Chapter 20: Now or Never

Sandy's ears buzzed as an ear piercing scream echoed through the silence.

"Oh my god," Sandy said to himself under his breath as he watched Marissa disappear off the cliff edge. He sprinted over, her scream still echoing around his head.

"MARISSA!" Ryan lunged forward as she let out a loud scream. He threw himself to the ground as she slipped off the edge. At the last second his hands grazed her arms and he grabbed on to her wrists. Ryan was lying on his front, Marissa hanging in mid air. He was the only thing between her life and death.

"RYAN! RYAN, help me!" she screamed in terror. "Please, please! I don't want to die!" she sobbed hysterically.

"You're not going to die! I won't let you! I've got you!"

Marissa looked down below her at the rocks and crashing waves. She knew that if she fell she would never get to feel Ryan's arms around her again.

"Marissa! Look at me!" Ryan shouted. Marissa looked back into Ryan's eyes as she continued to sob in fear. "I've got you! I'm not going to let go!" Ryan's heart panged with guilt as he said this, because truthfully he didn't know how long he would be able to hold her. At this second Ryan felt his grip start to slip. She cried out again.

"Ryan!" She swallowed and gazed deeply into his eyes. "Ryan, tell everyone that I love them. I love you Ryan, so much."

"No Marissa! No! Don't say that!"

"I love you," she cried weakly as he lost grip of her right arm.

"Marissa!" He tightened his grip on her other hand as she continued to sob. Suddenly Sandy was at Ryan's side.

"Marissa!" he shouted to her. "Take my hand." He lay down like Ryan and reached his arm over the cliff edge. Marissa looked up at him. He saw the terror on the young girls face. He wasn't going to let her die.

"Take my hand!" he shouted again. She stretched up her arm, but it wasn't enough.

"I can't! I can't reach!" she started crying hysterically again, her breathing speeding up.

"Yes you can!" Sandy said edging himself further over the edge.

"Sandy!" Ryan cried as rocks started to tumble away. Sandy ignored Ryan's cry.

"Come on honey. Take my hand," he said reaching out again. She reached up and her fingertips grazed his, but it still wasn't enough.

"Sandy! Come on, she's slipping!"

"R-y-a-n," she cried through short sharp breaths.

"Slow deep breaths, Marissa," Sandy encouraged stretching his hand down. Marissa looked up at his hand.

"This is it," she thought to herself. "It's now or never." With all the energy she had she reached up. Sandy grabbed on to her fingers.

"That's it! Come on!" He grabbed her hand tighter. "On three we're going to pull you up. Ready Ryan?" Ryan nodded. "One, two, three!" Ryan and Sandy used all their strength. "Keep going! Keep going!" Sandy shouted as they pulled her up. They got her over the edge of the cliff, pulling her as they fell to the ground, Marissa lying between them. Ryan grabbed onto Marissa and held her tight as she continued to cry hysterically.

"You're safe now," he reassured her, rubbing her back. He rocked her back and forth as she buried her head in his shoulder, her whole body shaking. "Sh, sh. Deep breaths," he coaxed her as he felt her struggle through short, sharp breaths. She lifted her head of his shoulder.

"I was so scared," she said her voice shaking through sobs. "I thought I was going to….."

"Hey, hey," he held her face in his hands. "You're safe now. I'm never going to let anything happen to you," he leaned forward and kissed her passionately. She kissed him back as she felt his strong, loving hands gently stroke her cheeks. They rested their foreheads together as Marissa started to calm down.

"I love you," he whispered to her.

Sandy took a long deep breath as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. He could feel his heart beat start to slow, and his hands stop shaking. He didn't think he had ever seen anyone looked so scared in his life. He stood up shakily.

"We should go home," he said to the two teens still on the ground hugging on to each other. Ryan let go and helped Marissa to her feet. He held her tight as her legs started to give way. Sandy took off his jacket and carefully draped it around her shoulders. Ryan wrapped it tightly around her and guided her over to the car. Sandy walked a few steps behind them. He stopped and looked out over the ocean. He was in total shock over what had just happened. If Ryan hadn't been able to hold on to her for that extra second, she would have fallen to her death.

"Sandy?" He heard Ryan calling him. He shook his head in disbelief and made his way over to the car. He arrived at the car as Ryan helped Marissa into the back seat. He closed her door and walked over to Sandy. They looked at each other. Sandy stretched out his hand and placed it on Ryan's shoulder. Ryan was about to talk when Sandy cut in.

"You don't have to say anything, kid. Let's just get home."

