Oliver commented.

"She's let her grades, too," Lily added. "She hasn't done an ounce of homework since the accident."

"And she hasn't done anything with us," Oliver also pointed out.

Since the crash, Oliver and Lily had forgotten about their little embarrassment, as had everybody else. They were too concerned for Miley to be thinking about their petty little relationship troubles.

"I'm afraid she's going to become like anorexic or bulimic or she'll cut herself," Lily stated.

"Me too," Oliver agreed. "But she won't open up to anyone, not even a professional."

"I know," said Lily, "but she will in time."

It wasn't clear whether Lily was right about that or not. Two more long weeks passed by, and Miley still refused to talk to everyone. She continued with the therapy sessions which were some of the worst hours of her life. The therapist would try to ask her to talk about it, but couldn't she see! Miley wasn't ready. She probably never would be.

"So, Miley, how did you and Jake meet?" she interrogated for the umpteenth time in two minutes.

Miley just stared out the window, at the ocean. The beach was full of happy people on this particular Friday. They disgusted Miley. How could they be so happy when Jake was gone?

After the hour of unproductiveness, Miley went home. She turned on the T.V. instead of going straight to her room. Her father noticed this, and was secretly thrilled. She was beginning to hang around other people again. She wasn't isolating herself in her room.

She turned on an episode of Zombie High. They were all obviously reruns since the star was dead. Robbie Ray was also happy to see this. Watching him was a form of her talking about him. She was beginning to be able to get over him and be normal.

It was about halfway through the show, when Jennifer Channing interrupted the program.

"We interrupt this program with breaking news on the whereabouts of the famous movie star Jacob Ryan and his father Paul Ryan," she said. "A month and a half ago, Jacob and his father were two passengers in the plane crash incident, one of the worst crashes ever seen."

Miley was intently listening. They must have found his body. She wanted confirmation. It would stop her feelings of possibility that he was still out there, struggling to survive.

"The plane crashed over the Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs."

Miley was getting anxious. Everyone knew about the plane crash. They didn't need the background information. "Get on with it," she yelled at the T.V.

"Well, the search is over," she continued. "Today at 5:01 pm pacific time, both Jacob and his father Paul were found about 20 miles north of the crash. They are both alive, but in critical condition. They suffer from dehydration, starvation, pneumonia, concussions, and several broken bones. They were both found unconscious, and aired to Denver Hospital, one of the country's finest. Doctors are predicting they may make full recovery in time."

Random interviewers began to report about the finding, which didn't interest Miley.

"DADDY!" Miley shouted happily, "DADDY!"

Robbie Ray was down the stairs in record time. This was the first time Miley had called him in months. "Yes?" he asked.

"We need to go to Denver, tonight."

((Hehehe…you have to wait possibly two days now…sorry…I'll try to update if I can…I hope you like it…reviews would be greatly appreciated…I plan on making this a long story…I think…XOXO, CHRISTINE))