I made it to Jeremy and Jameson in a flash. They were moving slowly as Jameson fought to try and get out of the much larger Jeremy’s grasp.
I stomped to a stop when I reached them, just out of reach of Jeremy’s sinewy arms. The adrenaline rushed out of my head when I saw that Jeremy had drawn a knife.
“No,” I pleaded before Jeremy stuck the knife to Jameson’s soft throat.
“You two idiots ruined my life. I didn’t mean to do shit and now I’m going to spend the rest of my fucking life in prison.”
“No shit, you killed a girl,” Jameson quipped from within Jeremy’s grasp.
“Fuck you,” Jeremy roared back and tightened the knife on her neck, then locked eyes with me. “You make another move towards me pencil dick and I do it. Do you know what happens when you die when you’re doing this?”
My heart sank. There was nothing I could do at this point. I watched Jeremy continue to stagger backwards with her.
“What happens?” I mumbled.
Jeremy laughed and shook his head.
“I guess you’ll find out.”
Jeremy turned with Jameson in his arms and took her off of the street, over the sidewalk and into the woods which lined the side of the street across from Sarah’s house. The rain picked up and left me soaked in the middle of the street until the time of my snorkel ran out a few minutes later.
I called and texted Jameson as soon as I woke up in my bed in the middle of the night. I couldn’t get anything. I couldn’t even snorkel and try to find her. I was out of Oxy-Gen. My only choice was to run across town to Jameson’s parents’ house.
It took almost two hours, but I made it to Jameson’s bedroom and stuck my face against the glass. I knew the vantage point from the inside, I laid my eyes directly on the bed where she would be sleeping, but she was not there. Her bed was empty.
Further panic set in. There was a chance she was in the bathroom or something. I took out my phone and dialed up her number. I saw her phone illuminate on top of the covers in the middle of her bed.
I stared at the phone through the window until it stopped ringing and I ended the call. My entire body felt hollow. I felt like I had to vomit. I trudged home defeated in the rain to lie in bed all night hoping by some miracle it was just a coincidence Jameson was unreachable.
The morning provided confirmation. Jameson didn’t show up at school. I assumed her parents were already panicking, especially given the murder of Sarah just a few weeks before. I would be the number one suspect, but I didn’t even care, I was mostly concerned with trying to find a way to bring her back.
The only person I knew to go to was Jesse. The only contact info I had for him was Reddit. I opened up the site on my phone in the bathroom at school and sent him a direct message:
Please. This is serious. I really need your help. Someone’s life is in danger. I believe someone I know may have been killed while snorkeling and I don’t know what happens and what I can do. Please help.
I spent the next few hours of school checking my Reddit inbox every two minutes until I received a message back from Jesse right before lunch time. It was about as good of a message as I could have hoped for.
JessePinkman42069: This is not good, but not the end of the road. There could be things you could do to make it work, but you need someone who has done it before to help you. Where you at?
JessePinkman42069: Ah fuck it, just call me. 702-555-5558. Jesse.
I called Jesse as soon as possible.
“Hey yo,” Jesse answered.
“Is this Jesse?” I asked sheepishly.
“Affirmative chief. This the dipshit from Reddit with the problem?”
“Yes.”
“Shit man. I always gotta clean up messes for you asswipes. Where are you?”
“Outside of Ventura, just north of LA.”
Long silence. A deep exhale from Jesse.