Ryan smiled at him weakly, glad that Sandy knew how grateful he was and always would be.

"What about her car?" Ryan asked Sandy.

"We'll get it tomorrow."

Ryan got in the back beside Marissa as Sandy climbed in the front. Just as Sandy was about to drive away he heard a phone ringing. He leaned over to the passenger seat and picked the phone up from the floor.

"Hello."

"Sandy? What's going on?" Kirsten asked him urgently. Sandy pulled the car back on to the road.

"We've got her. She's safe. We're just taking her home now."

"What the hell happened? When Seth phoned and lost connection I didn't know what to think."

"I'll tell you when I get home. But the main thing is she's safe," Sandy replied quietly glancing in the mirror at Ryan and Marissa.

"Are you ok?" Kirsten asked.

"Yeah, I'll see you soon."

"Ok, bye. Love you."

"Love you too."

He threw the phone onto the passenger seat and glanced back into the mirror. Ryan was sitting with his arm around Marissa as she lay her head on his shoulder. He watched as Ryan gently kissed Marissa's head. He knew that after this Ryan wouldn't want to let Marissa out of his sight. Sandy couldn't blame him. If it had happened to Kirsten he would feel exactly the same.

"Jimmy?"

Jimmy jumped up from the couch when he heard Sandy call his name. He was about to ask Sandy where she was when Ryan walked in with his arm around a pale shaking Marissa. He immediately ran over to her. Ryan moved away as Jimmy threw his arms around her. She hugged him back.

"I'm sorry," Marissa said as she started to cry again.

"Hey, hey. You're home now. It's alright," he comforted her stroking her hair. He looked at Sandy as he continued to hold Marissa close. He frowned as if to say "What happened". Sandy just dropped his head. Jimmy was dreading finding out. He could smell the alcohol on Marissa. Jimmy took Marissa by the shoulders and kissed her forehead.

"Why don't you go with Ryan and get yourself cleaned up," he said to her gently. Ryan put his arm around her shoulder and led her away. He glanced back at Jimmy and Sandy. He was glad he wasn't the one explaining what happened.

Ryan took Marissa to her bedroom and sat her down on the bed. He got out her dressing gown and pyjamas.

"I'll go and run you a bath. Okay?" Ryan said going in to her drawer. He walked back over to her.

"Marissa?"

She was sitting on the edge of the bed staring straight ahead of her with a blank look on her face. Ryan knelt in front of her and held on to her cold hands. He looked up at her.

"Marissa?"

She still kept her eyes fixed in front of her. The only thing that changed was a tear that rolled down her cheek. Ryan stroked her hand.

"We're going to get through this together."

It wasn't everyday you have a near death experience and after everything Marissa had just been through Ryan knew it was going to take time. But no matter how long it took Ryan swore to himself that he would be with her all the way. He stood up and took Sandy's jacket from around her shoulders.

"I'll be back in a minute, why don't you get changed." Ryan closed the door as she sat there still not saying a thing.

"So?" Jimmy said to Sandy. Sandy looked up at Jimmy. There was no way of making it sound better so he just told it as it was.

"Well, when Ryan and I were driving around we saw Marissa's car parked at the cliff edge. I saw Marissa in the distance at the cliff so Ryan ran to her. After that I don't know what happened until I heard her scream, and saw her fall. I ran over to Ryan who was clinging on to her. We eventually managed to pull her back up."

Jimmy stared at Sandy, not willing to believe that it had happened.

"And we both know what she was doing up there," Sandy said to Jimmy remembering the distinct smell of alcohol on her. Jimmy looked at Sandy then hung his head.

"Why did she go there? Something must have happened."

"You'll have to talk to her about that but I think you should leave that for tomorrow."

"Thank you so much Sandy. I really…I really don't think I'll ever be able to tell you how much I appreciate what you've done."

"Jimmy it's fine."

"No Sandy it's not! You and Kirsten were more than amazing after she was attacked and now you just saved her life! I don't know what to do to show how much I appreciate what you guys have done."

"Jimmy listen to me, I know how thankful you are. But the most important thing is that she is alive."

They both turned around as Ryan walked in.

"She's just taking a bath," he told them quietly.

"Hey, you ok?" Sandy asked him.

"What happened tonight?" Ryan said in frustration.

"Right now we don't know, but we're going to find out, and we're going to sort it out. Okay?" Sandy said reassuringly. "Okay?"

"Ye," Ryan replied unconvinced. He would do anything he could to get to the bottom of Marissa's problems but he had a feeling that they were too deep for him to reach. Maybe too deep for anyone to reach.

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