Chapter 11

Ben paced his room, knocking everything down in his path. Luckily no one was home to hear the commotion, but even if they were he didn't care anymore. Adrian had called him crying this morning. Even though she had pushed his buttons way too far, he still hated to hear her cry. It always reminded him of the day he had labeled the dark day.

What she had to say erased all pity he once held for her, and replaced it with a blind worry for himself. She didn't want to lie anymore, she wanted the truth out, but he just couldn't let that happen. Her part in the accident was minimal if anything. If anyone went down for it, it would certainly be him. Ben had hardly lived, he wasn't going to give his life away on a silver platter, and he sure as hell wouldn't let Adrian do it for him.

She had no right, no right whatsoever to make him feel even more guilty. It was her fault he did what he did, and it would be her fault if he was sentenced for it. Ben kicked his desk over, and watched it split as it hit the ground hard. He groaned loudly at the broken furniture. An insistent ringing noise alerted him of a call and he picked his phone off the floor from which he had thrown it earlier. It was her, of course it would be her.

Ben quickly pressed the end button before their new infuriating conversation could begin, and then fell back on his bed with a sigh. A few seconds later there was a small ding, letting him know he had a voicemail. A part of him did not want to hear what it had to say, but curiosity won out as it always did. He pressed the right password combo and waited for her voice to start.

"Ben," she was crying. She always was these days. "I love you." The message cut off abruptly, and Ben was on his feet in seconds. It wasn't that he longed for those words, or that he was utterly shocked by them. It was the way she said them. Full of despair and certainty. A tone that said more than he wanted it to. He raced out of his room, down the grand flight of stairs and out to his car. And for the first time in a long time, he wished he didn't live so far away from her.

Amy dropped her cell phone by the edge of the pool, an ambulance already on its way. She hesitated at the water's edge. The pool was eerily still and silent. At the back of her mind she heard the doctor strongly urging her not to get so much as a drop of water on her cast, but she barely put a thought to it as she swept the warning away. All she saw was Adrian's dark hair swirling around in the water, motionless, the sound around her barren and frightening.

Amy tore off her sweater, and tossing it to the side, jumped hastily into the chilling depths. She kept her right arm up in the dry air as she strained her good arm, desperately trying to reach Adrian. When she finally made it to her side, she realized she couldn't avoid the water any longer, and plunged her heavily casted arm in, using her good arm to wrap around Adrian's icy form.

Relying mostly on her legs, and injured arm, she managed to get them to the steps. She pulled a soaking Adrian from the depths, and onto the concrete. She couldn't hear the ambulance yet, and even though the day care center required her to be CPR certified, she wasn't all too confident she could do it with one arm.

She quickly checked for a pulse, and when the search came up empty she pressed her hand to the center of Adrian's chest. Uncertain as to how long it would take the ambulance to arrive, and not willing to bet Adrian's life on it.

Before she could press her entire weight down onto her ribs, she heard the fence to Adrian's back yard creak, she quickly turned her gaze up to find Ben rushing towards them, his face contorted in fear.

Ricky had been trying to get a hold of his girlfriend for a while now, knowing that it was finally time to tell her the truth, but she had yet to answer. He tried calling Amy's cell once more, and pulled John into his arms when she didn't pick up. "Mommy's not answering," Ricky said, his eyes searching his sons in question.

John lifted an eyebrow the same way his father always did, causing Ricky to chuckle. "What are we going to do?"

"Find!" John exclaimed, clapping his hands joyfully.

Ricky smiled and pressed his lips against his sons soft head, "sounds good to me."

He carried John out to the car, and didn't let any worry cloud his eyes until they were already on the road towards Amy's parents, and his face wasn't in his sons field of vision. It wasn't until they were in the neighborhood, and could see the flashing lights, that the crease in his brows became imminent.

John made mock sounds of sirens as they neared the house, and couldn't decide how relieved he should be when he saw the ambulance parked outside of Adrian's house. He parked the car, and hastily pulled John from the car seat.

His heart slowed down to a normal pace, when he saw Amy wrapped in an emergency blanket, standing just outside the ambulance. "Amy," Ricky called, rushing towards her with John in his arms.

She quickly looked up, her weary gaze meeting his, and she started towards him, meeting them half way. Ricky wrapped an arm around her shivering body. It was already a particularly chilly day, and she was soaking, he noted.

"Brrrgh," John said, dramatizing her shivering. "Mommy's brrrgh."

Amy kissed John's warm forehead, trying for a tired smile.

"What happened?" Ricky asked, looking off at the closed ambulance, now driving away with its sirens blaring. A small black car pulled out from the driveway and sped after it.

Amy didn't respond, and he looked back at her empty stare. Ricky shifted John's weight to his other side, so he would be closer to his girlfriend. "Ames?"

There was a long silence. Which bored John enough to cause him to rest his head against Ricky's shoulder.

"I pulled Adrian from the water," Amy finally said, her voice distant.

"Is that who they just took to the hospital?"

Amy nodded, and rested her head against Ricky's chest. Ricky wanted desperately to know what had just happened, but couldn't bring himself to press her with anymore questions. So he led his family of three, soon to be four, back to the car, unsure if there would ever be a right time to tell Amy he knew.